*** Chess BBV *** - Page 7 - Chess and Board Game Strategy

Escape · 03-30-2009, 09:41 AM

Hi guys,

I've been lurking for a while and really started to enjoy chess again. I used to play when I was a lot younger (like 9-12yo), but lost interested. Now it's back again i've been playing on fics and some on yahoo. Watched quite a few videos on chessvideos.tv but i still blunder a lot of pieces in blitz games and have a ~1200 rating on fics fwiw.

I used to play on a club and i'm going back to see what's up and might join again if I enjoy the athmosphere. Somewhat scared that I'm the only player in the 20ish range, concidering it's not a huge chessclub. Might even post my first match here if im playing tonight.

Oh and curtains, love your videos man!

**BobJoeJim** · 03-30-2009, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garcia1000

I always get Discipline and Dire confused because their names begin and end with the same letters. Does anyone else have this problem?

Happens to me all the time.

Discipline · 03-30-2009, 04:26 PM

For the record, I never confuse myself with Dire, so I don't know what's wrong with you guys.

**RoundTower** · 03-30-2009, 05:51 PM

think we need a chess forum survivor, so only one of them is left

TimM · 03-30-2009, 07:39 PM

Either that or make them get avatars (would be funny if they choose the same one).

Discipline · 03-30-2009, 08:42 PM

Or we could each pick avatars and then randomly swap them just to mess with you whiners.

garcia1000 · 03-30-2009, 10:52 PM

Hey guys,

I'm probably going to make Caro-Kann my main black opening, I've been preparing by playing 1...d5 as that gets into similar positions a lot.

Any advice
Also why is black's c8 bishop so good

Discipline · 03-30-2009, 11:28 PM

I wouldn't play the Caro Kahn because it's not my style, but it's a perfectly good opening. Be prepared to defend during the middlegame, though.

I've never played the Kahn, but I suppose that Black's light-squared bishop is boog because the Kahn is a "light-square defense", in the sense that Black tries from move 2 to challenge the light squares in the center.

**BobJoeJim** · 03-31-2009, 12:30 AM

So as black I've always played 1. d4 d5, just because it seems like the standard classical idea and I've never studied anything else. I really don't enjoy the queen's gambit though, and always hate when I see d4, I don't like the kind of positions it leads to, so I'm thinking about giving something else a try. The king's indian seems reasonable, if for no other reason than that it's the most common defense played at top levels.

Could someone give me a super basic beginner's summary of what I need to know if I want to play it? Principles only, no theory please, I'm a D class player at best and don't need theory right now, but I would like to know what basic themes I should keep an eye out for and pay attention to when I first start out. Also, what kind of positions does it lead to, in a general stylistic sense? Is it a good alternative for someone who feels super cramped in the queen's gambit and likes wide open games? Or is there some other response to d4 that I might enjoy more that would be better for me to put my energy toward?

Discipline · 03-31-2009, 01:51 AM

My advice would be to flip through MCO and set up the "final positions" from various main lines against 1. d4, and pick the opening whose main line leads to the position you'd be most comfortable playing as Black. It really doesn't matter what the top players are doing since you're a D player.

Dire · 03-31-2009, 05:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garcia1000

Hey guys,

I'm probably going to make Caro-Kann my main black opening, I've been preparing by playing 1...d5 as that gets into similar positions a lot.

Any advice
Also why is black's c8 bishop so good

Assuming this is related to my comment on your latest game. The reason your bishop was so good in that position was just mobility relative to your other pieces. You only had one other piece developed and it was a standard knight with no real future. Your b8 knight was going to be quite poor for a long time, and your dark bishop was still entombed. So your light bishop, even if just by the process of elimination, is by far your best piece.

It had alot of potential diagonals to pressurize and you could do a variety of things with it as white has alot of potentially vulnerable light squares, such as c2/e4/etc. If you compare white's light bishop, which you ended up trading it for, it has no future at all. Black has no light square weaknesses at all, and the bishop has no future anywhere anytime soon.

Dire · 03-31-2009, 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BobJoeJim

So as black I've always played 1. d4 d5, just because it seems like the standard classical idea and I've never studied anything else. I really don't enjoy the queen's gambit though, and always hate when I see d4, I don't like the kind of positions it leads to, so I'm thinking about giving something else a try. The king's indian seems reasonable, if for no other reason than that it's the most common defense played at top levels.

Could someone give me a super basic beginner's summary of what I need to know if I want to play it? Principles only, no theory please, I'm a D class player at best and don't need theory right now, but I would like to know what basic themes I should keep an eye out for and pay attention to when I first start out. Also, what kind of positions does it lead to, in a general stylistic sense? Is it a good alternative for someone who feels super cramped in the queen's gambit and likes wide open games? Or is there some other response to d4 that I might enjoy more that would be better for me to put my energy toward?

I like the nimzo indian paired with the QID in the case of d4 Nf6 c4 e6 Nf3. The positions are alot more idea based than theory based, and it gives a ton of ways for white to go wrong. I've probably had more miniatures against 2100+ players in the nimzo/QID than I've had in any other opening (including as white!). Even Spassky fell to a beautiful miniature against the QID against Tal in their famous game.

I'm not fond of the KID since I think it's one of the few openings where I think it's quite difficult to just play by ideas as opposed to theory. And I haven't been following contemporary chess theory in a long time, but in the past Kramnik had basically buried the KID at top level play with his improvements in the bayonet attack. Is it really the most common opening played at the top once again?

The ideas behind the KID are quite simple. Develop your pieces, get the center closed, push all your pawns onto white's kingside, sacrifice your light squared bishop, mate white. Do all this while preventing black from creating lots of little queens on the queenside.

**BobJoeJim** · 03-31-2009, 06:20 AM

Upon further review it's possible that 1. ... Nf6 isn't necessarily the KID, like I thought it was. As I said it's an opening sequence that I know nothing about

What I should have said is that Nf6 is more common than d5, but I suppose you're not locked into one specific defense yet at that point. I'll take a look at this nimzo/QID you speak of

Dire · 03-31-2009, 09:26 AM

Yeah, the indians just refer to the fianchetto'd bishops. Not exactly PC is that, eh?

So KID is 'defined' by the setup with g6/Bg7/Nf6/d6. Although white's setup is certainly relevant. It's not a system, but I think any noncastrated white player is going to happily play against the KID.

Nimzo is just d4 Nf6 c4 e6 Nc3 Bb4. QID is d4 Nf6 c4 e6 Nf3 b6, both with the broad general idea of fighting for e4.

Dire · 03-31-2009, 03:55 PM

[Event "18th Amber Rapid"]
[Site "Nice FRA"]
[Date "2009.03.21"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Aronian, L."]
[Black "Kramnik, V."]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A13"]
[WhiteElo "2750"]
[BlackElo "2759"]
[PlyCount "82"]
[EventDate "2009.03.14"]

1. c4 e6 2. Nf3 d5 3. cxd5 exd5 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 Bd6 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Re8 8.
d3 h6 9. Qc2 c5 10. e4 Nc6 11. Nxd5 Nxd5 12. exd5 Nb4 13. Qb3 Bf5 14. Ne1 Qc7
15. Qc4 Rab8 16. a3 b5 17. Qc3 Na6 18. Nc2 c4 19.
dxc4 bxc4 20. Nd4 Bd3 21. Re1 Be5 22. Rxe5 Qxe5 23. Bf4 Qf6 24. Bxb8 Rxb8 25.
b4 Nc7 26. Rc1 Re8 27. h3 Qe5 28. Qa1 Nxd5 29. Nb5 Nxb4 30. axb4 Qxb5 31. Qxa7
Qxb4 32. Bd5 Re7 33. Qd4 Qd2 34. Rxc4 Qe1+ 35. Kg2 Bf1+ 36. Kh2 Bxc4 37. Bxc4
Re4 38. Qd8+ Kh7 39. Bd3 Qxf2+ 40. Kh1 Qe1+ 41. Kg2 Qd2+ 0-1

I was just looking over this game from the recent amber. I think it's seriously instructive. It's incredible how Kramnik with sharp play turns a seemingly innocuous position into a wild initiative with an unclear pawn sac against another super gm. Although I think his 21st move was surely just a blunder.

Just made me realize how mentally lazy and weak/passive I am when playing positions. Moves like 7. .. c6 have become way too automatic. I even want to give 7. .. c6 a ?! since it's not really an immediately necessary move and it seriously restricts black's options while giving white an easier game than he deserves. In fact, in my database every single time a 2500+ has gotten into that position he has chosen 7. .. Re8. Not really an ah-hah moment, but that's pretty amazing.