a3 as a legitimate chess opening?
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It's definitely not the best, but at below-Master level it may not be too bad.
uhohspaghettio wrote:
If he replies with d5 white is just a move behind. To say it's is advantageous because it denies Bb4 you could just as easily argue it weakens the queenside in a queen's pawn opening.
He can also play a large amount of e4 openings (by playing e5), with the exception of the ruy lopez. a3 (a6) may be useful for reverse sicilians also.
Having the extra move basically forbids Black from entering a reversed Open Sicilian.
Sure, it's called Ware Opening. Not the best, but it creates some very dynamic positions. I usually play a4, trying to create some swing on the kingside. Lower-rated players usually don't know how to handle this properly.
Casual_Joe wrote:
It's definitely not the best, but at below-Master level it may not be too bad.
+1
TheBigDecline wrote:
Sure, it's called Ware Opening. Not the best, but it creates some very dynamic positions. I usually play a4, trying to create some swing on the kingside. Lower-rated players usually don't know how to handle this properly.
Ware is 1.a4 not 1.a3
chessmaster102 wrote:
TheBigDecline wrote:
Sure, it's called Ware Opening. Not the best, but it creates some very dynamic positions. I usually play a4, trying to create some swing on the kingside. Lower-rated players usually don't know how to handle this properly.
Ware is 1.a4 not 1.a3
Oh yeah, I was wrong, a3 is called Anderssen. If it's good enough for Anderssen then, it's also good enough for me.
(flawless logic)
May 1, 2013
0
#8
Either you're totally wrong as usual, or GM Eric Prie is an idiot.
1.a3 d5 2.d4 transposed directly to Prie's pet opening.
uhohspaghettio wrote:
If he replies with d5 white is just a move behind. To say it's advantageous because it denies Bb4 you could just as easily argue it weakens the queenside in a queen's pawn opening.
He can also play a large amount of e4 openings (by playing e5), with the exception of the ruy lopez. a3 (a6) may be useful for reverse sicilians also.
1.a3 d5 2.d4 is indeed not a way to show the uselesness of 1.a3; one can hardly think white is pressing hard for an advantage, but it's also clear that the extra a3 move is an useful addition in a reversed slav formation. Same for 1.a3 e5, where after both 2.c4 and 2.e4 the first move is undeniably of some use.
The two best responses are considered 1...Nf6 and 1...g6. In both cases it's really hard to see how a3 is helping white. (but again, white is hardly worse :)).
hg
May 2, 2013
0
#12
Against 1.a3 black can simply fianchetto his king bishop, making the a3 move somewhat pointless.
It's still a playable move, sure, but there are better first moves.
May 2, 2013
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#13
uhohspaghettio - read what I wrote, and try again. Your response to bresando showed you didn't understand it.
Prie's line is quite valid, as a3 is useful in many reversed Slav formations.
uhohspaghettio wrote:
"If he replies with d5 white is just a move behind."
This is not true in the least. a3 isn't exactly the proverbial "high-class waiting move" here that it is in the Najdorf, for lines where black intends to transpose to the Scheveningen, but it can transform a variety of otherwise harmless d-pawn specials and QG offbeat tries into more dynamic struggles, and as mentioned by Expertise87, is a staple of many Slavs. Whoever mentioned GM Prie was dead on. Review his games in the line, and you'll see not just how successful the plan is, but how versatile.
"To say it's advantageous because it denies Bb4 you could just as easily argue it weakens the queenside in a queen's pawn opening."
That's hard to argue against. Not because it's correct, but because it's not really a sentence, and is nearly incomprhensible. But hey, it's an international site. Maybe English is not your first language, in which case, "Hey, good try!"
"He can also play a large amount of e4 openings (by playing e5), with the exception of the ruy lopez. a3 (a6) may be useful for reverse sicilians also."
And there we have the final nail in the coffin of irony. This view, which is simultaneously overly-simplistic, inaccurate, and naive, reveals you for the 1200 chess education you truly possess.
uhohspaghettio wrote:
If he replies with d5 white is just a move behind. To say it's advantageous because it denies Bb4 you could just as easily argue it weakens the queenside in a queen's pawn opening.
He can also play a large amount of e4 openings (by playing e5), with the exception of the ruy lopez. a3 (a6) may be useful for reverse sicilians also.
No, a3 is a useful move in most queen's gambit variations, from the white side or the black side.
The best move to meet 1. a3 with is 1. g6!
My point is that frequently in queens gambit positions, white will play a3 at some point, and also these positions are difficult to win. The best move is definately 1... g6!, which makes white play look entirely silly. Grandmasters know this (at least those who care about 1. a3 at all). 1...d5 is probably the second best move. 1...e5, the other option, makes a3 actually look like a good idea.
if white is normally 54-46, you'd say at worst you are deferring the first move to black, because unlike say... 1) g4 you aren't permanently damaging too much structure wise, and in some ways may be better with flexibility and stops of Bb4+ (keeping black out of some winawer french lines as well as the bogo)>
still, the move objectively does too little and hands the initiative back. as someone noted earlier, g6 stops the plan of 2.b4, and realistically black can almost play as white since the move throws away 75% of a tempo.
of the 20 possible opening moves, it's not the worst by any means, but being 8th or 9th best isnt so great either.
for what it's worth, while GM jon speelman didnt play 1. a3 as far as i know, he throws in a3 much earlier than usual in at least a few d4 lines. his stuff might be worth studying if you want to continue in this vein.
Here is an interesting game showing how to play the opening in the 1...g6! line. Black destroys white in the opening, but the rest of the game is not really that great.
May 3, 2013
0
#19
1.a3 throws away the advantage of the first move, but it doesn't throw away the game. There are quite a few players who are rated U1700 USCF who have no clue how to open a game if they aren't following a book. 1.a3 could be useful against those players.
Once you start facing tougher opponents, your score with 1.a3 will be about the same as your score as black.
The idea behind playing a move like a3 is to get someone that is over booked up out of their memorized opening. By itself it's not really that good from a fundamental chess point of view. It does nothing to take the center or even space at all really, and gives black the "first move" so to speak. But it's not horrible. At the titled player level, it's a big difference. At mortal levels, it doesn't mean much if the player cannot use the extra tempo to maintain an initiative.