And in fact, the Torre System is slightly more dynamic than cousins "London" & "Colle." Petrosian also advocated it on occassion. And of course the games of the progenitor of the sytem, Carlos Torre, have a wealth of ideas.

Due to black's ultra-passive development scheme, here there is no risk entailed in grabbing the whole center with 5. e4, which is in fact a better move.

c3 is usually played to bolster white's d4 strong-point only after ...c5 has been played by black. Here it's a waste of time and 8. Ne5! immediately is stronger (followed by f4, Ndf3 (or Qf3), O-O). The drawback of relying on Queen Pawn Systems (London/Torre/Colle/Stonewall) is that the players who employ them often automatically bang out the "standard" move formations, whether there are stronger moves available or not, which can stagnate one's chess development (the instinct of sniffing out the best moves). The master-strength practitioners of these systems in fact had no problem with abandoning the set "course" when it suited them.

That's an excellent point bitterbierce , over reliance on the Torre did cause complacency to creep into my game.

...c5 is routine in these positions and is usually played much earlier.

9. Ne5 (still available here) or 9. O-O are stronger. In most opening setups with this pawn formation, white in fact re-captures with the e rather than c pawn, to maintain his queen-side chain and utilize the half-open e-file.

I rather like White's thinking here. The option to retake with c- or e-pawn remains open, but there seems to me no reason for White to eschew possibilities of operating on the Q-side after a possible 9...cxd4 10.cxd4. After dropping back to g3 the DSB might prove an asset in the ensuing play........ Of course, whether to operate on the K-side or Q-side is a major strategic decision that White will have to make very shortly, if he hasn't already done so. The drawback of the text move is that if White chooses a direct attack on the BK, he might want to castle long. That's now out of court.

Be explicit, please! DSB stands for Dark-Square Bishop, White's Queen's Bishop in fact. And BK stands for Black King, I think.

A common amateur error; black relinquishes pressure on white's d4 square to no advantage (white's bishop won't be jostled from the b1-h7 diagonal). Black's pawn chain can later be undermined with a later b3, and more importantly, white can play e4 at some point with confidence.

Rightly stated. Black has advanced on the Q-side by means of 9. ...c4, now White has the right to react on the center by e3-e4.

Black has not developed his forces on the Queen's side ... so he couldn't avoid it.

That's Black's only resource in this moment.

Id est, attacking via the H file.

All the same, White could win a pawn here by 15.hxg6.

I felt at the time that Black may have wanted that, the pawn being a decoy to soak up and dull the firepower.

Accurate, castling throws away the advantage

And in fact castling's usefulness was tossed out the window long ago, as soon as white committed himself to h4. Of course, black's play is so feeble that this was validated.

Right! Only the player who keeps the initiative has the right to attack, stated Wilhelm Steinitz, the 1st World Chess champion.

After, something like 17...g4 White might have had to look at a sacrificial continuation: 18.Nxg5, say, or 18.Rg3 followed by 19.Nxg5. At any rate, Black ought to have tried it, rather that leaving White to chance to open lines.

to swap Queens means trade off Queens, doesn'it?

Disasters such as this are also why a psuedo-Grunfeld or KID on black's part are better set-ups to the various wrinkles in the Queen Pawn Game family.

Her majesty the Queen ... can simply step aside and let the shy King's Bishop face off the enemy queen. That's a magic touch indeed, as she has no where to go.