2...Ne4 (Mokele Mbembe, Stephan Bücker) and 2...Ng8 (Brooklyn Defence) could both be surprise weapons. But of course 2...Nd5 is best.
The Alekhine's Defence and my thoughts on playing uncommon openings on an intermediate level.
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2... Ng8??? 3 d4 3... d6 4 Nf3 and we have a Modern except Black's Knight is on g8 instead of d5
Sep 30, 2021
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#24
ConfusedGhoul wrote:
2... Ng8??? 3 d4 3... d6 4 Nf3 and we have a Modern except Black's Knight is on g8 instead of d5
Ng8 is not a terrible move... haha. I’ve played it often as well and I do no worse compared to mainlines.
then you had some bad opponents B1ZMARK, would you mind telling me why you think the Knight stands better on g8 than on d5 in my line?
what Magnus played only once in what was probably a bullet game is none of my business, Magnus also plays d3-Kd2 for trolling. the Alekhine is hard enough to play without having to play 2... Ng8, playing a side-line of a side-line is just disgusting to me
Sep 30, 2021
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#28
I feel that you are being unreasonably critical of the 2. ... Ng8 variation.
Admittedly, in the first two moves Black has done nothing to improve his position.
White, on the other hand, has actively compromised his own position. You talk as if that e2-e4-e5 sequence of moves has improved the position of White's e-Pawn. It hasn't. Quite the reverse.
Sep 30, 2021
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#29
ConfusedGhoul wrote:
then you had some bad opponents B1ZMARK, would you mind telling me why you think the Knight stands better on g8 than on d5 in my line?
It’s not that the knight is better on g8- it is worse, but it does not present that big of a difference unless your opponent plays really accurately, so it’s a good speed weapon.
It is the French Breyer Variation 😁😉
Sep 30, 2021
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#31
At a depth of 40 ply, Stockfish evaluates 2. ... Ng8 as almost identical value to 2. ... Nd5. Only -0.05 difference between the two moves. With a tiny difference like that, choosing between them is basically a matter of taste.
-0.5 is half a pawn which I see no reason to lose. Maybe it's not as bad as I thought but Knights belong in the center, the Knight is infinitely better on d5 than on g8 and playing 1 Nf6 and 2 Ng8 still strikes to me as very dumb
Oct 1, 2021
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#33
Not 0,5 but 0,05 = nothing. And even if Nd5 is slightly better then this difference is outweighed by White players like you underestimating it. Every move that you opponent underestimate is god!
Oct 1, 2021
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#34
ConfusedGhoul wrote:
-0.5 is half a pawn which I see no reason to lose. Maybe it's not as bad as I thought but Knights belong in the center, the Knight is infinitely better on d5 than on g8 and playing 1 Nf6 and 2 Ng8 still strikes to me as very dumb
It's only a tenth of that. Read my post again.
Knights belong in the center if they can be MAINTAINED there. If they can't, they're in the wrong place.
Sorry I read that wrong, but I have never underestimated 2 Ng8, underestimating means I know no theory against it while if someone played it against me then I'd play d4 and Nf3 just like in the Modern and I'd be happy. I don't expect to win by force but I expect a better position, space advantage and lead in development
ConfusedGhoul wrote:
Sorry I read that wrong, but I have never underestimated 2 Ng8, underestimating means I know no theory against it while if someone played it against me then I'd play d4 and Nf3 just like in the Modern and I'd be happy. I don't expect to win by force but I expect a better position, space advantage and lead in development
Now I am confused...a simple check shows the difference is .5
And one person is talking out of side of their umm..mouth.
Oct 1, 2021
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#37
The Alekhine is great. If they don’t know the theory, which is most of the time, you’re going to have a good game. If they do know the theory, well you get an equalish middle game and you have to play chess. Most opponents at middling ratings avoid theory and play Nc3, you play d4 and you’ve already equalized. See Naroditsky’s video. Search YouTube “Naroditsky Alekhine” and it’ll give you ideas on how to play against this line.
Oct 2, 2021
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#38
Uhohspaghettio1 wrote:
ConfusedGhoul wrote:
-0.5 is half a pawn
There is no such thing as half a pawn buddy. It makes absolutely zero sense in any context period. I assume you are talking about a computer evaluation, that evaluation is only relevant in terms of a computer playing. I guess it could form a small part of an argument for whether something is a good move or not, sometimes it can be evidence (which needs checking), but just laying it down like that as if it was "half a pawn" is absolutely ridiculous. If we use Tarrasch's rules, white has gained 1 tempo. As we can agree 2. ...Ng8 is a serious option and not just some joke as it may first appear.
The quality of posts on this board is so utterly ridiculous sometimes, not singling out ConfusedGhoul or anything who is actually likely in the top 10% of posters here with many literal children. Anyone know of a good website with chess openings in them? Don't give a link as the policy here is to delete them.
plenty of strong player speak of half a pawn advantage intelligently, your loss if you think you too good to speak in engine evaluation terms. Not all of us are from a time where everyone only ate corn flakes.
Oct 2, 2021
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#39
I think the Alekhine is a good weapon. It catches many players off guard and it’s an opening you can use to play for a win as black.
Oct 2, 2021
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#40
If you go to that other chess site and look at games for players under 2000, the Alekhine actually wins more games than it loses. For players up to 2500, wins and losses are exactly even at 47% each.
Sure there are a few gambit lines, like the Stafford, that do slightly better, but if you play the refutation line from Naroditsky, black loses badly. In other words, it does better than any other traditional non-gambit line that I have seen.
Of course you should play what you like, because what you feel comfortable with is more important, but the opening does well.
Sure there are a few gambit lines, like the Stafford, that do slightly better, but if you play the refutation line from Naroditsky, black loses badly. In other words, it does better than any other traditional non-gambit line that I have seen.
Of course you should play what you like, because what you feel comfortable with is more important, but the opening does well.
people know no theory against it and you will often have good positions! just a question: I'm an intermediate player (1950 l*chess, I don't really play on chess.com a lot) and I know my theory so I chose the Modern Variation against the Alekhine (1 e4 Nf6 2 e5 Nd5 3 d4 d6 4 Nf3) do you have anything prepared against this? Would you like the resulting positions for black? I still believe your opponents will almost never play like this but if you dislike the second main-line of your opening then I think you should be questioning it again
For me- I get it a lot. But for sure below 2200 you won’t get the modern a lot, personal experiences.
In fact this is why I picked up Nc6, since I didn’t want to keep playing the same grinding positions all the time.