Mainly the Cambridge Springs is avoid by White playing the exchange variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined.
One of the reasons the Exchange variation was so popular was because the Cambridge Springs variation was so succesful.
The Queen's Gambit Exchange Variation could very well be White's best continuation. The analysis of Lasker's Variation covers about 40 games and those who play it for Black play it well.
Some people play the Dutch Stonewall Attack, the Veresov, the Torre Attack, etc to avoid the Queen's Gambit lines, but apparently don't favor White's Exchange Variation which gives White the sometimes dreaded Minority Attack - his two pawns vs three pawns on the queen side. If White can destroy Blacks queenside pawns he will have a kingside majority of pawns in the end game.
Playing the Cambridge Springs there is nothing the Black players can do if White wishes to enter the Exchange Variation. If you have to learn it for Black you can learn it from the White side.
The earlier post gave QB3 in the cambridge springs. Fritz 12 gives it ?? and is played rarely as most play KND2. What is the reasoning behind the ???. As I usually play KND2.
The problem with Fritz or Chess Navigators is that they skip over the traps without ever letting the human know they are there.
This is in effect correspondense chess. People don't want to make their own moves. They want chess programs and chess engines to move for them, in which case people are not playing their own moves. They are also not looking for (or seeing) winning combinations.
For example, I play the Opocensky Variation with White against the Sicilian Najdorf, as many do. I made a conscious decision to play this. 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d7 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be2 e5
I caught one of my chess friends in a trap of my own design that cost him a bishop.
My point is I only need to go 6 moves deep or less with an opening. I would rather have fun with tactics than analyze games like the French Winauer from start to finish, and forget all the analysis anyway.
I know every move and variation in Alekhine's Defense through move 6 - and that is all I want to know.
With the Sicilian Dragon I know every piece Black can place at c4 in the Yugoslav Attack - and that is a lot of moves.
The point of chess is crushing your opponent, or at least out playing him or her. Study too much anaysis and we lose our tactical edge. It might be ok to know the theory for White and analyze as far as you can go, but playing Black like that makes it harder to win games. One loses the mental edge.
why is QB3 a poor move in the cambridge springs compared to KND2?
Vladimir Kramnik has 100 games with the Petroff Defence on Chessgames.com
He won 8 games. He drew 77 games with his analsis. It is a GM drawing opening.
Alekhine played 40 games, winning 23 (Chessgames.com) with the Nimzo Indian Defence and losing only two. Alekhine never over analyzed positions. He trusted his own instincts over the board. If I want to play White with the Ruy Lopez or the Exchange Variation against the French - I look at Alekhines games and do not analyse anything other than Alekhine's moves.
In Natalia Pogonina's first vote chess game against Chess.com et al her opponents chose the Sicilian Najdorf against her, using the Navigator, and they played it badly. She chose the Opocencsky. Afterwards I told Natalia that Efim Geller played the Opocensky 30 times and never lost a game with it (beating Bobby Fischer once). She replied to me, "Geller was a great theoritician." Geller chose his own moves, and he played different lines of the Opensensky. Natalia does not know the names of a great many opening variations. She plays more like Capablanca.
So we discover here that the Cambridge Springs is more suitable for over the board play or tournament play, but not for correspondance play, because White will not play into Black's hands.
why is QB3 a poor move in the cambridge springs compared to KND2?
benonidoni,
Do you mean QNd2? Because QNd2 sets Blacks first trap.
In the Cambridge Springs the Black Queen is played to a5 or it wouldn't be a Cambridge Springs Defense at all. The chess engine has gone off on a tangent. Only the move Qa5 is played in the Cambridge Springs.
If you look at army_of_noobs diagram on this page you see how the move Nbd7 sets Black's first trap. There are four or five.
I was playing a match against a Philippino with a higher rating than mine, and intended to play the Cambridge Springs Defense. Here he played 3. a3 and Black can turn this into a Queens Gambit Accepted where White loses a pawn. Black takes the pawn and keeps it! They don't have a lot of chess books in the Philipinnes. Most cannot afford chess engines, but they do have a lot of home made moves - and 3. a3 is one of them. At move 3... this is no longer a Cambridge Springs.
According to Winning Chess Traps, Irving Chernev, 1964, Tartan Books, page 206 Black can hold the pawn (and 3. a3 is bad).
There are traps in which black can fall, as well. Here is one example:
1.d4 d5, 2.c4 e6, 3.Nc3 Nf6, 4.Bg5 Nbd7, 5.e3 c6, 6. Nf3 Qa5, 7.Qb3 !?.
I have won many games with it.
7.... Ne4, 8.Bf4 Bb4, 9.Rc1 . How should black continue from here?
The 'automatic' moves 9.... Ndf6, or 9....0-0 give white a clear advantage after 10.Bd3, and then 0-0.
Only 9....g5! is correct, then both 10.Bg3 h5! or 10.Be5 f6, 11.Bg3 h5! are good. But very few players find this when seeing 7.Qb3 for the first time...
I think the best continuation for white is
7.c:d5 N:d5, 8.Qd2, as Kasparov played very often. I believe, white keeps a longlasting advantage.
Qb3 is given a ??? by Fritz. Any middlegames reasons?
benonidoni,
I have been shown the trap for White before, as I have written another post about the Cambridge Springs. Contrarians always say White has a lot of traps, but only ever mention the same one. Someone did write a book on the Cambridge Springs (available from Powell's Books online). You can purchase it and find all the answers, or if you really don't like the defense you can play the Modern Benoni or whatever you want. If you just want to look at it from the White side - there is not refutation. Birdbrain could start a theme tournament for some practicle experience for those who play 1. d4 consistantly. I am not analysing Queen's Pawn players. The longest trap extends to move 21. with Black. That's as far as I go.
For those who want to learn to play the middle game I recommend the games of Alexander Alekhine. For those who want to memorize all the moves - go nuts.
The idea here was to have tournament games with opening themes. Anyway, if you are haunting the posts just to bother people my advise is not to bother people. Someone might get the idea you are using your search engine in your rated games on Chess.Com. I don't give a crap about Fritz. I don't let chess engines play my games for me.
The Bible on this defense is Winning Chess Traps by Irving Chernev. The Cambridge Springs is not about the middle game at all. It is about a quick win.
Food for thought in that arena would be Kasparov's games with it, or his chess coach, Vladimir Bagirov's games with the Semi Slav Defense (and the Exchange Variation which one might have to meet). The Slav is much better for positonal technicians to play.
In the Cambridge Springs Black does have to play 1... d5.
There is a trend in chess today for players of the White pieces to avoid 2. c4 and steer away from the Queen's Gambit variations entirely, of which the Cambridge Springs Defense is a part.
Megadatabase shows the Cambridge Springs as being very weak. NO top GM's play it. A couple mid 2000's and mostly 1500-2000 fide level players play Qb3.
Obviously by looking at the database 1. ND2 2. CxD5 are both good moves. The rest are considered poor. 3.BXf6? 4. QC2? 5.QB3?
For Me playing ND2 is the move because most top players play it that way leading to another well played move.
The Cambridge-Springs Variation can be fun to play for Black. Especially if White is unfamiliar with its standard traps. However, if White keeps calm and plays one of the solid replies 7.Nd2 or 7.cxd5, it can get awkward for Black. His pieces, which were placed to pressure c3, will find themselves pointing at nothing once White has consolidated and castled. Reorganizing the clump of black pieces on the queenside costs a lot of time, time which White often uses to mount a strong kingside attack.
The combination of 7. cxd5 and 11. Bc4! which was recently played by Anand and Akopian against Shirov (Shirov lost both games) looks very strong for White. I have stopped playing the Cambridge-Springs Defense until there's a way to repair the variation. So far, no one has come up with anything (and shared it).
A more detailed analysis of that fateful game and the general ideas of the opening can be found here: Can the Cambridge-Springs Variation be Salvaged?
I am open for new Black ideas to counter 11. Bc4.
I have ..10 c5 by shirov as being a poor move. ....10 0-0 would have been better. I"m not that well versed in this opening so can't say but maybe that would have changed outcome. After ..10 castle play BD3 or BC4
I don't think anyone here is playing top grandmasters. Dream on.
Black cannot prevent the move
1. d4 d5
2. c4 e6
3. cxd
Theres an alternate move order for it though:
It is a good line when you can get it......Exchange Variation till your eyes bleed
See a few posts ago when one of many move order that avoids the exchange variation was posted. I play d5 e6 c6 and then could get into this defense with Nf6 etc.
lol... Important Point! I'm sure that helps him...
I hate when people make posts that just criticize about something that has nothing to do with the thread subject.
And I apologize for this post.