Countering the queen's gambit - The albin counter gambit

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Avatar of kodeeak

The albin counter gambit is a great counter for black against the queen's gambit. So tell me what you like about this gambit, what you hate about it, main lines, counters, and games you've seen.

Avatar of LavaRook

Its not that great at all.

The line 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 is really good for white. People say "Oh Moro beat Topalov with it...." but that was a rapid game

You are not taking a decent d4 player out of their game using this just because it is sharper than say the QGD. Modern lines in d4/c4 can get very sharp and you need to prepare against them anyways! Yea, maybe if they were a Colle player this scares them, but in that case the Albin isn't even there!

Avatar of kodeeak

Personally I've had great success with it.

Avatar of Kens_Mom

Just to emphasize what Lava has already said, the Albin isn't regarded as very sound.  One of it's main benefits is that the characteristics of the resulting position is completely different from your typical d4 stuff, which makes it a decent surprise opening.  However, if white knows what he's doing, black won't have enough compensation for the sac'd pawn.

Avatar of ponz111

Dave Taylor [2528] vs TCCMB Team [2283 median]  Challenge Match 2001 [game played on internet and lasted a year]

 

Avatar of MSC157
Avatar of pfren

The other Morozevich speciality (2...Nc6) certainly appeals to me much more than this.

Avatar of Pacifique
LavaRook wrote:

Its not that great at all.

The line 3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 is really good for white. People say "Oh Moro beat Topalov with it...." but that was a rapid game

You are not taking a decent d4 player out of their game using this just because it is sharper than say the QGD. Modern lines in d4/c4 can get very sharp and you need to prepare against them anyways! Yea, maybe if they were a Colle player this scares them, but in that case the Albin isn't even there!

3.dxe5 d4 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 does not seem to be too dangerous for Black due to 5...Nge7. The real test for Albin is 5.g3 but even there White must know what to do to have better position. Generally speaking Albin seems to be better than it`s reputation (unlike many other crappy openings).

Avatar of pfren

Avrukh, Kiril Georgiev and Kaufman all advocate 5.a3 as the most challenging. Black gets his pawn back following 5...Nge7, but faces a rather unpleasant ending.

Avatar of Pacifique
pfren wrote:

Avrukh, Kiril Georgiev and Kaufman all advocate 5.a3 as the most challenging. Black gets his pawn back following 5...Nge7, but faces a rather unpleasant ending.

Could you give some lines?

Avatar of ponz111

To be honest, I never studied the lines against the Albin Counter Gambit before I played that tough team. [their top player now a correspondence gm].

I saw the game before where they beat another master very quickly and thought I could improve on that game.  So the line I played was with

1. d4  d5  2. c4  e5  3. dxe5  d4  4. Nf3  Nc6  5. g3  rather than

5. a3 and I would be interested in the basic follow up after 5. a3.

Avatar of kodeeak

ponz111 wrote:

To be honest, I never studied the lines against the Albin Counter Gambit before I played that tough team. [their top player now a correspondence gm].

I saw the game before where they beat another master very quickly and thought I could improve on that game.  So the line I played was with

1. d4  d5  2. c4  e5  3. dxe5  d4  4. Nf3  Nc6  5. g3  rather than

5. a3 and I would be interested in the basic follow up after 5. a3.

Avatar of pfren
Pacifique wrote:
pfren wrote:

Avrukh, Kiril Georgiev and Kaufman all advocate 5.a3 as the most challenging. Black gets his pawn back following 5...Nge7, but faces a rather unpleasant ending.

Could you give some lines?

No, I won't. I don't like plagiarizing other people's work, sorry for that.

Avatar of Pacifique
pfren wrote:
Pacifique wrote:
pfren wrote:

Avrukh, Kiril Georgiev and Kaufman all advocate 5.a3 as the most challenging. Black gets his pawn back following 5...Nge7, but faces a rather unpleasant ending.

Could you give some lines?

No, I won't. I don't like plagiarizing other people's work, sorry for that.

Quoting books is not plagiarising if you give the source of your quote.

Avatar of NimzoRoy

Like most questionable openings the Albin CG is much more likely to be successful OTB than in CC where the opponent can look it up and find plenty of good lines - for White that is.

Avatar of kodeeak
NimzoRoy wrote:

Like most questionable openings the Albin CG is much more likely to be successful OTB than in CC where the opponent can look it up and find plenty of good lines - for White that is.

What does cg, cc, and otb mean.

Avatar of slide_checkmate

OTB= Over the board.

CC= Chess.com.

CG= Countergambit.

Avatar of kodeeak
slide_checkmate wrote:

OTB= Over the board.

CC= Chess.com.

CG= Countergambit.

I'm not familiar with the phrase over the board and thanks slide_checkmate. 

Avatar of Kens_Mom

Actually, CC = Correspondence Chess.

Avatar of kodeeak
Kens_Mom wrote:

Actually, CC = Correspondence Chess.

that makes much more sense