Here`s another amateur league game I played. My opponent was again one of those seasoned pensioners, rated about 150 points higher. Again, I repeated an important and reassuring experience: You can quite well afford to play second- or third-best moves in the opening and go down to +1 or so for White unless you don`t really blunder and unless you know your ideas and the strong and weak points of the position.
So when facing the setup with the Averbakh centre and knights on f3/c3, I played the provocative ...Nc6 d4 Nb8 line for the first time in a serious game.
It turned out that I equalized with ease, got an initiative and a pleasant position plus a clear lead on the clock and then settled for a draw even though the game could have become really thrilling.
I think I would play this line again, at least against an opponent within shooting range of my rating.
Here`s another amateur league game I played. My opponent was again one of those seasoned pensioners, rated about 150 points higher. Again, I repeated an important and reassuring experience: You can quite well afford to play second- or third-best moves in the opening and go down to +1 or so for White unless you don`t really blunder and unless you know your ideas and the strong and weak points of the position.
So when facing the setup with the Averbakh centre and knights on f3/c3, I played the provocative ...Nc6 d4 Nb8 line for the first time in a serious game.
It turned out that I equalized with ease, got an initiative and a pleasant position plus a clear lead on the clock and then settled for a draw even though the game could have become really thrilling.
I think I would play this line again, at least against an opponent within shooting range of my rating.