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---- Nous avons besoin d'un traduction français!
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Besides my usual annual resolutions (get in shape, save more money, improve my rating - all arguably related to chess), I've got the following concrete chess resolutions for 2014:
1. Play at least 75 CFC regular [edit: or Quick] TC rated games (about my annual average [edit: for both types of CFC rated games] for some time now);
2. Get to 2300+ (regular TC) CFC and have such a rating at the end of 2014;
3. Play at least one new opening with each colour at least every 3 months on average in 2014.
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Wednesday, 1st January, 2014, 12:12 PM.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
To become comfortable playing against the French defence.
I once took up the Benko Gambit as Black, since I had had trouble beating it with White, at least until I found out what I didn't like to face when playing on the Black side. If you can't beat them, join them. :D
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
Many of the juniors at the RA club in Ottawa (where Garland and I both are members) seem to play 3.Nd2, perhaps under the influence of chess instructor Tom O'Donnell. Some play 3.Nc3 (my usual choice as White, although I slip in an Advance and even an Exchange now and then - I found 3.Nd2 a little dry for my taste when I tried it in my junior days, at least when Black played 3...c5, which is not so common nowadays compared to 3...Nf6).
Some people, like Alvah Mayo, don't believe in creating a target on d4 by playing 2.d4 as White. Others play that move, but then quickly go for open positions not average for the French by playing the Exchange. Paul Beckwith is a specialist in that, whenever he is taking the time to play.
I've found the French doesn't lose quickly too much (except for anyone allowing a Bxh7+ trick, for example) due to its being closed normally. Whether the French is sound positionally is open for debate, but at lower levels this matters less.
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
Many of the juniors at the RA club in Ottawa (where Garland and I both are members) seem to play 3.Nd2, perhaps under the influence of chess instructor Tom O'Donnell.
Tom plays solid openings so it must be a good choice.
I've played 3. Nd2 off and on since I was a junior when I wasn't curious to see what an opponent had prepared.
Unless you want to play the Winkelmann - Reimer Gambit. I once played that in a consultation exhibition match for the entertainment of the Correspondence Chess and Gambit enthusiasts. It was carried on the Correspondence chess message board which has long since closed down.
I may be wrong, but I think Garland may be currently concentrating on playing 3.Nd2. If so, I don't know what it is that might not be working so well for him.
When I played the Black side of the Benko Gambit for a short time, I discovered fairly soon what it was I didn't like to face at the time (late 1970s!?). Namely 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 and now 5.e3. In two games with Toronto's Michael Rohland (who retired from chess by the late 1980s, I think), I got one rather lucky win as Black, then with the same colour I lost quite convincingly in a later game. At that time 5.e3 was on the rise against the Benko, and seemed to most everyone to be almost a bust of the Benko.
Nowadays I'd still play that as White, or 5.f3 perhaps. In the biggest database I have, ironically, in 2700+ vs. 2700+ games the oldest Benko mainline, with the king castling by hand on g2 (after an exchange of bishops on f1), is the line that does best to avoid White losing, with no Black wins(!) but lots of draws and some White wins. For those in the know, it would be for any games played under ECO code A59. In any case, for a long time I was no longer much afraid of the Benko as White due to the seemingly clearcut preference everyone had for 5.e3. Nowadays I'm also happy to avoid the Benko or Benoni just as often by playing 3.Nf3.
I had a similar experience with the Sveshnikov. Wondering what to best play against it, I took it up as Black. In weekend events in Toronto back in about the same period, or slightly later, I learned that the lines that gave Black the most fits were the positional ones, which actually still holds true today. However, the Sveshnikov hasn't experienced much of a crisis since it became popular, except perhaps if Black wants more than a draw in top level chess, again against the positional lines.
Perhaps everyone has noticed that almost all Black openings do undergo some sort of a crisis, theoretically speaking, at least every few decades. World champions who are particularly dominating often lead the way, it seems to me. Karpov for a time pressurized many Black 1.e4 defences, e.g. the French, with 3.Nd2. For at least one ECO edition, Black had to suffer at least a slight disadvantage, apparently, if White played the best moves. Even the Nimzo-Indian suffered similarly (4.Qc2) at the hands of Kasparov et al. One of the few major Black defences/opening moves I can think of that hasn't ever lost its lustre at any point afaik is not even a 1.e4 or 1.d4 defence, namely 1.c4 e5.
Getting back to what to play against the French at class player level, at least, perhaps playing the French with Black (for at least a short time) might, as I suggested earlier, give a clue what to do with White (given that there is currently nothing theoretically exceedingly oppressive against it, afaik). If you are defeated convincingly by a particular White system, and you don't dislike that system at first glance, maybe it will suit your style playing it with White. In my case, as White I took up 3.Nc3 because I liked the idea of playing either side of tactical Winawer lines as a junior, unlike for my Benko and Sveshnikov experiences. Plus I generally got cheapoed in fast offhand games as White in the otherwise dry 3.Nd2 c5 isolated d-pawn lines back in the 1970s as a junior (perhaps I got dismayed while trying to squeeze blood out of a stone, back then), though this would be less of a concern today, since 3...c5 is less popular for one thing.
Last edited by Kevin Pacey; Friday, 3rd January, 2014, 08:13 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Murphy's law, by Edward A. Murphy Jr., USAF, Aerospace Engineer
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