Clearly not top 50

Here is a pretty cool attacking game by Magnus Carlsen. Powerful sacrifices with very long-term implications.

Black was lost after playing Qxe4. Never exchange queens voluntarily vs Magnus. He pulls half-points (full points in bullet) out of thin air in the endgame. That's what he's just done vs Wei Yi.

That opening looks Bowlgar approved.

it's weird that magnus whips out the good stuff in a meaningless internet game. but then again he's slightly stronger than me, so he probably knows what he's doing.

also i heard you guys need more posters. if so i can invite a few dozen of my friends.

All are welcome Judit!

or animal primary accounts (I've never had a gimmick - I don't like to split my post count).

This is the critical position of the former game. Najer (White) blundered with 27. Rd1-d3? (instead of 27. Ke2/Kf2/Qe2) and MVL (Black) found the killa move.

Is the engine Johnny 8 available anywhere for download? I can only find an old version.

Yes, I haven't done any chesswork in quite a while.

15 year old Iranian prodigy Parham Maghsoodloo is doing a thing. Rated 2501, officially still untitled (IM-elect with two GM norms though), he has a performance rating through eight rounds of the Stars Cup of...

paging TexAG

I'd like to get into competitive chess, mostly to beat my beginner friend. Any reading or video suggestion about how to get started? I'd like to learn things like opening, mid game, late game and how to create plan and think ahead.

Hi again, Lbox

The fastest way to improve for a non-master player is tactical training. Chesstempo is a great site allowing this, and it also has a game database that is useful in opening study (don't learn opening lines by heart; instead, try to understand the ideas behind the best-performing moves).

Also, lichess.org, the best server to play on, is constantly improving its learning facilities too - it now has a reportedly amazing Study tool.

I'm not knowledgeable about books (haven't read them since I got Internet access); there are a lot of positive testimonials about Jeremy Silman's works.

I don't watch many Youtube channels either. Out of those that I watch, I think MatoJelic (pronounced by Croatian rules - 'Mahto 'Yelich) is one of the most beginner-friendly (watch the Keres and Botvinnik playlists first - their play was certainly more logical than Alekhine's and especially Tal's, lol). As Mato doesn't play online and only produces thoroughly prepared videos with (usually) master game analysis, he's concise, doesn't ramble as much as those who stream their live play. His emphasis has historically been mainly on tactics but he's been adding some strategic insight lately too. As far as I remember, ChessNetwork (Jerry) is also very beginner-friendly.

Hey c00n thank you for the help. So happy that you suggested all those things instead of saying Google or chess.com

So I'm going to make a post that is mostly going to attract eyerolls but whatever.

I play almost entirely 3 min 0 inc blitz. I play for fun and while I hope I get better, I am not interested in studying the game seriously. My rating on lichess at the moment is 1783.

I'm trying to perfect an opening repertoire that is as chaotic as possible. The idea is to force my way into open, tactical positions where I will outplay my opponent. I hate getting forced into closed, positional games, especially if it's some pet line of my opponent's. My repertoire at the moment looks like this:

WHITE

1. e4
- Against ...e5, Nc3. Then against Nc6, the Vienna Gambit. Against Nf6, Bc4. Bc5 in response to this is a trap line, Qg4 guaranteeing an advantage for White. Against anything else I fall back to Bishop's Opening lines with d3 and a later try for f4.
- Against ...d5, the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
- Against ...c5, the Smith-Morra with 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 [anything] 5. f4
- Against ...d6 or ...g6, roll my eyes at hypermodern openings in blitz and either steamroll them with an attack or lose on time because I can't break down their position fast enough.
- Against ...c6, the Fantasy Variation, but I'm generally winging it a bit.
- Against ...e6: This is a problem for me. I loathe facing the French. Usually I play e5 immediately, take en passant on d6, then try to play f4 and d4 establishing a Maroczy Bind type situation on e5. This is not a good line, but I have no idea what else to do. I used to play the Reti Gambit (2. b3) but didn't like it.

BLACK

Against 1. e4, ... e5 and then against 2. Nf3, the Latvian Gambit (2 ...f5) which is horribly unsound but fun as hell. I can usually wing it OK against second moves other than Nf3.

Against 1. d4: This is kind of my inspiration for making the post. I play the barely-an-opening ...e5, the Englund Gambit. This only works well if my opponent has never encountered it before (which to be fair is the majority of the time). I'd be very happy to play something like the Albin Countergambit, but I'm going to want to kill myself if the opponent opts for some London System esque setup.

So basically I want:

- A better plan against 1. d4
- A better plan against 1. e4 e6

Also any suggestions of anything even more chaotic I can play elsewhere are appreciated. Any ideas?

This is from the Wiki article on the Latvian Gambit btw:

I should get a t-shirt to wear. I have however perfected the skills necessary to play the Latvian according to Paul van der Sterren:

I consider the Colorado Gambit (as part of a Nimzowitsch Defence repertoire) a better version of the Latvian one.

That said, it's not very sound either because, after 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 f5!? 3. exf5 d5 4. Bb5!, White is much better. Gunjan (GJ_Chess) avoided mentioning this line in his analysis. I've been looking at 4... a6!? 5. Ne5 axb5!? - a positional exchange sac leading to wild complications after 6. Qh5+ g6 7. fxg6 Nf6 8. g7+ Nxh5 9. gxh8=Q Qd6 (Berzinsch vs Buhmann, Hamburg, 2000). However, White can decline the sac - 5. Bxc6+ (Wallace vs Smirnov, Canberra, 2000) - and gain a sizeable structural advantage.

So 4. Bb5 looks like a refutation of the Colorado Gambit, but low-level players know it less often than the refutation of the Latvian (3. Nxe5).

I have nothing to add, but I like your attitude, Chris.

1. d4 h5! 2. [anything] h4!, with a strong attack.

^ Chessexplained would approve it (for '3 Minute Madness').

There's a bit more to the refutation than that. The line I hate seeing is this: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nxe5 Qf6 4. d4 d6 5. Nc4 fxe4 6. Nc3 Qg6 7. f3, leading to this position:



This is clearly horrific for Black, but there are so many places for White to deviate that I think I've faced this line like once or twice. Even if White deviates at move 7, if Black is allowed to get Nf6 and d5 on the board, the position is fine. Plus, even if they do reach this position they're usually like a minute down on time. If more people played this line then I would drop the Latvian like a white hot stone.

Colorado Gambit looks like a good time, thanks. I've considered taking up the Nimzowitsch in the past, I definitely hate seeing it as White and have no idea what to do against it, so I should probably learn the lines even if it's just to have a line against it.

Edit: Actually, given my predilections, what line would you recommend against it as White?

Hmm that Bb5 line in the Colorado does look pretty gross and looks like exactly what people are likely to play tbh. The saving grace might be that people just robotically play Ba4? in response to a6, by analogy with the Ruy Lopez. Is there an alternative to 3 ...d5?

lol

As per Chesstempo, d4 is as popular as Bb5 in 2200+ play (there are 37 games for each of the moves), though of course Bb5 scores much better.

However, in the FICS opening DB (the go-to DB for low-level games), Bb5 was only played 19.9% of the time, while d4 was played in 55.9% of cases - with White scoring less than Black.

I've never seen Ba4 in this position in DBs. It doesn't look analogous to Ruy Lopez because here, Black can't recapture on c6 with the d-pawn, and perhaps most White players understand it. The position is more analogous to a reversed Nimzo Indian or a sideline of the Moscow Sicilian where the exchange that doubles pawns on the c-file is more or less standard (1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Nc6 4. Bxc6+ is OK, though 4. O-O is the most played).

Stockfish 7 slightly prefers 3... d6, though it also runs into Bb5 or even d2-d4-d5. Engines look only at opponent's best responses, though. Against a weak White opponent, 3... d5 is clearly better because then Black often ends up with a formidable centre.

In lack of theory, 4. Bb5 seems the only known line against the Colorado that clearly favours White. So I can't recommend anything else for White besides it.