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Defeating the so called draw weapon:"The Berlin Wall"

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wrecking_ball 01-Sep-14, 11:41	Defeating the so called draw weapon:"The Berlin Wall" The statement below was from Brigadecommander in some other forum.I remembered that she had mentioned to me in the former club that I had going at the time that it was practically impossible for white to win against her "wall".I say,never "embrace" a statement like that based upon games between GM's who's outcome is many times a draw even with the best of play in all openings.While I admit that the Berlin Wall variation has drawish characteristics within its frame work,it is far from the same drawish characteristics that say,a Petrov game can have or even a Four Knights game.I have WON many times as white AGAINST the Berlin Wall and scoff at anyone simply when they say..."my wall is impregnable"!Below,she states that it is a good drawing weapon and I agree,but only to a point.It all boils down to who the heck you are playing,not because well,it "is a drawing weapon" or because someone feels that I will not be able to "crack"the wall based upon their former success with it as black or some GM games. The Berlin Wall(quoted from brigadecommander) "Also known as 'the Berlin Defense; to the Ruy Lopez. It is very hard for white to exploit an advantage given Black having the two bishops. It has been used successfully as a drawing weapon by Kramnik v Kasporov and other top players. It is for this reason i selected in against a GM i am currently playing,;gameknot.com. If one finds himself in a position in OTB where a draw is needed its a good Opening to use." I have posted my WIN against Brigadecommander that CRUSHED & DESTROYED her Berlin Wall.I felt is was necessary to defeat her in this game,simply because it was my strong view that she was WAY overconfident in her ability to almost guarantee herself a draw against players when she used the "Wall".That may be true....but NOT with TA!!!!!Again,if I can defeat the Berlin Wall and i'm NOT a GM,then many others can win against the Berlin Wall as well.Keep in mind with the game link below,that Brigadecommander is a master,not a novice.Yes,the game is unrated and that was due to her "initially" suggesting it to be unrated.But being that it is not a game that I prefer as having "better"winning chances like other openings,it was best not played rated and I agreed to that unrated scenario as well.Yes,i'm not comfortable playing against the Berlin,yet I know from MY personal experience with it that I can defeat 2200+players with it. Its actually,in my opinion "Bad Karma" to ever say..."I will not be defeated" or that "you will not be able to defeat the wall" ect ect ect. Never put yourself out on a limb like that!There will always be some gunslinger somewhere who is just a bit faster in the draw than the overconfident gunslinger who tells the tales of the Berlin fast draw! If I was going to claim that my defense was next to impossible to win against or so highly drawish in character that my opponent must or will draw at best,especially based upon past GM games,i'd atleast make it a Petrov game!Not the very winnable Berlin on the white side! Now,do not misunderstand me.Brigadecommander managed draws with others using the Wall...I think Merlino(?)who is about 50 points in rating north of me and that is commendable,but certainly not enough "points on the line"against a good host of 2400-2500+ players that would take the white side of the Berlin and in my opinion... win.So,not enough evidence for a solid drawish conclusion to me,i'm afraid!I also have 2 draws against merlino and those were with stronger openings! From a draw label to a win label on the "Berlin Defense": Game: game Of course,you can see at the time,that my rating was several hundred points north of her,but technically,that's besides the point.Why?Because with her own words,she stated that she has used the "Berlin Wall" to draw...even against much stronger opponents.Well,i'm afraid,not me!!!And if i can defeat her wall,so can many others....logically!!!Enough said!!!! At some time in the future,I can annotate some of this game,but not right now,no time.But its fairly easy to see whites advantageous Rook domination of the board in the endgame as opposed to blacks Rook pair which has the classic decreased point value structure.So it really boils down to better positional Rook strategy in this open endgame for white. Also note: The game above was an "agreed"game that was set up in a Berlin Wall fashion and was previously set up with preset plugged in moves ahead of time in a former club of mine.In reality,on a regular rated game,I would refrain from a Berlin and variate my moves as white....not because I was worried about losing,but on my level one must concentrate on "better"winning chances to avoid a draw if at all possible.The main reason?Because draws usually cost me alot of points.So it would be illogical to play a rated game on my 2500 level using an opening that does have a bit higher draw stat,even if it is winnable!Same way,if it was a Petrov Defense game.It would be even more highly retarded for me to play a rated game even with a 1900 rated player(and i'm 2500+) knowing ahead of time that I may very well lose 7 points or so for a game that has one of the highest draw statistics in history! But the whole idea of this thread was to show the Berlin Defense can be crushed like giant foot weighing in at a hundred tons...stepping on an ant!Rated or unrated! And thats a Ha ha!

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wrecking_ball
01-Sep-14, 11:41

Defeating the so called draw weapon:"The Berlin Wall"

The statement below was from Brigadecommander in some other forum.I remembered that she had mentioned to me in the former club that I had going at the time that it was practically impossible for white to win against her "wall".I say,never "embrace" a statement like that based upon games between GM's who's outcome is many times a draw even with the best of play in all openings.While I admit that the Berlin Wall variation has drawish characteristics within its frame work,it is far from the same drawish characteristics that say,a Petrov game can have or even a Four Knights game.I have WON many times as white AGAINST the Berlin Wall and scoff at anyone simply when they say..."my wall is impregnable"!Below,she states that it is a good drawing weapon and I agree,but only to a point.It all boils down to who the heck you are playing,not because well,it "is a drawing weapon" or because someone feels that I will not be able to "crack"the wall based upon their former success with it as black or some GM games.

The Berlin Wall(quoted from brigadecommander)
"Also known as 'the Berlin Defense; to the Ruy Lopez. It is very hard for white to exploit an advantage given Black having the two bishops. It has been used successfully as a drawing weapon by Kramnik v Kasporov and other top players. It is for this reason i selected in against a GM i am currently playing,;gameknot.com. If one finds himself in a position in OTB where a draw is needed its a good Opening to use."

I have posted my WIN against Brigadecommander that CRUSHED & DESTROYED her Berlin Wall.I felt is was necessary to defeat her in this game,simply because it was my strong view that she was WAY overconfident in her ability to almost guarantee herself a draw against players when she used the "Wall".That may be true....but NOT with TA!!!!!Again,if I can defeat the Berlin Wall and i'm NOT a GM,then many others can win against the Berlin Wall as well.Keep in mind with the game link below,that Brigadecommander is a master,not a novice.Yes,the game is unrated and that was due to her "initially" suggesting it to be unrated.But being that it is not a game that I prefer as having "better"winning chances like other openings,it was best not played rated and I agreed to that unrated scenario as well.Yes,i'm not comfortable playing against the Berlin,yet I know from MY personal experience with it that I can defeat 2200+players with it.

Its actually,in my opinion "Bad Karma" to ever say..."I will not be defeated" or that "you will not be able to defeat the wall" ect ect ect.

Never put yourself out on a limb like that!There will always be some gunslinger somewhere who is just a bit faster in the draw than the overconfident gunslinger who tells the tales of the Berlin fast draw!

If I was going to claim that my defense was next to impossible to win against or so highly drawish in character that my opponent must or will draw at best,especially based upon past GM games,i'd atleast make it a Petrov game!Not the very winnable Berlin on the white side!
Now,do not misunderstand me.Brigadecommander managed draws with others using the Wall...I think Merlino(?)who is about 50 points in rating north of me and that is commendable,but certainly not enough "points on the line"against a good host of 2400-2500+ players that would take the white side of the Berlin and in my opinion... win.So,not enough evidence for a solid drawish conclusion to me,i'm afraid!I also have 2 draws against merlino and those were with stronger openings!

From a draw label to a win label on the "Berlin Defense":

Game:

game

Of course,you can see at the time,that my rating was several hundred points north of her,but technically,that's besides the point.Why?Because with her own words,she stated that she has used the "Berlin Wall" to draw...even against much stronger opponents.Well,i'm afraid,not me!!!And if i can defeat her wall,so can many others....logically!!!Enough said!!!!

At some time in the future,I can annotate some of this game,but not right now,no time.But its fairly easy to see whites advantageous Rook domination of the board in the endgame as opposed to blacks Rook pair which has the classic decreased point value structure.So it really boils down to better positional Rook strategy in this open endgame for white.

Also note:
The game above was an "agreed"game that was set up in a Berlin Wall fashion and was previously set up with preset plugged in moves ahead of time in a former club of mine.In reality,on a regular rated game,I would refrain from a Berlin and variate my moves as white....not because I was worried about losing,but on my level one must concentrate on "better"winning chances to avoid a draw if at all possible.The main reason?Because draws usually cost me alot of points.So it would be illogical to play a rated game on my 2500 level using an opening that does have a bit higher draw stat,even if it is winnable!Same way,if it was a Petrov Defense game.It would be even more highly retarded for me to play a rated game even with a 1900 rated player(and i'm 2500+) knowing ahead of time that I may very well lose 7 points or so for a game that has one of the highest draw statistics in history!

But the whole idea of this thread was to show the Berlin Defense can be crushed like giant foot weighing in at a hundred tons...stepping on an ant!Rated or unrated! And thats
a Ha ha!

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