Moving a Pawn Twice in the Opening

There's an idea behind everything ... even behind bad moves, or else they wouldn't be played. f4 is slow and it cramps white more than black but that's only my opinion. You say white scores 41% but does that say anything? How many games with this continuation are on the database and were they mainly played against inferior opposition, for instance? So mere percentages don't tell the story.

Oh oh it droppped my reply. I wrote that although two bishops against two rooks are normally strong, here the game looks drawish to me, although I may be wrong. But I wouldn't know how to force a win as white.

PS thanks for that advice. I'll look into 5 a3. I normally play g3 because I simply haven't investigated anything else.

Percentages aren't everything, but there are a large number of games even at the highest levels and it is one of the french mainlines. I don't know why the f4 pawn would cramp white - it doesnt get in the way of white's pieces and it controls the centre. White has ideas of castling queenside and pushing the h pawn, or perhaps even pushing for f5 at the correct moment. In some variations white can get a good endgame with black having the bad bishop vs a strong knight on d4. Black of course gets good counterplay if played correctly, but white certainly isn't worse here.

There are many reasons we are analyzing the Albin Counter Gambit. One reason is I have said that the whole idea of playing a gambit with Black and then moving a pawn twice in the opening should not work.

Also, the Albin Counter Gambit has been played at times by grandmasters and years ago, I invented the theoretical novelty of 9. Na3 and this line has apparently not been tried before in serious play and, for fun, it is nice to see how it works out in analysis versus a strong player.

Sure, one can say it is a digression but this is chess! Does ponz111 have something with this new idea against the Albin Counter Gambit or not?

Black is out of book!  9. Na3 took him out of book.

Ummm... 

That's hardly a good reason to play a move against a master. In today's competitive chess scene, a novelty usually only lasts about a week. 

Here's what happened when 9.Na3 was played in a blitz game:

So, the argument that it's out of book, or a position that hasn't been analysed before is already false. Chessbase's regular database has 21 examples. The cat is out of the bag, at least for GMs and correspondence players.

@smyslovfan was invanchuk trying to win in the final position, or did a 2700 seriously miss the stalemate motif?

This is Ivanchuk. I have no pretense of understanding Ivanchuk's motives. But considering it was blitz, the players could easily have missed something. 

Which move are you talking about though?

After 6.Be2 is there an independent move, or do you just transpose into more common B43 lines with 6...e6?

SmyslovFan

Thank you for letting me know 9. Na3 is still in the book. I did not know this as when I invented the move [or thought I invented the move] many years ago, it was not in the book. [or was it in the book a long time ago?] 

I admit that I have not paid any attention to Albin theory for more than 10 years. Also admit that I do not even know how to look up past moves by top players in positions. [wish I did know but than is another ?]

I am just a 73 year old with dementia and many years past my prime. Next time, I will not think a move is new as I am  not even able to check if a move is new in some data base.

Unfortunately chess has passed me bye and is progressing more and more into the never ever land of a draw with best moves  by  both sides. [still am guessing the Albin is a win for White with best play by both sides.]

Lesson learned and thank you for the lesson.

Clearly, White was trying to keep the game alive. Whether he was hoping to take advantage of Black's position on the clock or on the board is not so clear.

OK yes, quite right, Be2 is correct.

Independent moves include 6 Bg5 ... e6, and 6 f4.

But there are many bad moves too, such as 6 Be3, which is amazingly common and hands the initiative to black, unless 7 Bd3 is played. Over the board, many strong players as white have attempted to drop a c-pawn. There are many ways that white can lose a pawn and some are bad for black. Ba3 can be winning for white, for instance. It's very interesting.

Also some people belatedly play g3, which isn't too bad. Moves like a3 are bad due to b5, threatening b4 in many lines.

Moving a4 often isn't too bad but due to the presence of the Q on c7, sometimes black still tries to eventually play b5, often with pressure.

I'm 63. Clearly dementia is just around the corner. Think I'll invite my wife out for a curry.

Optimissed   it would help if we knew what position or positions you refer to?  Do you know how to do the diagrams as I do? [it is one thing I CAN do] 

Probably you will not get dementia for a long time. You do use your brain and are active in using your brain. In my case it had something to do with brain damage.