Should you?
If you enjoy playing the opening, then go for it.
Should black choose the albin counter gambit
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pfren wrote:
5.a3 is the most problematic line for Black. It should be answered by 5...Nge7 although it fails to equalize completely.
The Albin is "almost" OK, although it hardly is a complete answer against 1.d4.
Below 1400 though, the ability to come out of an opening less than a piece down is enough to be considered "equal." :)
Apr 3, 2012
0
#4
Just a thought : I've seen sub-1600 players learn more from the Baltic defense (where Black bolts his bishop to f5 ASAP) and then places e6 etc. The only caveat is that they book up how to deal with an early Qb3 from White.
If you're shopping for Black vs. 1.d4, it's worth a look-see.
pfren wrote:
Kingpatzer wrote:
Below 1400 though, the ability to come out of an opening less than a piece down is enough to be considered "equal." :)
But in that case it doesn't really matter if you will lose your knight using the Albin Counter, or the Elmer Fudd Defense. You must simply try not blundering your pieces on the first place.
If you're below 1400 you're blundering pieces. That's what "below 1400" means.
Considering I'm just crossing out of the 1400 territory, it's one bit of chess I feel qualified to speak on :)
At this level, in OTB play, no one is following theory for more than 5 or 6 moves anways. Just develop your pieces in way that seems reasonable and have fun.
That said, I have seen two different approaches, both of which I think have merit.
Approach 1: pick tricky non-mainstream openings like the Danish and Albin and BDG and hope your opponent doesn't know anything and you pick up a quick win.
Approach 2: pick main line openings that give rich positions and try to play good chess for a win.
I picked approach 2 and I think it's been great. But I've seen lots of people be very successful with the first approach.
Apr 3, 2012
0
#6
Kingpatzer wrote:
I picked approach 2 and I think it's been great. But I've seen lots of people be very successful with the first approach.
Trouble is managing short term vs. long term expectations.
Person A : Goes to local clubs, spends very little time studying chess and has a heck of a lot of fun opening up a can of crazy over the board. Probably a C/B player and doesn't care if he stays one for life.
Person B : Is on the "express" train of chess improvement. Moving quickly from Class E, D, C and B. Notices that he's running into A players, Experts and Masters who make him bend over when he plays his trusty gambits at slow time controls. Frustrated with his opening, he keeps switching to other "tricky openings" and convinces himself that he can't start at the beginning and learn the main lines because that's what these strong players play and know better than him. Keeps failing because unsound lines don't work so well CONSISTENTLY vs. stronger players.
If you are player A, play whatever you like as your expectations for "fun" in chess are already met.
But If your "happy place" in chess is seeing yourself fighting Experts and Masters and maybe coming out with wins *one* day in the future, suck it up, abandon the one-trick pony openings and learn the good stuff :)
so what I understood by far is :
1.play the gambits but it wont help you in the long run.
2.play the calssical lines so that ur game is a position rich one and u get to learna lot from it.
3. once in a while it doesnt hurt to become another "wanna be TAL" :D
@IM pfren sir at my level of play I have had some recent success with the Albin and hence the question...and yes you got it right abour the a3 move... ive had some problems finding out the best move....
@kingpatzer I try to stay away from the BDG cause it requires the player to be more of an artist at chess to succeed at BDG...although ive played it in blitz games I fear using it in slower time controls...I find the Danish Gambit more suited for me as compared to the BDG...but yes i do plan to learn a lot more about BDG cause it seems an interesting line
the Albin is the sort of opening you should play in blitz and pull out as a surprise weapon against carefully selected opponents. The young kid who owns Avrukh's books isn't the one to play the Albin against but then again, the ever creative Morozevich won a fantastic game against the very strong Ivan Sokolov!
The only problem for the Albin player is quite a few pop in 2. Nf3 before playing the Queen's Gambit or Catalan, to side step it and the Budapest Gambit.
Apr 4, 2012
0
#11
I can't keep a straight face whenever someone plays this against me.
There was an epic battle Taylor vs TCCMB Team with the starting moves
1. d4 d5 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 d4 . The team was quite strong and included Steve Ham who is a Correspondence Grand Master now. It was an opening he had studied extensively.
The team used thousands of emails during the game. White showed one way to obtain the classic endgame of a good Knight vs a Bad Bishop.
The game featured a neat sacrifice in the endgame of a Knight for a Pawn. The game ended in March 2002 after the Team had used several time outs and more than 300 days of thinking time.
Each move was posted on the internet as the game progressed. Noone saw the Knight sac.
albin counter gambit could be used as a surprise weapon. sth like a pet line.
My experience is if you play good moves, no matter how your opponents counters the initial threat of the Lasker Trap, you still have some good opportunities. I tend to think most players only make sure they don't fall into the trap. They don't go the extra mile to see how to defeat all of the other lines the are plausible for black to make a game of it.
If someone like me(i.e. below 1400) plays black, and sees 1.d4 should I go for the albin counter gambit and could someone give me good lines in it except for the main line and lasker trap....?? thanks