makes no sense including Nc6 but not c5, the response that arguably gives white the least tactical fun, is easy to learn and has the only drawback that you have to be prepared to play a sicilian.

f) ...c5 obv is my choice, 1. Nc3 c5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 d5! is a very reliable system, as endorsed by Palliser. Anything else by White either transposes to the Closed Sicilian, which is fine for Black, or is even more harmless (White can't really try to achieve an advantage without playing either e4 or d4 here).

Yeah it seems like playing 1. c4 or 1...c5 is basically the winning move against all possible white openings

Also transposes to the Grand Prix - another opening, like the Closed Sicilian, imo that doesn't give much of an opening advantage to White.

I also concur with 1.. c5 being the best choice as long as Sicilian is in your repertoire. If it isn't then 1.. d5 should be your choice and I think White would play 2. e4

i've played 1.nc3 d5 2.e4 d4 3.nce2 nf6 in blitz, people like to get confused after 4.ng3 h5 (5.h4 is white's best and about equal) 5.e5 h4

I think I'm now infatuated with YaacovN. Played him today and the game was so interesting. He plays so very basic. His moves are all very simple and fundamental, but they work together such that he is an incredibly strong player. Maybe not exciting, but the fact that his style can be so effective is just fascinating.

Man-crush itt

Yeah Yaacov is a cool guy. Fischer also had a "simplistic style" -- Strong chess play is rooted in the fundamentals anyway..

Morozevich and Vachier-Lagrave played an unbelievable game today in Biel.

The game featured:
- a knight sacrifice by Morozevich for which he got a strong attack;
- a missed instant win on move 26;
- a great defensive performance by Vachier resulting in
- the promotion of the a-pawn to a new queen during the middlegame;
- a rook en prise by a pawn for 24 straight moves not being actually taken;
- but a knight being taken by the same pawn on the same square two moves after the rook had moved away;
- Vachier simplifying into an endgame with a rook and a knight (which he later sacrifices) up;
- long manoeuvering by Vachier because he can't put his extra rook to use (it has to guard a queening square);
- and finally the use of zugzwang to free the rook and finally win.

An incredible game. Sample position:



Scoresheet:

Alexander Morozevich - Maxime Vachier-Lagrave [B80]
42nd Int'l Chess Festiva Biel/Switzerland (8), 28.07.2009

1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.f3 e6 7.Be3 b5 8.Qd2 Nbd7 9.g4 h6 10.0-0-0 b4 11.Nce2 Qc7 12.h4 d5 13.Nf4 e5 14.Nfe6 fxe6 15.Nxe6 Qa5 16.exd5 Qxa2 17.Qd3 Kf7 18.g5 Nxd5 19.Bh3 Nxe3 20.Nd8+ Ke7 21.Nc6+ Kf7 22.g6+ Kg8 23.Qxe3 Bc5 24.Qe4 Nf8 25.Rd8 Bb7 26.Rxa8 Bxa8 27.h5 Rh7 28.Re1 Bxc6 29.Qxc6 Bd4 30.Kd2 Qxb2 31.Qc4+ Kh8 32.Kd3 a5 33.Qc8 Qa3+ 34.Ke4 b3 35.cxb3 a4 36.Rb1 Qb4 37.Qc4 Qb7+ 38.Qd5 Qb4 39.Qc4 Qd2 40.Bg4 a3 41.Qf7 Qc2+ 42.Kd5 Qc5+ 43.Ke4 a2 44.Rc1 a1Q 45.Rxc5 Bxc5 46.Qd5 Qe1+ 47.Kd3 Qd1+ 48.Kc4 Qxd5+ 49.Kxd5 Ba3 50.Bf5 Kg8 51.Kxe5 Rh8 52.Kd5 Nh7 53.gxh7+ Kf7 54.Bg6+ Kf6 55.f4 Bc1 56.f5 Bd2 57.Kd6 Be1 58.Kd7 Bb4 59.Kc7 Ke5 60.Kd7 Ba3 61.Kc6 Kd4 62.Kc7 Kc3 63.Kd7 Kb4 64.Kd6 Kxb3+ 65.Kd5 Bb2 66.Kd6 Bf6 67.Kc5 Kc3 68.Kd6 Kd4 69.Kc6 Rd8 70.Kb6 Kd5 71.Kc7 Kc5 72.Bf7 g5 73.fxg6 Rd6 74.Be8 Be5 75.Kb7 Rb6+ 76.Kc8 Kd6 0-1

These low content threads be damned. That's an awesome post [and game] for its own thread!

That's really an absurd game ((-: I got told about it today and after replaying it, it is even more insane as I imagined after having been told about it...

I'm trying to figure out the rook enprise move - I mean sure, the pawn might be useful in a mating attack, but in retrospect, it looks like not taking the rook was the deal clincher for black's win -

I couldn't figure out the instawin on move 26 - had to pull up rybka

rb

great article from chess cafe archives about 1. Nc3 - (link is only to the front page - probably good for a day or two) -


http://www.chesscafe.com/fromarchive/fromarchive.htm (current archive front page with article)
http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz25.txt (text archive since the above link changes about every week)

interesting stuff in there

rb

I am very dissapointed in myself as I didn't find any freakin time to have a couple beers with RoundTower. Sorry man

Omaha is a game for f*(#ing luckbox ******s who can't even spell poker but push with any god damn draw and hit it even if they are 20-80 dogs all the god damn time. /rant

I have a friend of mine who is a chess master who plays PLO Omaha, and he likes to play HU (up to 5/10) and just push every hand preflop.

and no that friend isn't me.

and no you can't have his handle. (pm me for negotiations)

i heard from a GM that Mikhail Gurevich tends to raise every single hand in live PLO.

Ya I'm not surprised, I heard he was a hudge fish

what's the client of choice for fics?

Babas Chess IMO.

+1

It's a little complicated to find the best settings but ask someone in the help channel about it and that should take care of any confusion.

youth vs "old" (not really old seeing they have players like Svidler) live games currently at http://www.nhchess.com/PGNViewer/live.html

Thief is great in its simplicity if you like using console commands instead of automated stuff

Anyone from here going to play Southwest open by any chance?

In honor of my avatar:

Somebody's Watching Me (Song in New Geico Commercials)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hqBX...eature=related


Chess Low Content: I was watching Shaq Vs. on TV and I thought it would be pretty cool if there was a show where celebrities played eachother in chess.

I prefer winboard, it has everything I need, nice looking.
Used it since the earliest days, so familiar.
Created by Tim Mann who we see here also.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=5717

Cliffnotes: V. Akobian plays someone i've never heard before of for the WCF World Championship title.

Does anyone know if they are actually serious? And why does a respected GM like Akobian take part in this crap?

edit: upon googleing, it looks like a hoax.