Martin vs the world analysis thread #3

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Hi ry, and thank you for taking on the responsibilities, yet again!

At least we don't have to decide e4 or d4, this time.  And we also know that Martin can overlook things — being just himself — while we — the World — have many players who can look deep into a position, and really uncover its potential.

Vote

1.  …   d5

The variants will change everything, so keep things stable and symmetrical.

Let a few more weigh in, and I'll change my vote to wherever it's trending.

I hate symmetry. Either Nf6 or g6.

I also hate symmetry. I'm sure 1...d5 is objectively completely fine, but I never liked that move. It feels like black is just sitting back and defending while white gets the initiative.

I'm not familiar with 1...g6 (on move 1) and maybe it's fine, but it feels wrong to me to play it so early. It feels like it gives white a lot of options. For example white can play 2. e4 immediately followed by Nc3 (without having first played c4) or Bd3, or he can play 2. c4 (possibly followed by Nc3 and e4).

1...Nf6 would at least limit white's options somewhat. At least it prevents the immediate 2. e4. Even if we want to play something KID-like then I think 1...Nf6 is better than 1...g6 (I mean you want the the knight on f6 anyway in the KID, right?). Of course 1...Nf6 could lead to many other openings.

I vote 1...Nf6.

Changing my vote to 1. … Nf6, bringing the total votes to 4 for Nf6.

Good to see Chess_Pro2 back with us, again.

Thanks bob .

Although I don't think I will be nearly as useful this game as the last game against Martin. Last game I played a lot better than I normally do imo. I went intro tryhard mode for that game. I think the reason I played so good last game was mainly that I had basically unlimited time to analyze and we got the pawn grabber event. I convinced the world to play 8. Bg5 in that game in order to turn the game into a tactical mess, because those are the kinds of positions I'm best at (at least if I have a lot of time to analyze). I love it when things get very tactical.

I will probably not have that much time to analyze the game this time, or certainly not anywhere near as much as last game (I spent an absurd amount of time analyzing last game, for example I analyzed the 8. Bg5 move for about 15 hours before we even played it and after that I probably analyzed for about 10-15 hours per move).

It may or may not be necessary to do a lot of analysis this game, depending on which events we get. The pawn grabber event for example requires a lot of analysis.

But I will do my best this game.

I say either Nf6 or g6

Or f5 if you want to go crazy

I will analyze as much as I can, but mostly to point out errors in other analyses.

Pretty sure Nf6 was played. It's the most flexible reply to 1. d4, I play it as a reflex these days. I used to employ the Dutch defence (1... f5) but it's harder to play against better opponents. I had success with it against 1600s and below, probably because it looks bad to the untrained eye, white doesn't expect the kingside pawn push and so doesn't adequately prepare. But better players know what to expect. Now I like to play the Nimzo Indian if given the opportunity. 

KID is the way to go, but it's not exactly suitable for event chess.

The main moves I would consider here are 2...e6 and 2...g6, and I'm fine with playing either of them.

Last game Martin got a bit screwed over by 1 of the events (pawn grabber) when he played something KID-like, and I think the main reasons were that the pin on the f6-knight after 8. Bg5 was annoying to deal with and it can be risky to attack pawns in the pawn grabber event and he didn't already have much space in the center (so 7...e5 was risky).

But I can't tell if it was just really bad RNG from Martin or if the KID is just slightly risky to play in event chess, since I haven't read up on all the events that can occur in event chess. My guess is that 2...g6 is completely fine in event chess. You can probably get unlucky and get screwed over by the events pretty much no matter what you play. I guess you could technically also play the Grünfeld Defense after 2...g6.

I think Martin would play 3. Nf3 against 2...e6 (he will not allow us to play the Nimzo-Indian), judging from his first game against the world. But I guess one advantage of playing 2...e6 instead of 2...g6 would be that any potential pin on f6 after a Bg5 move would be less annoying to deal with.

I don't think I will vote this move (at least not yet), but in case of a tie I will vote for 2...e6.

I'll vote e6.

Playing the cards close to the vest, like Paul Newman… 

"Hey, where's your ante!"

I vote g6

I'm a complete novice regarding event chess, but I would have thought that all opening have their risks, especially as black, depending on the event. 

I'm not going to vote, by the way. I might make suggestions, but they will likely be based on little analysis.