Nicholas_Shannon80 wrote:
ya, carlsen played a great dutch game in the sinquefield cup a few years ago with aronian if i remember correctly
-----------
That sums it up. You kind of remember that one time when Carlsen played the Dutch.
But the Sicilian is played by numerous elite players in every tournament.
https://www.redhotpawn.com/chess/grandmaster-games/viewmastergame.php?pgnid=64632&subject=Svetozar-Gligoric-vs-Ruslan-Ponomariov
Beliavsky used to play Bf4. Other than Ponomariov I seem to remember Dolmatov, Yusupov, Malaniuk, Bareev; but I might be wrong.
Hugh Alexander, an early and fervent Dutch player, said that if God played God in the Dutch, White would win. but for us mortals, it's fine.
Yusupov once said that the problem with the Dutch is that Black often wants to play f5-f7.
The Sicilian creates a hole on c7, which is usually nowhere near the King, but the Dutch creates a hole on f7, which is already the weakest square on the board.
I think I disagree with Alexander. With best play, God would barely be able to draw as Black in the Dutch, but he would suffer. The Dutch allows for really interesting play, but it's less popular than the Sicilian because it's less flexible, and more risky.
I love this quote!
Artur Yusupov: "The problem with the Dutch is that Black very often in the middlegame finds that his best available move is f5-f7."
-- taken from https://twitter.com/olimpiuurcan/status/589747239737667584
I've generally been playing the cautious Grunfeld, the Dutch is when I'm in a desperate need of something else. I have two responses in case of 1.e4 from White as well.
Dutch is ok but if u look at Boris Avurkh's books, he manages to find edge in every line. Sicilian Najdorf u can play for like 30 move theory and not find edge for white
Dutch is ok but if u look at Boris Avurkh's books, he manages to find edge in every line. Sicilian Najdorf u can play for like 30 move theory and not find edge for white
Avrukh finds edge for white for any defence.
But Avrukh's bibles are not so trustworthy, some found innacuracies...
I remember a tournament, Mitropa cup i think, where several teams were prepared specifically against Avrukh's lines, and crushed those who arrived with Avrukh's stuff... (one of team member whose team played Avrukh's lines told me).
Theorically speaking, on a white's perfect play, white has always an advantage in every opening.
But who plays perfectly?
And who knows all the theory?
I find the Dutch sets you up better for the middle game. Sicilians typically end up with versatile play, but if white doesn’t try anything risky, the Dutch is better.
often in the main line white ha:
ya, carlsen played a great dutch game in the sinquefield cup a few years ago with aronian if i remember correctly