My first impressions of Halloween Gambit
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Wow rigamagician, that is a lot of games! I wonder where did you found those.
Jan 3, 2011
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#48
juhweri wrote:
Wow rigamagician, that is a lot of games! I wonder where did you found those.
That was a lot of games. You met the challenge well, rigamagician.
Jan 3, 2011
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#49
These games come from a lot of different places: Chessbase, TWIC or other web sites or friends sending them to me.
Kintoki wrote:
it's unsound.
Thumbs up!
That's a young GM with the same name, Tigran Petrosyan.
Still, most of these games are not from official tournaments, they are from Internet blitz, correspondence, thematic games etc. Some of the players are well below GM level, and some games have GMs using the Halloween drawing against lower rated players. Some of the games involve the Halloween with 'reversed colours' where the White had already committed to g3 and so cannot put the Knight there.
Jan 3, 2011
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#53
World #1 Magnus Carlsen has played the 4.g3 Nxe4 line in an OTB tournament. Macieja, Friedel, Orlov, Flores and Tigran L. Petrosian (not to be confused with the former world champion Tigran V. Petrosian) are all now GMs, and have played that line in OTB tournaments.
rigamagician wrote:
GM Magnus Carlsen has played the 4.g3 Nxe4 line in an OTB tournament.
I can see how this line of the Reversed Halloween could have some more merit because, once the White had already played 4.g3, the g3 square is not available for the Knight to retreat to. Still, I think that there are better (and more popular and efficient) ways for the Black to take over the initiative. It appears that this line tends to result in draws from what I've seen.
Jan 3, 2011
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#55
If you are looking for a good drawing weapon, you might want to look elsewhere. Most of my games have been either wins or losses. It is what it is of course - good as an occasional surprise weapon against players unlikely to be familiar with the theory. It is probably one of the most interesting gambits around if you don't take it too seriously. If you booked up on the theory, you could probably score a lot of easy wins with it in Live Chess or playing players rated lower than 2000 in Online Chess.
rigamagician wrote:
If you are looking for a good drawing weapon you might want to look elsewhere. Most of my games have been either wins or losses. It is what it is of course - good as an occasional surprise weapon against players unlikely to be familiar with the theory. It is probably one of the most interesting gambits around if you don't take it too seriously. If you booked up on the theory, you could probably score a lot of easy wins with it in Live Chess or playing players rated lower than 2000 in Online Chess.
Well, it's a give and take... a gambit like the Scotch or Smith Morra will give you a lot of easy wins against weaker players without all that much theory study, and it will still keep you at least equal against strong players. If one really wants to embark on extensive opening study, one should probably look to openings that would merit such study.
Jan 3, 2011
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#57
The basic ideas behind the Halloween are fairly simple. You build up a huge pawn centre, and then use it to force open lines to the enemy king or keep it from castling. It is very easy for black to go wrong. The Smith-Morra lacks the same explosive force, and the Scotch main lines are perhaps a little too well known. You're unlikely to encounter many players who have studied the Halloween at all.
Jan 3, 2011
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#58
wilsonyiuwahwong wrote:
Once queens are off, its an equal game.
You're forgetting that White's a pawn up.
Well, but the other two are thematic games and played in correspondence.