Sunday, December 02, 2007

Swift kill with the Icelandic Gambit

Yesterday my opponent underestimated the Icelandic gambit. Or how to win in 13 moves.

At the club I had my first win with the Polar Bear. Allthough I mistreated the opening (according to my own feeling, not according to Rybka) it was surprising how resilient the pawn structure is. I have to learn how to keep the hostile pieces out. That's doable perfectly well, I just have to learn how to do it under all circumstances. Often it even proves to be possible to drive invaded pieces back, as in this game. But preventing invasion in first place is much better of course. You can find the game here.

I'm looking for a free chess client for someone for who Babaschess is way too complicated. It must have a simple possibility to chat. Idea's anyone?

7 comments:

  1. yep, that rook move in the leningrad looked weird. delays the e5, and you usually need it to ram the f-pawn up. the whole idea with the f-pawn is that if white takes it, you get a nice open line without developing the rook... I would've kicked the bishop with h6 right away, although I don't know if it's really necessary. you need to keep an eye on that g6 after that though... exchanging the knight on e4 looks nasty for white as well, and indeed danielsen seems to do it a lot.

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  2. Nice way to pry open his position with the Icelandic. I've been playing it a little lately as it opens up things more than responding c6 to c4. Usually in this variation white doesn't have as much trouble closing things up (even though theoretically it is better than the Icelandic gambit...I am finding that soundness is boring and unecessary at my level).

    It's great that you have found a response to d4 that you like. What a crazy opening that is.

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  3. I used CClient for many years before switching to babaschess. The default colors on CClient are (to me) ugly, but you can change them to your liking and I think the interface is very simple -- I loved it for a long time (actually, I still like the interface compared to babas because it is less complicated, but babas has more other features).

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  4. Okay, so let me get this straight. The Bird is the Polar Bear and the Dutch Leningrad is the Icelandic Gambit. I'm starting to get a bit confused here. I mean, the two games you show, one is a Scandinavian and the other one a Dutch Leningrad. Anyway, cool games. Especially that Dutch one. National Master Michael Aigner aka fpawn wrote up some Dutch stuff that you might be interested in.

    Edwin.
    The Chess of Edwin Meyer.

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  5. Edwin,
    the Icelandic gambit has nothing to do with the Polar Bear, the Bird or the Dutch Leningrad. The IG is a variation of the Scandinavian defense.

    The Dutch defence is a defense for black with 1. ... f5 as you, given your (previous?) nickname of course know. The Leningrad variation of the Dutch defense is with a fianchettoed bishop.

    The Bird with white starts with 1. f4
    The Dutch Leningrad in the forehand = a variation of the bird with a fianchettoed bishop.

    The Polar Bear is an improved version of the Dutch Leningrad both with white and black.

    (Polar Bird?:)

    Thx for the link, I will check it out.

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  6. I know what the Dutch and the Bird is. I just wasn't familiar with the Icelandic Gambit. 1.e4 d5 is just Scandinavian to me. But thanks for clearing things up.

    Edwin.

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