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First real educational post in a while Whether the Caro-Kann or the French Defense is better has always been a debate between players and fans of each opening and others alike. It's almost up there with 1. e4 vs 1. d4 as the best opening move and the Sicilian against 1...e5 as the best opening reply to 1. e4. Both the Caro-Kann and the French have the same opening goal: to establish black's presence in the center by means of playing ...d5. 1...c6 and 1...e6 both support 2...d5, when black claims some central space and attacks white's center. How the Caro-Kann usually begins: And the French: As you can see, they have very similar statistics at the master level. Respectable 30% win rates, near 40% loss rates, and around 30% draw. The French has around 75,000 more games played - but that doesn't matter much. We're trying to settle the debate: which is better, the Caro-Kann or the French Defense? The first difference that comes to mind for all of us is pawn structures. Pawn structures are everything and dictate play. In the Caro-Kann, black has pawns on c6 and d5, while in the French, e6 and d5. This makes a huge difference for many reasons. First, of course, is the mobility of the light-squared bishop. In the French, black's pawns on e6 and d5 restrict the LSB from going where it wants to go, locking it in the pawn chain, rendering it the weakest piece on the board, and forcing black to spend extra time looking for ways to trade it off (for example, playing ...b6 and Ba6). However, in the Caro-Kann, black does not have a pawn on e6 that limits the LSB's movement, and in many variations this bishop will become an active piece on e6, f5, or g4. One reason that many, many people prefer the Caro-Kann over the French. So why do so many people love and play the French if it locks in one of their pieces? Well, it's complicated. You've probably heard the general guideline that where your pawn chain faces is where you should be attack (this is generally because you have more space on that side of the board). In the Caro-Kann, your pawn chain is b7-c6-d5, pointing towards the kingside. But your d5 pawn will almost always be traded off for white's e4 pawn, leaving you with the pawn structure above when white has a space advantage with the d4 pawn. Black doesn't really have a pawn chain at all. There's many, many variations of the Caro-Kann, and in various ones black has play on the kingside or queenside. For example, in the Tarkatower Variation (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 (Nd2) dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6), white will usually capture on f6, doubling black's pawns. Then black's plan is Bd6, 0-0, Re8, Nd7-f8-g6 and with play on the kingside. However, in the Botvinnik-Carls Defense in the Advance (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 c5), black gets queenside play by attacking white's extended center if white doesn't accept the pawn. That position resembles a French Advance, except that black is down a tempo not having played e6 yet. It gives the LSB freedom to help the siege on d4 by playing ...Bg4 after white's Nf3. 3. dxc5 is the main move because anything else, for example 3. c3, is at least equal for black after 3...Nc6. After the main line, the position actually is a French Advance in which white is up a tempo but has been forced to take on c5. In many main line Caro-Kanns with 3...dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5 5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. h5 Bh7 8. Nf3, black will castle kingside against white's queenside castle. White has a clear attack on the kingside with his h5-pawn and piece majority, but black will counterattack on the queenside with the ...c6-c5 break, making use of the c-file and active pieces. By contrast, in most French Defense lines, black has clear play on the queenside. There are exceptions however but we won't go into them right now. Take the common Advance Variation, for example. Black allows white to lock the center and gain central and kingside space while planning a counterattack on the center and queenside starting with the 3...c5 advance, possible queenside pawn advances, and piece masses. If we go a bit further into the main line of the Paulsen, you see that black gains more space and fixes white's pawns on dark squares on the queenside with ...c5-c4. b3 becomes an outpost and black will want to play ...a5 and ...b5-b4 with queenside action. Both of these are very complex and diverse openings. Both have many, many lines sprouting from the first two defining moves, and they can lead to extremely different types of positions. Top players use certain variations of each as tools when they want a quick draw as black. In the French, a common line for players looking for a smooth draw is the Fort Knox. And as black, a line I've played a few times myself is the 4...Nf6 Caro-Kann, usually leading to the Tarkatower which is officially only after white plays 5. Nxf6. Very solid for black and hard to make progress as white. But these openings can also lead to some of the sharpest play there is. The Poisoned Pawn Variation of the Winawer French is crazy. All sorts of fireworks go off and it's a very double-edged position, personally I prefer the black side of this. And a very spicy alternative to the Tarkatower is the Bronstein-Larsen, when after 5. Nxf6 black recaptures with the g-pawn! Play is very imbalanced. So, Caro-Kann or French? I play both. I like both. There's many reasons to prefer one over another, but they are both sound, interesting openings, and in the end you can't really say that one is better than the other as it is fully a matter of opinion.

white against a 1500 in otb, so close to closing sadly.

*has permission to post link, double checked* Hellooooo B&M! I’m back with another educational “thread” (this format doesn’t save so I had to do it in blog format, sorry, I made it for the sole purpose of this club though) !I hope you enjoy, and possibly learn something from it, comment below!https://www.chess.com/blog/chaotikitat/the-true-value-of-pieces

he watched too much gothamchess

10|0

Round 3 Seeding 1. @little_guinea_pig 2. @TheSwissPhoenix 3. @Trophies100 4. @Chessplayer109485 5. @ninjaswat 6. @colorfulcake 7. @kowarenai 8. @fayez58 This is the seeding for round 3 based on original seedings and original recorded rapid ratings. However, the pairings will be based on the bracker shown above to avoid the highest seed repeatedly playing the last seed. Round 3 Pairings 1. @little_guinea_pig (white) vs. 7. @kowarenai 2. @TheSwissPhoenix (white) vs. 6. @colorfulcake 4. @chessplayer109485 (black) vs. 5. @ninjaswat 3. @trophies100 (black) vs. 8. @fayez58 You have one week from now (March 28) to this Sunday (April 3) to play one 15/10 unrated game with your opponent using specified colors. If you draw, play a 10/0 tiebreaker with reversed colors. Negotiate here or in private messages, and make sure to post game results here as well. Much thanks to @KnightAttack1567 for organizing the bracket and posting various related threads. If you have any questions message me or comment here.

Dark Mode Required To Read Sorry how do I fix it ;-;Backstory: (I’ll keep it short) Awhile ago I used to be an e4/e5 player, and I came accros an opening called the Giuoco Piano opening very often, and at the beginner level I thought it was the only variation of the Italian(oh I was so wrong!). I’ll be explaining everything the best I can, so I hope you enjoy! Basic Position Of The Italian This is the most basic position which is called the Italian, rapid development is ahead and variations are to be explored, it will usually lead to a lively game! Giuoco Piano This is the position I’d always end up in, it offers rapid development and early attacks are possible, the main position arising from this is below. This is the mainline position that comes from the Giuco Piano opening, although I’ve only played this a few times and they were more recently. It slowly builds up a strong center and in my experience, ends up leading to an interesting game. Italian Game: Two Knights Defense This a position that can offer many many possible tactics and tricks if you play Ng5, but you have to be very careful if you play this! One mistake could be the end of your game for either side, and it might require remembering certain lines. The most common move is actually d3 here though, transposing into the mainline shown above. Italian Game: Knight Attack This is the line I was talking about having to be careful with! The moves we will be looking at are d5 and Bc5, both are tricky lines but are fun! This targets the f7 pawn, which if allowed could fork the queen and rook or it could be used to force the king to move and possibly get checkmated if black isn’t careful! Normal Variation Of Knight Attack This is the most commonly played line, blocking the bishops site of the f7 square and challenging the pawn to take. You’ll have to remember this if you play this, otherwise you might get into some serious trouble! Usually a knight on the rim is dim, but in this particular position it attacks the bishop, forcing it to either move and lose the x-ray it had on f7, which otherwise would’ve been a big problem for black. From this wacky position the most common move is Be2, although statistically Bd3 does better. This is definitely an interesting opening that you can mess around with in an analysis board or you could try to play it in a game, but experiment with it! Traxler Counter Gambit I’ve never played against the traxler counter gambit, since it’s very uncommon and gives white an advantage if played correctly. The bishop on c5 is trying to sacrifice itself on f2 followed by black’s knight taking the pawn with check, which we can see below. Although the computer says white is still winning here, it’s definitely not the easiest thing to prove considering how weak the white king is, and black usually ends up winning in this position. Kf1 is the more common move, which is still horrible in terms of statistics with a 79% win rate for black. It doesn’t expose the king to checks and instead hides it behind black’s bishop, Qe7 has to be played by black now, otherwise they would lose a queen. I’m not sure I’d personally play the traxler but it’s definitely an interesting variation of the Italian to look at. How To Deal With The Traxler Counter Gambit Italian Game: Two Knights, Open This transposes into a certain type of the scotch gambit, so if you play the Italian you might want to be aware of this transposition and study the scotch game a bit, but since this is about the Italian opening I won’t go into it. 4 Knights Game This is less common in tournament games but I’ve played this a decent amount myself when I started out, and I learned that there’s a funny (but still dead even after) tactic from this position already, can you find it? Black takes the protected pawn with the knight! Only to fork the two pieces with d5 the next move, asking white to choose between the knight and bishop. Black is in a better position after this, winning a lot more often then white. Italian Opening: Hungarian Defense This is an uncommon opening in the Italian, and it doesn’t have much theory attached to it from what I can find. It usually transposes into the scotch game but you can also castle and enjoy rapid development and possibilities for an attack Closing Thats all I have for now! I hope you enjoyed reading this, I certainly enjoyed creating this! (Although my work got deleted twice…) Have an amazing day and comment below what you think!

A 10+0 rapid game. The first one to guess the elo correct inside of 25 rating points will receive a trophy from me.

How do you play fast? I need help I always(mainly) get flagged in 15|10. So help me

So I just watched the latest Gothamchess video, and I am kinda happy for him. But here is the thing. Couldn't I give, say, 500€ to corrupt GMs telling them to let me win, and then defeat 9 of them and then voila I am a GM?? There is so many other holes to Levy way of becoming GM and that is just one

white is a 2200 rapid player and try to find the move (you will never)

me going inactive and first game i've annotated in a while

Why does someone who plays every day, studies theory (for the most part), reviews their games etc etc not improve, whereas another player improves? Why does somebody who played for a year or two may reach a ranking of 1800+ or even 2000+ whereas others who play for the same amount of time struggle to break out of 1200, or even break 1000? What is it exactly that makes one player improve, and another stay the same throughout their chess career? Is it a "dedication" to their craft, day-in and day-out, such as concentrated practice, practicing puzzles, and studying their player? Or is it more personal, perhaps IQ... or a more innate ability to understand puzzles? Some people say kids are better at picking up chess because they have nothing to do all day except play chess. I don't find this to be true. Many people play nothing but chess every day and all day, and don't really improve. Why? What would you suggest someone who doesn't see the improvement in their game they believe they can achieve? Somebody who is struggling to reach higher levels?

And The last game was a lost to let you know. Pov: game 3 That is Ya'll see ya later

I don't really understand this. I get that you can promote and demote people and invite others... but besides that, there isn't really a function of admins that makes it better than a normal member. I suppose it's like climbing the corporate ladder, with more prestige the higher up you are, but I've never known any corporation that gave out positions like halloween candy.

i attack people yay now here educational game(borrowed from my first time annotating) This is the second time i wrote this the first one had more annotations but i think this is good enough. Anyways, bye.