Connecting the dots

 Complexity arises when I see a lot of dots, but fail to see the connection. I don't see the dots as one, but as many. And since the mind cannot handle many, my mind is easily overwhelmed.

That has especially been the case in the opening. I played many openings with white, the Italian, the King's Gambit, all kinds of gambits against the French, the Aljechin, the Caro Kann, the Sicilian, I played the Polar Bear, the London, the Barry Attack, the white Sniper and a lot more of which I forgot the names.

I learned little of it. Yeah, a lot of dots, but I failed to see the connection.

The past three years, I played the Colle Zukertort. That is a system opening. Meaning that you play the same moves over and over again, no matter what your opponent does. That is a desperate remedy against being overwhelmed by variations. 

After three years, I finally get a bit the hang of what I might be trying to accomplish. There are about 20 themes that play a role. The dots are connected to a certain extent. And now I see possibilities to convert the Colle Zukertort into a weapon. Which I try to do lately.

That raises of course the question, can I do the same with black? I thought that the Nimzo Indian might be a way to go. But it didn't fit the bill. So I searched through my old courses, until I stumbled on the Accelerated Queen's Indian Defense (AQID), which I acquired three years ago. Have a look at a position I found here:

It has a stunning resemblance with the Colle Zukertort. Hence I threw out the Nimzo Indian, which has way too much theory anyway, and I have a new look at the AQID.

Somehow I have difficulty to convert the ideas that I learned with white for black. But slowly I'm connecting the dots. Maybe I can bring the overwhelm to an end.