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 re: Important quotesThanks, commander! |
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must study Morphy game!! |
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re: must study Morphy game!! |
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So young!!! |
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A Slav Sampler. The Slav is solid defence. It can also be a hard nut to crack, as it’s formidable. Black’s d5 pawn is supported by c6 with Black’s Queen’s Bishop ready to enter the fray, usually around Bf5. White’s usual set up is d4 and c4 with Nf3. That Bf5 is aimed into White’s Queenside, where White is aiming for building up an attack. Heady stuff, indeed. There are numerous books on the Slav and more will be written with derivative titles like ‘Win with the Slav’, and ‘Beat the Slav’. I’m not a Grandmaster, not even a master. I’m just an average ‘woodpusher’ who relies on luck and limited analytical ability to win games. The ‘Win with…’ and ‘Beat the …’ books are as much as mystery to me as String theory. Strings and Openings rely a lot on theory, based on practice, that I don’t fully understand. To be honest, the more theory the less I understand and when I see half a column of chess analyses pertaining to move eight I go to move nine. My head has enough difficulty remembering what day of the week it is much less move four of line C1211. I’ve played against a few Slav defences over the years with mixed results. Lately, there are two; the first that I lost and the second that I won. The first game I felt that I should have won as my opponent didn’t follow the books in the opening. Playing mechanically, I brought out my Knights and so forth for quick development, hoping that would be enough for a win. Yes, Hope, is part of my game plan. After losing that game I sulked for a while then I looked at the opening moves. That game went: 1.d4, d5 2.c4,c6 3.Nf3, Bf5 4.Nc3,e6 5.Qb3,b6 Now the books say 5. …, Qc8 or Qb6 give White a small advantage—but this is at Grandmaster level. The move 5. …,b6 is supposed to give White a bigger advantage according to Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings Vol D 3—again at Grandmaster level. My opponent just played a weak move so I had a real advantage according to the Encyclopaedia. I could feel my ELO points rise along with my pulse. We were following the game Ribli - Kurajica, Novi Sad 1982 that led to a lovely little + sign sitting on top of the — for White. With the win in hand I played: 6.cxd5 to which my opponent played: 6. …, cxd5 I panicked. The recapture was supposed to be exd5, not cxd5! Nowhere could I find 6. …,cxd5. I was now on my own, played Bf4, and managed to lose the game. Bf4 wasn’t the losing move but it probably just added towards the loss. I played the same opponent a while later and we were back in Slav territory. The game went: 1.d4, d5 2.c4,c6 3.Nf3, Bf5 4.Nc3,e6 5.Qb3,b6 I couldn’t see anything better than cxd5 so I played that next. 6. cxd5 To which my opponent, again, replied, 6. …, cxd5 The Ribli - Kurajica game went 6.cxd5, exd5 7. e4! dxe4 8.Ne5, Be6 9.Bc4, Bxc4 10. Qxc4, Qe7 11. Nc6, Qc7 12. d5 with a clear advantage to White. This is Grandmaster level. At my level I could have two Queens against either of these men and still lose. However, 7. e4 received a ! What difference could it make with 6. …, cxd5? I looked at the board. Black’s Queen’s Bishop couldn’t go to e6. If I played e4 I’d be sacrificing a pawn but I’d also be opening up the diagonal for my King’s Bishop to go to Bb5+. I feel that an exclamation mark should go with Bb5+ but humility doesn’t allow me to add it. So, I played: 7. e4, dxe4 8. Bb5+, Nd7 9. Ne5, Ngf6 10. Bg5, Be7 For the sacrifice of a pawn White has a tremendous attack, has pinned Black’s Knights and has blocked the Bf5’s diagonal with its own pawn. So, though 5. …,b6 gives White an advantage at Grandmaster level it doesn’t mean a win for White at Woodpusher level. However, fellow Woodpushers, after 6.cxd5, cxd5 7. e4, dxe4, 8. Bb5+ Black’s game is in dire, dire difficulties. |
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not bad poltroon!! |
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Very nicely done, Poltroon Poltroon has written a couple of other articles on chess and hopefully he will share them with us on this thread. |
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Must view Endgame puzzle |
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brigadecommander it to be very rewarding. I would also llike to inform you that I sent for the 1908-1937 book copy on "My Best Games of CHESS" Alexander Alekhine, and will begin to study the games. I want everyone to know that you are one of the best friends I have come to know. Julio |
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stealth |
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stealth If you'd like to try it send me a PM and we can work out the specifics. jc |
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Very Interesting! |
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Standard chess game with commentary - Dutch Defense, Leningrad |
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c: stealth My copy of Alekhine's My Best Games of Chess 1908-1937 arrived. Do you have any recommendations on playing through the games, i.e, what to look for in his games and annotations? What was the process you used when you played through his games? |
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John Consider this; Alekhine was the most feared Attacking player of all time. But he also could play perfect Positional chess (he beat Capablanca). The following game was against Nimzowitch;youtu.be |
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Speyer (Speijer) v Alekhine, 1910 www.chessgames.com 1) Alekhine states that white's move 6.Qf3 is not good since "...the White pieces will find themselves on unfavorable squares." Question: Which squares are favorable? And do "favorable" or good squares depend on the opening or are they a constant set of squares? 2) Alekhine describes 7.Bb5 as "compulsory after the last move (6...Nbc6)". What makes it compulsory? Couldn't the d5pawn get support from other moves? Thanks in advance. jc |
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john |
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