@ninjaswat.
Steinitz variation is usually considered dubious. It however strikes at the very fundaments of white's idea, and it suprising how many scotch players are completally unprepared for it.
I consider it makes scotch game unpractical at low level because:
- it is very forcefull - I've easily managed to learn a lot by heart. Like in no other opening. Black is likely to grossly outprepare white.
- pretty much anything but the main line is better for black. Sometimes slightly, sometimes crushingly.
- the main line is extremally counterintuitive. No chance to find it OTB. You have be prepered.
- the main line is about sacrificing a pawn and going for an long term initiative. Good luck at beginner level. At high level most players consider the initiative way too strong, and the defence way too difficult and risky. However, as far as i know there is no defininite refutation, and black's position has been proven many time to be suprisingly resilent.
Eksamples from my game. The lines go from memory, as said i remember a lot in the line.
Most games look like that, when the scotchmen is clueless:
The point is that with 4...Qh4 black not only immediatelly attacks the e4 pawn, but also starts building up a speedy attack on white king. There is no comfortable solution to both problems. One of my games went:
another went:
It is arleady a long post, so i will show more later.
I don't recommend playing dubious lines even if it works for you, we now know the Steinitz is just bad after 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Be2 Qxe4 7.Ndb5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Kd8 (forced) and white's going to win easily from that position.
Even if it works for you, I always recommend trying to play the most objective chess you can, because once you progress (and everyone hopes they do) you'll find out that those dubious openings don't work anymore and you'll have to start from scratch.
If you play correct openings, you're already saving up experience from the very beginning and you'll improve more efficiently. Plus as a bonus, isn't it nice to see a high accuracy on your game review? lol
yeah the main line steinitz is better for white because of the king's horrible positioning, but i partly agree with michal that it can be very tricky for lower rated players
@ninjaswat.
Steinitz variation is usually considered dubious. It however strikes at the very fundaments of white's idea, and it suprising how many scotch players are completally unprepared for it.
I consider it makes scotch game unpractical at low level because:
- it is very forcefull - I've easily managed to learn a lot by heart. Like in no other opening. Black is likely to grossly outprepare white.
- pretty much anything but the main line is better for black. Sometimes slightly, sometimes crushingly.
- the main line is extremally counterintuitive. No chance to find it OTB. You have be prepered.
- the main line is about sacrificing a pawn and going for an long term initiative. Good luck at beginner level. At high level most players consider the initiative way too strong, and the defence way too difficult and risky. However, as far as i know there is no defininite refutation, and black's position has been proven many time to be suprisingly resilent.
Eksamples from my game. The lines go from memory, as said i remember a lot in the line.
Most games look like that, when the scotchmen is clueless:
The point is that with 4...Qh4 black not only immediatelly attacks the e4 pawn, but also starts building up a speedy attack on white king. There is no comfortable solution to both problems. One of my games went:
another went:
It is arleady a long post, so i will show more later.
I don't recommend playing dubious lines even if it works for you, we now know the Steinitz is just bad after 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Be2 Qxe4 7.Ndb5 Bxc3 8.bxc3 Kd8 (forced) and white's going to win easily from that position.
Even if it works for you, I always recommend trying to play the most objective chess you can, because once you progress (and everyone hopes they do) you'll find out that those dubious openings don't work anymore and you'll have to start from scratch.
If you play correct openings, you're already saving up experience from the very beginning and you'll improve more efficiently. Plus as a bonus, isn't it nice to see a high accuracy on your game review? lol