Delayed Alapin as Black

You are so delusional

It's true. You are delusional and as an insane person I can recognise a fellow creature easily. However, I keep it covered up slightly more effectively than you. I do not go around spouting complete drivel while appearing to expect people to take me seriously. I spout drivel in an entirely different format.

I don't like bullies and I would say that you are one. I also think that you should have been removed from this site when you made your ridiculous and untrue attacks on me and blocked me so I couldn't answer. I do not think that the moderators have acted properly and the fact that your ludicrous thread about the Alapin is not closed is more evidence for that. Such a thread can only create bad feeling.

More bullying from Optimissed  

More dishonesty from you, you mean. Just give it a rest. Stop being you for a few days and try to be something better. See how it goes.

Why would you lose any time on this staples13 guy?

True. My wife just came home. I'll make her a coffee or something.

I always play the Alapin and I don't consider it annoying. Black can get an easy position out of it, not wining as in any decent variation of the Sicilian but an easy to play position.

Also, I don't think he is trolling, he's just delusional.

I will take your well-intentioned advice.  It's just that people can be keen to believe accusations of bullying. But you're right and I thank you both very much.

As for the Delayed Alapin, when I started my chess career I used the Alapin. This is well before I changed to 1. c4 and then finally to 1.d4. I read a good chess book which had at least a chapter devoted to the Delayed variations. It was thought back then, in the late 1980s, that the only one with much independent significance was 2. ...d6. This put a lot of people off, at least at the time, until the 3. ...Nf6 lines were thoroughly explored and it was then thought that white could maintain some kind of an edge in that variation ... at least enough to make white's game viable and interesting. It wasn't enough to interest me and I stuck to 2. c3.

When I was an improving chess player, and I had to struggle because I was older than many beginners and slower to learn, and my grade went from 0 (yes, I truly had an ECF or BCF grade of zero!!) to 89, to 106, 132, 149 and so on, I was finding that with the Alapin I could at least get a draw with players who outgraded me by 25 points or more, so at 106 I was drawing with people around 135 but losing to 145s. As I improved though, my percentage of wins stayed the same. With 1. c4, later on, when I was at my rather paltry best, I fully expected to win against anyone lower than about 155, and obviously hoped to win against stronger players. I could not do this with the Alapin because anyone with a grade of about 140 or above in Northern England, which corresponds to a grade of 150 now after the deliberate inflation, or about 1800 FIDE, knew how to handle 2.c3 as black. But they could not handle the English or, quite often, 1. d4.

All in all, I would say play 2. c3. The Delayed Alapin requires a lot of transpositional knowledge to play perfectly, rather like 1. c4 does.

I also think that 2.c3 is better

Here is a recent game where me, playing white, made a youngster happy.

Chess-wise, there is not much to talk about- white got a winning advantage as early as move 12, and lost on time in a very easy position (I was planning 39.Rxd6 which is the most effective move out of several).

I also think 2. c3 is best

@pfren I couldn't help but notice that you are performing rather poorly at this tournament. I don't mean to be disrespectful or anyhthing like that, but you've got only draws or loses against opponents rated in the 1500-1880 range. How is that even possible for a player of your calibre?

This is an example of an offbeat Delayed Alapin I have just this minute played here at 10 mins blitz. Unlike some, I do think blitz is an excellent speed which allows us to learn faster than any other type, provided we analyse. I haven't run the computer analysis on this so I don't know if I made any losing moves but I wanted to punish the offbeat line played by someone I assumed was a weaker player and as you will see, I played extremely aggressively as black and my opponent cracked even though he had two minutes of time more than me. I hadn't wanted to win the free pawn on offer .... I thought I'd get more. Lastly, a glitch on my computer doesn't allow me to post the active boards for which I apologise but one comes up with this link.

https://www.chess.com/live/game/4095790282

Two losses- one is this, out of a completely winning position, and the second one against a GM in the first round (played poorly, again under time trouble). Oh, and one win, but this game was rather "help chess"- the opponent was virtually self-destroyed.

There is nothing strange here, I always played several moves with seconds left on the clock. But it is rather obvious that you handle such situations way more efficiently when you are 20-something years old, compared to your play when you have hit 60.

Yeah, I guess age plays an important role when it comes to performance. Thanks for your answer.

There's a big difference between the way I play in time pressure and the way I did 25 years ago when I was a young 43 year old. Then I would happily play a 20 move endgame with 60 seconds remaining out of a 3 hour otb match, if I could see a win, rather than accept a draw. Nowadays I can still play like that but the occasions on which I can manage it are rarer so I accept the draw offers. If Pfren is a little younger than me, perhaps he hasn't adjusted yet.

<<<<<i think I’ve lost every other game I’ve ever played against a titled player that wasn’t an Alapin except for one time against a WIM, but I am undefeated against titled players with the Alapin. They haven’t even managed a draw against me. The Alapin is unstoppable>>>>>

Good job for you then that I'm not a titled player as you resigned against me and you were definitely going to lose.

No my position was completely winning you stalker troll. As you and everyone else know I abandoned the game because you kept spewing racial slurs at me because I wasn’t playing fast enough to suit you. I do not associate myself with people who behave as inappropriately as you do. Your constant bullying is getting old. I guess it makes you feel better to harass people online though

Good lord