IMO those of us who play for fun not money (on average and with exceptions) want a lively game. Petroff can be lively but often isn't. Sicilian/French/... can be boring but is more often lively.
Why does Petrov Defence unpopular at low level?
Sort:
Ripley_Osbourne έγραψε:
The Petrov is counter intuitive. Just like that line of the Philidore Defense (I do play): 1.e4-e5 2.Nf3-d6 3.d4-Nf6!
And you're right, it's a blasphemy all these players going for the Sicilian without knowing any of it's background and deep reasons.
I'll give you one guideline for defenses against 1.e4: it is considered, that if you make it to push d5 without getting too much trouble for it, you equalized. And THAT is the background of attempts to it, that are the Scandinavian, the French, the Caro-Khan, and some lines of the Sicilian. Not knowing that and playing the Sicilian, is being stupid. imo.
Nobody plays the Philidor like that anymore, due to the annoying (and no less counter intuitive) 4.dxe5 Nxe4 5.Qd5!
It usually starts with 1.e4 d6 2.e4 Nf6 3.Nc3 and now 3...e5 is OK, as is 3...Nbd7 first.
Aug 10, 2020
0
#24
its kinda popular now with everybody trying to play the Stafford gambit..
alyffnajmy wrote:
Can be defused by bishop opening
Isn't that just playing against the bishop opening? That's the same as saying the Sicilian is a bad simply because it can be defused by playing 1. d4.
Nov 10, 2021
0
#26
these days, at intermediate ratings, when someone plays the Russian, 9 times out of 10 they are going to play the Stafford. It's nauseating.
NikkiLikeChikki wrote:
these days, at intermediate ratings, when someone plays the Russian, 9 times out of 10 they are going to play the Stafford. It's nauseating.
So what? The Stafford is a joke- white has compensation for the pawn he has won due to his strong pawn center. Various ways to get a winning advantage, like Nc3, h3 (to stop ...Ng4 rubbish), and then comfortably developing and casting queenside. And white has a few other great options at his disposal.
Nov 10, 2021
0
#28
yestwo wrote:
Is it not good or do people just think it is boring or something?
It's excellent - A favorite of Gelfand. But I personally think it's boring. And every time someone played it against me, I ganged up on the horse, and mostly I won, so... I don't want White to ride on my horse...
But maybe I'm wrong, who cares. Boaring.
Nov 10, 2021
0
#29
@pfren - the problem with playing against the Stafford isn't that it's hard to play against. The exact opposite is the case. They always play the same moves, I always play the same refutation, I always win, and it's boring. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't enjoy playing a game where I do the same thing every time, even if I win.
NikkiLikeChikki wrote:
@pfren - the problem with playing against the Stafford isn't that it's hard to play against. The exact opposite is the case. They always play the same moves, I always play the same refutation, I always win, and it's boring. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't enjoy playing a game where I do the same thing every time, even if I win.
Well, play another refutation then - plenty of them. Even 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.f3 is a refutation (5...Bc5? 6.c3 etc).
Nov 10, 2021
0
#31
@pfren - I don't know. I feel that people who play the Stafford aren't playing chess, they are playing something they memorize and hope you don't know what to do. It's like a more complicated version of the Jerome Gambit and both lose by force if you know the refutation. I just feel it's my duty to punish Stafford players as quickly and easily as possible, and I don't want to risk letting them win. Besides, I'm not going to bother learning a whole new line of theory for an opening I face maybe once every 25-40 games. I suppose you can say it's my fault, and you're not wrong.
Nov 10, 2021
0
#32
NikkiLikeChikki wrote:
@pfren - the problem with playing against the Stafford isn't that it's hard to play against. The exact opposite is the case. They always play the same moves, I always play the same refutation, I always win, and it's boring. Maybe I'm weird, but I don't enjoy playing a game where I do the same thing every time, even if I win.
That's funny. I'd Never take the horse - I don't get them, you know what's my favorite thing in all of chess? "letting them hang themselves" [with their akward development, usually by retreating]
It may look dumb - to return the horsy, but now Black's queen is stuck, his horse sits on his c-pawn... as opposed to you - who can play c3, d4 - have your queen fly - fun.
or you may play d4 instead, this horse retreat is just an example - maybe in here it's terrible..
Another example:
The annoying Alekhine Defense - yes, normally you push the pawn, but why not pulling the horsy - taking away the central light sqrs from his horse? now, if White could play e5... the Black horse is back to the stable in g8. - again, just an example, I don't know if that's actually good in here.
in this case 2 Nc3 is bad because Black equalizes immediately with 2... d5 or 2... e5 which transposes to a Vienna. I know the Horse on d5 is annoying but it will be kicked eventually with c4 and 2 e5 is the only move to consider against the Alekhine if you don't play the Vienna
ConfusedGhoul wrote:
in this case 2 Nc3 is bad because Black equalizes immediately with 2... d5 or 2... e5 which transposes to a Vienna. I know the Horse on d5 is annoying but it will be kicked eventually with c4 and 2 e5 is the only move to consider against the Alekhine if you don't play the Vienna
Care to say how "immediately" Black is equalizing after 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5?
Neither 3...Nfd7 4.f4 (transposing to a French Steinitz where Black can improve a tiny bit by swapping stuff at d4 before playing ...e6) nor 3...d4 4.exf6 dxc3 5.fxg7 cxd2+ 6.Qxd2! promise "immediate equality".
It's actually very popular among beginners that have no freaking clue what they are doing. They get this stupid idea somewhere where they think if they copy their opponents moves than maybe they can be just as good as he is, and they will play Nf6 in response to Nf3. Then they will get this classical setup for a common trap. Even if he doesn't fall for it, black can still lose to other tactics that are left on the table just because he played an opening he has no idea about by merely "copying" his opponents moves.
Play any beginner. A certain percentage of the time they will just merely copy your moves and play this way and lose to this trap that I talked about but didn't post because I'm assuming everyone knows it.
Never copy your opponents moves. Always carefully consider your options. The second you start to just merely copying your opponents moves, rather than carefully considering your options, could cause the game to turn into a disaster.
I know im bad at chess but i very like damiano variation and kholmov gambit.