Temposchlucker

Terminology. The Leningrad Dutch with reversed colors = a variation of Birds opening = Polar Bear The Bird has a terrible reputation. According to GM Henrik Danielsen that is caused by the fact that there is no reliable theory about the Bird available. He has found new lines, which make it a strong system. This system, which he plays with both black and white, he has called the Polar Bear . Possibly because the opening is slow and strong. From now on I use the term Polar Bear for both black and white. Beyond this specific opening. The research of this opening will yield results that can be used outside this opening in two ways. First the pawn structure bears resemblance with both the KID and the closed Sicilian. A good understanding of the Polar Bear will be of great value of understanding those openings. Second it is a positional opening pur sang. Study of this opening will help me to grasp positional ideas in general. Before the main position. I fired up about 20 cc-games with the Po...

At the moment I'm working my way through the blitz (3 min) games of GM Henrik Danielsen for the second time. It gives a good insight how a grandmaster thinks when he has no time to think:) I can follow the tactics quite good. Sometimes he has looked one or two moves further, but most of the times it concerns relative easy to spot tactics. He is quite accurate and fast. But the gap between him an me doesn't seem totally unabridgable in this area. As I said earlier. What is miraculous though is that he instantly knows what to do with his pawns. Partly this can be attributed to the fact that he is very well versed in his openings. But in the middlegame he is very fast too. Here I notice a very wide gap between him and me. It is quite obvious that his pawnplay makes his life much easier. How to improve in this area? The general idea of the LeningradDutch and the Polar Bear is that you develop your pieces behind your pawns and that you shoot through the holes in your pawnshield. In...

. . . Diagram 6 . . . White to move. Here I took back with the king, consciously stepping into a pin. I completely overlooked that white can take with his rook first. I calculated that when he took with the pawn, I had a discovered attack. Diagram 5 . . . Black to move. Here I played h6. I had seen the pin along the c-file before, but I forgot to check it in a new situation. Diagram 4 . . White to move. Here I designed a combination based on the discovered attack against Bb7. I thought queentrade and a wining endgame was unavoidable. What I missed is that after the pawnpush d6 black can take back with c7, thus covering the bishop with the queen. Diagram 3 . . . White to move However I actually was looking at a move like Nxg6, I didn't see I could just play it. The strange thing is, my 1925-rated opponent didn't see it either. A typical case of problems with visualising a chain of attack alternating with a chain of counterattack . Cost: 0.5 point. Diagram 2 . . . Black to move A...

Right now I'm studying the blitz games of GM Danielsen for the second time. In this position he played Na3 à tempo with the following intrigueing comment: "if he takes on a3, he becomes weak on the black squares around his king." White to move This is all the more intrigueing, since usually he is the first to inflict his opponent with a double pawn with the words "I have won many, many games because of that double pawn" Rybka would have played Na3 either. This raises the question "how do you learn to get such positional ideas a tempo?". You can do tactical exercises till the cows come home, but this kind of ideas you will not learn. I have studied my own games, without ever getting the idea. I have studied master games without ever getting this idea. This means that such ideas must be told by a grandmaster. There can't be no other way. Via a video, a book or a coach. Or maybe by solving positional problems with solutions checked by a GM.

May I invite you to a guided tour in the Museum of Deviant Art? Here you find all futile efforts from white to avoid the main line Leningrad Dutch and deviations in the Polar Bear by black. The Polar Bear is an invention of the Icelandic grandmaster Henrik Danielsen . It is based on the Leningrad Dutch with reversed colors. In a later stadium I intend to add the correct way of playing. If you can help me with that I would appreciate it. The source is my internet games. Cat.no.1 "Pre-Trompovsky" Oil on canvas 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5 Black to move 2. ... Nf6 would be wrong because Bxf6 would clog up your kingside pawns. Cat.no.2 "Trompovsky" 1.d4 f5 2.c4 Nf6 3.Bg5 Black to move 3. ... g6 is wrong because Bxf6 clogs up your kingside pawns Cat.no.3 "Post-Trompovsky" 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 4.Bg5 Bg7 5.Bxf6 Bxf6 6.e4 Black to move I played here 6. ... d6, but I didn't like the position after 7.e5 dxe5 Cat.no.4 "Hindrance of castling #1" 1.d4 f5 2.Bg5...

Me and someone who knows how to play the Leningrad The main line of the Leningrad Dutch runs as follows: 1.d4 f5 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.O-O O-O 6.c4 d6 7.Nc3 c6 White to move. The main idea for black is to force e5, for instance by playing Qc7 first. When black arives at this position unscathed he is fine. All the nice things you can do from here are fine of course, but the bane of a patzer like me is 99% of the time: how to punish uncoöperating opponents who are not willing to understand that resistance before this position by is useless? So I intent to post about opponents who commit the heresy to deviate from this main line early. First I treat two irritating gambits. Irritating wing gambit at move 2. 1.d4 f5 2.g4 Black to move This can't be good of course, yet I have encountered it once long ago and lost. It looks a bit like a wing gambit on the kingside. I would choose for the simplest positional continuation: 2. . . . fxg4 3.h3 g3!? 4.fxg3 Nf6 5.Nc3 d5 6.Bge e6 and ...

I just finished a crazy Albin Counter gambit. I already thought I was lost, but I could schwindle my way out. My opponent obviously wasn't used to such crazy tactics. You can find the game here . Clearly not susceptible for repetition. Today I won all six 10-minute games on FICS with the Leningrad. Which is very promising with a quite unknown system. It is definitely an interesting system. Your pawnstructure is full of holes, and your pieces are garding those holes. This combined effort makes that you gain a lot of space. Which is unique with black against d4. Your starting point is to prepare e5 followed by a central thrust. When the center is blockaded, you can switch to a kingside attack. I think it is a unique method to learn to play positionally. I expect a few ugly losses too. The moment you are not able to protect a hole, an enemy piece will appear there and you will be in trouble. I played the system with white too, which is called the Polar Bear by GM Henrik Danielsen. His...