Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

[Caesar Posylek]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Is the Rat so popular nowadays? I don't think so.
:)

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Hi Caesar:

Maybe by using the Rat ( if it not as popular now ), we can have the element of surprise on our side!

And it is very Canadian in origin.

Bob

[Hans Jung]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Well from my readings in Chess on the Edge - 1...g6 2...Bg7 (or2...d6) 3...d6 and then placing of the queens knight on c6 or d7. The kings knight takes its time getting into the game and does not block the Bg7 (although in some lines an early Nh6) - so definitely not Nf6 which eliminates the Rat. The move order 1d4 g6 2.Nf3 Bg7 followed by 3...d6 leads into the Rat.

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Hi Hans:

Thanks.

But what them is the difference between the Modern Defence, the Robatsch and the Rat? I've never been able to get that clear. They all seem to have the same opening moves, or same moves by transposition. Where is it that they start to differ?

Bob

[Hans Jung]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Hi Bob, As a newly evolved Rat player (!?) I have to interpret my readings (from Chess on the Edge). According to Lawrence Day (my paraphrasing - so help me out Lawrence if you read this) the Rat works from the edges of the board (in murky corners) towards the center - so I take that to mean the overview or main strategy. Bruce Harper (again Im paraphrasing so my understanding of what Ive read) indicates that Rat actually was a shortform of Robatsch (after the Austrian grandmaster) and then an effort was later made to assimilate all these defences under the classification Modern Defence. Now that you are thoroughly confused I suggest the quickest way I know to get the full flavour of the Rat is to go to chessgames.com and play over some Suttles games at fairly high speed to get an overview of how the Rat performs. Even better but requiring more time is to go over some well annotated (annotated team work by Suttles, Harper, Seirawan, and associates) games in Chess on the Edge.

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Hi Hans:

Thanks. I've got the great triad " Chess on the Edge ". I'll go do some more research.

Bob

[Caesar Posylek]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Okay then, lets play 2...Bg7.
:)

[Alex Toolsie]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

chessleaders moves e4

your turn

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

I vote 3....d6, heading into a Pirc or Modern Defence ( and I think a Rat, but I'm not quite clear on how that goes ).

Bob

[Hans Jung]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

I vote for 3...d6 to keep the Rat alive.

[Caesar Posylek]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

I also vote 3.....d6 (the Rat idea).
:)

[Alex Devine]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

I vote 3. ...d6, to prevent 4. e5, blocking our bishop's diagonal.

Where are we going to develop the kingside knight, f6 or e7?

e7 supports d5/f5, and no pings by Bg5. But f6 influences the center more and attack e5, which is undefended at the moment.

But, nobody says we can't play f5 first :)

[Caesar Posylek]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Hi Alex,
Any development in this game? We haven't heard anything from those guys for a while. They are still on the move (it their turn)?
:)

[Caesar Posylek]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Have we passed our 3...d6 move to them alreaady? Perhaps, they are still waiting for us.
:)

[Bob Armstrong]

Re: Chessleaders (BAH) vs Chess Talk (Canada)

Hi Caesar:

From what I can tell, no moderator has finalized yet our apparent 3...d6 move. So they don't have it yet.

Bob