This year I changed my opening repertoire radically towards a more positional style. The London System with 2.Bf4 for white, Classical Dutch and Accelerated Dragon with black.
The London and the Dutch are doing well (despite the Brexit). But I don't like the positions that arise from the Accelerated Dragon. The proposed repertoire by Andrew Greet is not to my taste.
So I'm looking further for something to replace the Accelerated Dragon. I dabbled around with 1. ... b6, the Hippopotamus, the Hedgehog and that kind of stuff. I tried to revive The Black Lion. I even had a look at 1.e4 e5.
I have tried to play the Caro Kann all the way back in 2009, but I had no idea what I was doing by then. Not that my results were all that bad, but I didn't grasp the idea's behind the opening. Idea's usually means variations in the realm of chess. The positions that arose from the Caro Kann felt totally alien to me. After a year or so, I abandoned it for that very reason.
Now I study My System from Aron Nimzowitsch, matters are starting to look different. I reread the book of Jovanka Houska. Slowly the positions that arise from the Caro Kann are starting to make sense. One big change is that I no longer sail blind on the judgment of Houska. When she proposes a repertoire line that seems illogical to me, I do my own research and create my own line with the aid of GM Stockfish and Nimzowitsch. She advises to accept the pawn from the Blackmar Diemer Gambit, for instance. But that just doesn't make sense. Why throwing chum into a shark tank? You can simply decline the gambit and steer away from pawn grabbing in the opening (Nimzowitsch warns against that!) and the unnecessary complications that come along with it.
So, I'm going to give the Caro Kann a try. Again.
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I am playing the hyper accelerated Dragon and im happy with it. when you play the english you may play "that" as white to.
ReplyDeleteI think it makes sense to try to keep the payed pawnstructures small:
g3..c4 vs e5 , g6..c5 vs e4
I'm quite sure the Hyper Accelerated is a very good opening. It might even suit me, at any moment in the not foreseeable future. But for now I lack the knowledge to play it with confidence. I'm learning a lot from My System lately. And I figure that if that might proceed for the next two years or so, I would obtain sufficient baggage to play it. I don't write the (hyper) accelerated off as of yet. But for now, the Caro Kann seems to be appropriate enough.
DeleteA somewhat surprising yet not unexpected side effect of my new opening repertoire is that I end up in an end game. For years my all out attacks used to end in the middle game.
ReplyDeleteSo I get an ending usually with good prospects, lately. Which I tend to mess up before you can say Jack Robinson. But that is another problem that has to be addressed in the not so distant future.
Gosh, I might end up actually playing chess, some day.
Watch the youtube videos about your openings, especially the playlists like https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFUfscMAZ7w&list=PLs9uCtrcZ9lzjcPvTZ-5Wm7e1lJONS63w
DeleteAre there any chess websites worth paying for? (I'm a paying member of Chess Tempo). What about chess.com, chess24, chessgames.com?
ReplyDeleteAfter a period of experimentation at the beginning of my chess career, the Caro-Kann has been a very stable and reliable part of my repertoire - in fact the only 1. e4 defense I play. You can get unbalanced positions with it in some variations if you truly want to, but I generally find it to be a calm, counter-punching experience where Black is fine pursuing reasonable ideas while waiting for White to go wrong. The only knock I have against it is that White can force some very drawish lines. I've experienced some well-played and clean draws against players around 300 rating points below me who just played solidly. So if you are an aggressive tournament player looking to win all the time, I expect something more unbalancing as a defense for 1. e4 will also be needed in the repertoire.
ReplyDeleteRe: chess websites, I've been a Chess.com member for a long time. The video archives and online interactive lessons are probably worth it. It's not really a place for valuable community interaction, although some of the more serious blogs are pretty good. I link to some of the ones by improving players off of my own.
The only knock I have against it is that White can force some very drawish lines.
DeleteWhich lines are that?
If you have not done so previously, I suggest searching ChessAdmin's excellent blog Path to Chess Mastery for all references to Caro-Kann. He has a number of GM games and a lot of his own games with excellent commentary by him, fact-checked by Komodo. There is an emphasis on WHY he played (or did not play) certain moves, supplemented with variations. All it costs is some time to work through the games. I also like having games by club level players interspersed with GM games. I can often understand the club level games, but not necessarily the GM games without a long study time. I have not reviewed all of his posts, so I don't know if he provided the information about the "forced drawing lines" or not.
DeleteI realize my question is a bit lazy. But the good thing is, now I know he has a chess blog. I will have a look in due time.
DeleteDoes anyone know The Method In Chess from Iossif Dorfman?
ReplyDeleteRe: The Method in Chess - Iossif Dorfman
ReplyDeleteI do not have this book, and have no idea what the "method" is. That said, here is a link to a negative review by IM John Watson:
One Good, One Bad [Part One]
I have no dog in this fight.
That said, if my decision was based solely on Watson's review, I will not be purchasing this book.