| Sep-02-04 | | Giancarlo: Many chess books I've seen have descirbed the King-side Finachetto as a target for your opponet. The key being to swap off the Bishop and make the squares h3 and f3/h6 and f6 more vulnerable to an attack. I'm not one who practises the Finachetto regularly, <except playing Dutch as Black, trying to get B7 achieved with the queen side bishop> but I was hoping I could hear from people in this topic. Thank you. |
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| Nov-20-04 | | Dudley: The fianchetto formation is vulnerable to an attack that has been called the "h pawn hack" where you swap off the bishop with bishop h6 or h3, castle Q side and advance the h and usually g pawns to pry open the h file. White usually has a pawn on f3 to support his e4 pawn. The Yugoslav attack against the Sicilian Dragon or the Sameisch attack vs. the King's Indian are the two most common examples, although it also comes up vs. the Pirc, etc. However, this type of attack really shouldn't work when white does the K side fianchetto as you see here in the English (reversed Dragon) because White's extra tempo gives him options not usually available to Black,such as a d4 break, countering the flank attack in the center. That won't stop the rabid attacking players from trying it, but it won't work if White knows what he is doing. It seems to be the only way of playing against a fianchetto most people know, but is not appropriate in many cases. |
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Nov-20-04
 | | An Englishman: Good Evening: When White delays Nf3, as here, he gains two options which simultaneously develop the King side and help slow down the Black attack. 1. He plays e2-e3, Nge2 and an eventual f2-f4 after Black's ...f5.
2. He plays e2-e4, Nge2 (the Botvinnik formation). When Black plays ...f5, White plays e4xf5 followed by f2-f4. Both have the same disadvantage; without Nf3, d4 won't put as much pressure on the Black center, even when it is the best move. Also, White attacks the Queen side while Black attacks the White King. White always gets the first blow, but sometimes Black gets the last. The timing in any variation of this line (White also has 5.a3, 5.b3, and 5.d3) is delicate and difficult for either player to handle. When I played this line from either side against Master-level competition, it was not unusual for each player to have only 5 minutes to make the last 20 moves. Play ranges from extremely subtle postional manouvering to simultaneous sacrificial attacks. One of my best games featured a central formation where by move 25, I had pawns on d5 and f5 versus pawns on d6, e5 and f6--oh, and my King was on e4! I can't honestly tell you that I mastered the line--and it was one of my staple openings. |
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| Nov-20-04 | | Dudley: <An Englishman> Your comments were more relevant to the actual position-I was answering the question in a general sense. Anyway, do you still like the Botvinnik system? I have a book that has a good explantion of it and Jeremy Silman seems to like it, but he has a special affection for closed systems. I think it's time I started playing like a grownup and this system seems to have some real depth to it. |
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Nov-21-04
| | An Englishman: Good Evening: Dudley, your response was good and valid--a lot of inexperienced Black players conduct the game as you suggest and can't understand why their attacks don't crash through. I do still like the Botvinnik, but I haven't played tournament chess in almost 15 years. It's a good, versatile response to most of Black's replies to 1.c4 (and it works as a defense to 1.c4, too!), but when the Botvinnik crashes and burns, the results are not pretty. In fact, one of the best games versus the Botvinnik is this one: Benko vs Botvinnik, 1968. Yes, it's Botvinnik pummelling the Botvinnik. Try and find where Benko went wrong. It isn't easy. |
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| Jan-30-06 | | SniperOnG7: <Dudley> LOL i know the time between my post and your post is a tad long, but may you tell me the name (and author) of the book which examines the Botvinnik? |
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Jan-30-06
| | An Englishman: Good Evening: <SniperOnG7>, John Watson published a four-volume set of books on the English circa 1980 that I used as a foundation for my knowledge of the English. Of course, specific theory for most lines has changed, but three of the four mentioned the multitudinous permutations of the Botvinnik for both White and Black. Opening books can be odd things: sometimes the old ones are still worth reading although the theory of specific variations has become obsolete. |
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| Jan-30-06 | | SniperOnG7: SniperOnG7: <An Englishman> Iv been dithering back and forth for a long time on whether to buy Watson's series but thanks to you iv now got a solid reason for buying them (makes me feel less guilty about spending the money) :) |
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Jan-12-12
 | | Penguincw: Opening of the Day
English
1.c4 e5 2.♘c3 ♘c6 3.g3 g6 4.♗g2 ♗g7 5.d3 d6
click for larger view |
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Kibitzing
