When asked how many moves he thought ahead, Bogoljubow pondered for a second, flashed his teeth and said "Just one. The best". The Ukrainian born Grandmaster lent his name to a variation of the BDG by losing to 5...g6 played by Hei...
In the open positions that arise from gambit openings, the struggle becomes exceptionally fierce. A single tempo becomes immensely significant, and each move requires a momentous decision. Constant practice in gambit openings leads to expansion of...
The Open Variation of the Ruy Lopez has been played by Euwe, Reshevsky, Keres, Smyslov, Korchnoi, Yusupov, Timman, and Anand among others. William Addison used it to obtain a draw against Fischer. As the following game shows, the early moves are ...
In his 1995 book on the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit, Gary Lane asked "Do you relish the prospect of setting your opponent awkward problems from the start of the game?" And lot of times that's what you get when playing the BDG.You set your...
First of all, this article is intended for novice players who may have heard of the ruy lopez opnening but haven't studied it and understand it. People who have studied it should not bother reading it. This is an introduction to the Span...
The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is an aggressive opening for White where White sacrifices a centre pawn (e-pawn) to open lines for attack with rapid development of his pieces. For the pawn Black trades off tempi as he breaks one of the principles in th...
THE WEIRDEST DEFENCE EVER!!!!
I taught my student, 4th grader Anthony C. the opening system of The Lion for Black. It starts as 1...d6 2...Nf6 3...Nbd7 pretty much no matter what white plays for his first three moves. It can be used against 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, 1.Nf6, or 1.b3 &am...
The Sicilian is by far the most popular defence to 1.e4, because it is an ideal weapon for players wishing to go for the full point as Black. It provides resources for active and very tactical play while at the same time avoiding the sym...
Here I will try to sketch Black's possible answers to 1.e4 excluding 1...e5. There are a number of very suitable defences: By far the most popular is the Sicilian (1.e4 c5), to which I will devote another full post. At this place it is su...
Hi everybody, having given an overview over meeting both 1.d4 and 1.c4, I can't resist the temptation of trying to characterize the possible answers to 1.e4 as well. I trust that most of you already have a reliable defence against this, b...
This post was originally part of an earlier thread in another forum. I have reposted its main body so as to make it accessible more easily according to the other "Meeting..." articles I have created. Here we go: First of all a word...
As I obviously don't play all of the systems I'm going to mention, please comment on that list, correct me where you believe me to be wrong and give your own opinions about systems you are familiar with! 1.d4 tends to lead to less ...
Hi everybody, being a member of the All Nations Chess League (located on www.playchess.com), I used our team forum to post a few brief overviews of the most common chess openings last year. My intention was not to give a fully detailed rev...
Here is a game from the 1st Pfalz Open, FM Dyballa - GM Greenfeld with full annotations and commentary: In this game we saw that black used an Alekhine type maneuver with the early 2...Nf6 and we almost transpose into an Alekh...
What do you guys think of this kind of Sicilian? It involves getting the queen out early and getting a strong queenside atk going.
Here is a list of Black responses after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3: Queen's Knight Variation: 2. Nc6 2. c6 Variation: 2. c6 Jalabad Defense: 2. c5 Philidor Defense: 2. d6 Queen's Pawn Countergambit or Elaphant Gambit: 2. d5 Damiano Defense: 2. f6? La...
After 1. e4 e5, White most often plays 2. Nf3. However, there are many alteratives: Menangarni's Variation: 2. a3 Mcleod Attack or Lopez Variation: 2. c3 The Whale: 2. c4 Leonardis Variation, Clam Variation, or Indian Opening: 2. d3 Cente...
Well, where to start... I want to improve my Ruy Lopez game so I decided to take a beating from Rybka instead of going to math class. Anyway, any analysis / suggestions are invited and welcome as always. I know some of my moves are unorthodox / ma...
Here is a list of Black responses to 1. e4: Enjoy! Cornstalk Defense, Corn Stalks, or Ware Defense: 1. e4 a5 St. George Defense, Baker Defense, or Birmingham Defense: 1. e4 a6 Owen's Defense, Que...
I thought this game might be helpful for some beginners. I think it exemplifies some opening principals and shows what can go wrong if you ignore opening theory. Black tries a trap which white does not bite on then falls behind in development. Lin...
The Terrible Traxler Part 7 Ke3 ...
1.d4 d5 2.e4!? loool...what a strange move! 2...dxe4 that's the main line. 2...e6 that is french defense and 2...c6 is karo-kan defense.. After 2...dxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f3 (4.Bg5 is also possible) 4...exf3 5.Nxf3 and now if 5...Bg4 White can play ...
