The opening conundrum
At least I have made a start with solving the opening conundrum. As usual, to find a beginning is the most difficult part.
I have adopted the Chessable course My first opening repertoire for black from GM Jon Ludvig Hammer. That should be a ridiculous idea, because that course is aiming at 1000-1300 rating. Yet it isn't so ridiculous at all. I played 4 games with it after studying it for a few days. Two wins, two draws.
The opening has one simple goal, getting you safe to the middlegame without falling for an opening trap. The method is simple:
- Put a stake in the center with e6 d5
- Develop your kingside pieces Nf6 and Be7
- Castle. Often you are castled on move 5
- Fianchetto your light squared bishop Bb7
- Nbd7
- Attack the center with c5
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| White to move |
The first thing I noticed is that the opening stage is about the LoAs (lines of attack) too. I already guessed that, ofcourse.
Take for instance the light squared bishop from c8. It can develop to g4, f5 or e6 (when the e pawn is traded). Or to b7 or a6. It depends from the circumstances where it goes. But nine times out of ten it ends up on b7. It is the bad bishop. The standard scenario is when a white pawn appears on e4 to hack that pawn off with dxe4, thus widening the scope of your bad bishop.
The first move is 1. ... e6 to everything. The good thing is that this fits in in the opening family I want to play:
- Classical dutch
- French
- Nimzo Indian
- Vienna variation of QGD
- 1. ... b6 to everything
I was going to start with "An interesting post". however all of your posts are, so that seemed a bit unnecessary although entirely true !
ReplyDeleteYour observation that the opening course you chose is aimed at 100-1300 is a good one.
After doing my own thing for quite a while I picked up a second-hand copy of Vincent Moret's "A beginners opening repertoire for Black", which is aimed at children and/or beginners, and have had both enjoyment and success with it using openings that I would not have chosen myself, but which have proved useful and practical.
The Scandinavian against e4, means I nearly always have 'my opening' played in one variation or another, and against d4, I invariably see an 'Albin' against the Queen's Gambit, or can play a Dutch/Stonewall against most other things, even Nf3. He gives excellent verbal explanations as well, and if it isn't 2024-proof, it doesn't matter much since, as you say it is rare to see theory further than 5 or 6 moves.
Even more so, at my level ( now 1500s ) the level of player I meet is not booked-up with super theory and I will often see 'd4 system' chess ( London, Colle etc ) played as White, although in League games it can be normal for me to meet players rated 150-200 higher than me, since now the lower divisions see new teams starting at the bottom with high-rated students and juniors discovering chess ).
Moret stresses e4 as White ( I bought into his White repertoire as well) , which always bothered me, but even there, following his recommendation against the Sicilian ( which I dreaded playing against previously ) I now feel more confident and am happy to see the Sicilian on the board !
Nowadays, its the Caro-Kann and French that can cause issues, although these are rarer to see than a reply of e5 ( leading to the Italian Game ) or c5 & the Sicilian.
The next stage for me is to develop general middle-game plans a lot more as its clear that this is where I go astray.
Here I have taken a recommendation of yours and am "Seizing the Centah", guided by Andras Toth and his chessable course, which is vey enjoyable.
Looking forward to further insights from your progress, with a view to guiding my own !
It seems to me that everything is covered now. Making progress is now a matter of daily exercise. Which has become a habit the past 25 years anyway.
ReplyDeleteOnly one area isn't covered yet. The endgame. I'm going to look whether I can discover what the right angle of attack is.
I have a lot further to go.
DeleteMy tactics are competent enough for my level, however it is the middle-game where I tend to lose the plot and let my opponent back in, so my focus is there for the moment. The technical endgame is OK, although the general endgame, ie the strategy to reach a technical one, is a struggle.
Daily exercise is a key, although finding time to effective training when working as well, can prove a challenge.
The 'Seize the Centre" course is inspiring as Toth is a great teacher. The videos are very good indeed, with a lot of extra tips and techniques that do not appear in the move-trainer section.
If there is something similar for Endgames, it will be good to see.
I look forward to seeing your posts and results !
What I find to be very helpful for the middlegame too is The art of exchanging pieces of Can Kabadayi.
DeleteGiven your choices for the opening, I found the following interesting game while combing through YouTube videos. (The game score is from Chess Tempo. Problem 138561 is from this game, after Black’s 56th move.) It starts off relatively calm but gets “interesting” after White’s 16th move. There are quite a few hidden tactics (not reflected in the actual game moves) that Black used to grab and hold on to the initiative. Unfortunately, Lipnitsky misplayed his advantage in time trouble and only managed to get a draw after a very long drawn-out game. The game illustrates how to utilize that “bad” c8-Bishop with the “Ba6”move to divert a critical defender. The fireworks are over after move 30 or so.
ReplyDeleteWhy did White not grab the proffered Bishop on move 17?
Khalilbeili, Sultan (2524) vs Lipnitsky, Isaac (2700)
Date: 1954
Event: URS Team Ch, Riga LAT
Round: 3
Result: ½-½
Opening: Colle System, Traditional Colle (D05)
Problems: 138561
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 e6 3. e3 d5 4. Bd3 c5 5. c3 Nc6 6. Nbd2 Bd6 7. O-O O-O 8. dxc5 Bxc5 9. e4 Qc7 10. Qe2 Ng4 11. h3 Nge5 12. Bc2 b6 13. Re1 d4 14. Nxe5 Nxe5 15. cxd4 Bxd4 16. Nb3 Ba6 17. Qd1 Bxf2+ 18. Kxf2 Rfd8 19. Bd2 Nc4 20. e5 Nxd2 21. Nxd2 Qc5+ 22. Re3 Qb4 23. Bxh7+ Kf8 24. Kg1 Qxb2 25. Qc1 Rxd2 26. Qxb2 Rxb2 27. Be4 Rb8 28. Rd1 Rxa2 29. Rd7 Bb5 30. Rc7 Be8 31. h4 a5 32. h5 Rd2 33. g4 Rd7 34. Rc2 Rbd8 35. g5 Rd1+ 36. Kh2 R1d2+ 37. Rxd2 Rxd2+ 38. Kg3 f5 39. Bf3 Rc2 40. Rd3 b5 41. Rd6 b4 42. Rd8 Ke7 43. Rb8 Rc3 44. Kf4 Rc4+ 45. Kg3 Rc3 46. Kf4 Rc4+ 47. Kg3 a4 48. h6 gxh6 49. gxh6 Bg6 50. Rb7+ Kd8 51. Rg7 f4+ 52. Kh4 Bd3 53. h7 Bxh7 54. Rxh7 b3 55. Rb7 Rc3 56. Bg4 a3 57. Bxe6 b2 58. Ba2 Re3 59. e6 f3 60. Kg3 Re2 61. Kxf3 b1=Q 62. e7+ Rxe7 63. Rxb1 Rh7 64. Ke4 Rh2 65. Bd5 Rb2 66. Rh1 Kc7 67. Kd4 Kb6 68. Rh6+ Kb5 69. Kc3 Kc5 70. Bc4 Rb1 71. Rh5+ Kb6 72. Bb3 Kc6 73. Kb4 Ra1 74. Rh2 Kb6 75. Ba2 Rc1 76. Kxa3 Kc5 77. Rh5+ Kd4 78. Kb4 Rc7 79. Rd5+ Ke4 80. Bc4 Rh7 81. Rd8 Ke5 82. Kc3 Rh3+ 83. Bd3 Rh6 84. Re8+ Re6 85. Rh8 Re7 86. Rh5+ Kf4 87. Kd2 Re5 88. Rh4+ Kg5 89. Ra4 Kf6 90. Be4 Rb5 91. Ke3 Ke5 92. Bd3 Rd5 93. Bc4 Rc5 94. Kd3 Rc7 95. Ra5+ Kf4 96. Kd4 Re7 97. Bd3 Rd7+ 98. Kc3 Ke3 99. Re5+ Kf4 100. Re4+ Kf3 101. Kd2 Rg7 102. Re5 Rg2+ 103. Kc3 Rg7 104. Be4+ Ke3 105. Bd5+ Kf4 106. Kd4 Rg1 107. Re4+ Kf5 108. Bc4 Rg7 109. Be6+ Kf6 110. Kd5 Rg5+ 111. Kd6 Ra5 112. Rf4+ Kg5 113. Rf2 Ra1 114. Bf5 Ra6+ 115. Ke7 Ra7+ 116. Bd7 Ra6 117. Rf5+ Kh4 118. Be6 Kg3 119. Kf6 Ra1 120. Bd5 Rc1 121. Kg5 Rc3 122. Bf7 Rf3