11.b5 Nb8 12.Qxd4! Qxd4 13.Bxh3+ Qd7 14.Bxd7

15.Qxa7 Bc5 16.Qa5 h4 17.Nbd2 Nc3 18.e4 hxg3 19.fxg3 Qh3+ 20.Kh1 Bb6 21.Qa8 Ne2 22.Rf2 d3 23.Rg2 well anyway the point is it thinks black's attack isn't going anywhere and white has the extra pawn. Maybe 21...Rde8 is better, but still Fritz thinks white's better by a pawn after 22.Rf2 d3 23.Ng5 Qh5 Rg2.

16.h4 the computer really doesn't like because of ...g5! Instead at this point it recommends getting back on defense with 16.Qc2 (thinking the position is equal).

<
No self-respecting queen's gambit player should really even contemplate declining the gambit, but it is inevitable that some white players will. Of the attempts seen in the past, 3.e3 at best transposes into a French Defense after 3...exd4 4.exf4 Nf6, whilst 3.Nc3 can also be frowned upon. Indeed, though Black's response is not forced, 3...dxc4 transposes into a generally acknowledged inferior line in the QGA.

In lines of independent significance, only 3.cxd5 stands out. Then 3...exd4 is a possible gambit continuation, but clearly fine for Black is 3...Qxd5 ... [analysis omitted] >

This "inferior line" must be than old line that goes 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 3.Nc3 e5, e.g. from Dus Chotimirsky vs M Yudovich Sr., 1942.

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I used to play the QGA and saw this position a lot, I never thought of it as "inferior" (for White) but I suppose compared to some of the other wicked things White can accomplish this is a pretty level position.

I guess that's how you could "prove" that 3.Nc3 can't be too hot, but it doesn't prove that Black can't do even better than that--I would really think that 3...exd4 would be pretty nice. 4.Qxd4 is pretty much forced,

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Here's my first installment of the Albin Counter-Gambit. It's a bit long, so I apologize for that.

1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4 4.a3 (4.Nf3 is commonplace.) 4...Nc6 5.e3

<(At 19-ply, Deep Fritz 10 likes 5...Nge7. But Chris Ward (English grandmaster) suggests 5...Be6.)>

A. 5...Be6 6.Nf3 dxe3 7.Qxd8+ Rxd8 8.Bxe3 Nge7 (White is a pawn up but Black has a lead in development.) 9.Nc3 a6 (Prevents Nb5.) 10.Ng5 Nxe5 11.Nxe6 fxe6 12.Rd1 Rxd1+ 13.Nxd1 N7c6 14.f4 Ng4 15.Bg1 e5 16.Be2 Nf6 17.fxe5 Nxe5 18.Bd4 Nc6 19.Be3 Bd6 20.Bf3 Kd7 21.c5 Be5 22.b4 Re8 23.Kd2

<(Black played 23...Ne7 (E. Agrest-B.Glenne, 2001) and went on to lose, but we're not going to do that here. The rest is from Deep Fritz 10, 20-ply.)>

23...Kc8 24.Bxc6 bxc6 25.Kd3 Kb7 26.h3 a5 27.bxa5 Ka6 28.Re1 Kxa5 29.Bd4 Bxd4 30.Rxe8 Nxe8 31.Kxd4 =

B. 5...dxe3 (This move is played often.) 6.Qxd8+ Kxd8 7.Bxe3 Nxe5 8.Nf3!?

B1. 8...Bd6 9.Nc3 Bg4 10.0–0–0 Nxf3 11.h3 Bd7 12.gxf3 Nf6 13.Rg1 Rg8 (The Black king seems to be a liability in the center.) <(13...g6? 14.Rxd6! 14...cxd6 15.Bg5 Black loses two pieces for a rook.)> 14.Bg5 Be7 15.Bd3 Ke8 (Hsu Li Yang-E.Handoko, 1997) 16.Bxf6!? 16...Bxf6 17.Nd5 (Would be winning for White according to Chris Ward.)

B2. 8...Nxf3+ 9.gxf3 (White's kingside pawn structure has been compromised.) 9...Be7

<[Deep Fritz 10: 9...Ne7 10.Nc3 Be6 11.0–0–0+ Kc8 12.Nb5 a6 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.Rg1 g6 15.Bg5 Nc6 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Bd3 Bd6 =, 21-ply;

Deep Fritz 10: 9...Be6 10.Nc3 Kc8 11.0–0–0 Ne7 12.Nb5 a6 13.Nd4 Bd7 14.Rg1 g6 15.Bg5 Nc6 16.Nxc6 bxc6 17.Bd3 Bd6 =, 21-ply]>

10.Nc3 c6 11.0–0–0+ Ke8 12.Bd3 f5 13.Rhe1 Kf7 14.Ne2 Bf6 15.Nf4 <(White seems to enjoy piece activity in compensation for kingside pawn damage.)> 15...Ne7 16.c5! 16...g6 (Black's play is passive.) 17.Bc4+ Kg7 18.Bd4! 18...Re8 19.Bxf6+ Kxf6 20.Rd6+ Kg7 21.Ne6+ Bxe6 22.Rdxe6 Kf7 23.Rxe7+ 1–0 (S.Jasny-J.Lukac, 1999)

The above entry represents about three hours of work. To fully understand the Albin Counter-Gambit may take up to 500 hours.

What sayest to this Lord Darth Vader? Maybe we will start an Albin Counter-Gambit user's group?

I've met the premature "a3" a good deal in blitz and casual games. Just about everybody who plays the Queen's Gambit knows that famous famous trap that claimed its first scalp with Korody vs Bologh, 1933 -- usually it's a bitter memory for them, sooner or later just about everybody has to learn this ugly situation by experience. So White, motivated to play e3 but smart enough to not walk into the trap, figures that he can play a3 first.

Here's what Ward says:

<In view of the previous game (Korody vs Bologh) it's no wonder that many nervous White players are eager to play this move. Indeed, whether whipped out before or after the usual inclusion of Nf3 Nc6, there is a dual purpose to it. First, it prevents the enemy bishop check on b4. Useful at any stage, this is particularly handy if e3 is White's intention. Secondly, a queenside expansion is prepared. This may be threatening if Black castles queenside and perhaps more relevant is that Black's d-pawn can be further pressurized. There's the option of ♗b4, whilst b4-b5 to kick a future knight on c6 is also on offer. The general debate is whether or not this fairly innocuous pawn move is too slow.>

One more thing: when studying openings, chess engines are not entirely useless but certainly that is when their weaknesses are most apparent. An example I often cite is how the strongest chess engines in the world do not view 2.c4 as a good move after 1.d4 d5. Depending on the chess engine, it can rank 2.c4 as a worse move than 2.Na3 or 2.h3 or a number of ludicrous options. If they really knew what was going on, they would put 2.c4 very high, if not highest. There's a reason why chess engines are programmed with opening databases that humans create!!

Having laid all that on the table, I will now go over your lines and get back to you sometime in the next few days. (I won't belittle your efforts by making a 5-minute comment on 3 hours of work. I *hate* that!!)

You mean like someone else tried to do to you, a person who will remain nameless? Yes, that can be a little annoying.

I only scratched the surface here. Clearly there's a lot of work to be done on this very interesting opening. Maybe after 300 to 500 hours of work I will understand it better.

In the interim, I think the Albin Counter-Gambit is much better than it's undeserved reputation as being a quick loss for Black, an idea promulgated by self-appointed experts who have a vested interest in their own pet lines of play. It would take a grandmaster to avoid the many pitfalls this opening presents to both White and Black.

The fully prepared Black player in the Albin could claim many victims and never worry about someone being booked up in this widely condemned opening.

As you can see from what little I have done, Black can push White around on the board and still get a draw out of it. But, of course, some of that input came from Fritz. Like any chess program, Fritz is not as strong as it could be in the opening phase of the game.

Whether out of vanity or out of peer pressure, very few international masters or grandmasters want to admit to using computer analysis to support their opening preferences. Rather, they resort to master games to make their claims, even though some of those games are loaded with mistakes. Yet I am willing to bet anything that chess experts use computers all the time to generate their own novelties while denying ever having used a CPU for that purpose.

I believe that any player who is willing to invest the time in this opening to understand it's strategic aims and to commit to memory its many tactical sequences can cause a lot of damage to unsuspecting opponents.

Perhaps the Albin wouldn't work in a World Chess Championship match, but you know I will never be playing in one so I have absolutely nothing to worry about. Putting it another way, how many 2000-level players are heavily versed in the Albin when they never encounter one? One percent?

Checkers might not be as great a game as chess, but they sure have much better names for their openings. Look at this short list:

— The Dyke

— The Octopus

— The Black Widow

— The White Doctor

— Fraser's Inferno

— The Rattlesnake

— The Single Corner

— The Double Cross

— The Skull-Cracker

— The Switcher

and possibly my favorite of them all...

I've recently been looking at how to best deal with such 'grotesque' defences to 1.d4. :)

And I'll have to agree with <Sneaky> here, that 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Bf5 is far from refuted by 3.Qb3!? on account of 3...e5! I analyzed 2 possible branches:

<A> 4.Qxb7 <B> 4.cxd5

<A> 4.Qxb7 Nd7 5.Nc3 Rb8! (5...exd4?! 6.Nxd5 Bd6 7.Nf3 c5 8.Qc6 Qb8 9.g3 Ne7 10.Nxe7 Bxe7 11.Ne5! leaves Black with no compensation for the pawn) 6.Qxd5 (6.Qxa7? Nb6! 7.Nxd5 Nxd5 8.cxd5 Bb4+ is uncomfortable for White) 6...Be6! (6...Ne7 is less effective, because White can respond 7.Qf3!) 7.Qe4 Ngf6 8.Qd3 exd4 9.Qxd4 Bc5 with this position:

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where I think Black has adequate compensation for the pawn. After his next move, White will have spent 7/10 moves pushing the queen around the board! The position reminds me a little of the kind that can arise in the Schara gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!?).

<B> 4.cxd5 Ne7!? [4...exd4 5.Nf3! resists winning the pawn, so as to retain a positional edge (5.Qxb7?! Nd7 6.Nf3 Bc5 is fine for Black) for example, 5...Be4 6.Nxd4 Bxd5 7.Qe3+ with a lead in development, and in many cases the bishop pair too.] 5.Qxb7 Qxd5

<<Another line worthy of investigation is 5...Nd7!? 6.Nc3 [6.dxe5? Rb8 7.Qxa7 Nxd5 is good for Black; 6.e4!? Bxe4 7.Nc3 Rb8 8.Qxa7 Bxd5 9.dxe5 Nc6 10.Qe3 Nb4! again leaves White up a pawn after 11.Qd2 Nxe5 12.Nxd5 but Black looks to have quite reasonable compensation.] 6...Rb8 7.Qxa7 Ra8 8.Qb7 Rb8 9.Qa6 exd4 10.d6!? which gives another chaotically unclear position>>

6.Qxd5 Nxd5 7.dxe5 Nc6 8.Nf3 Rb8 with this position:

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Once Black gets ...e5 in with the Baltic Defense we're in Albin-ish territory, in the sense that Black is willing to give up a pawn with ...e5 for very active piece play, and White is relegated to quiet and accurate defense to prove an advantage. (A third opening which I would put in the same category is the Winawer countergambit: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nc3 e5!?, it's essentially the Albin except that two knights have been developed, which in my opinion is good for Black, since White is going to lose time when Black plays ...d4.)

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Think of these pieces as a large letter "Q" ... the white King and the two knights are the "tail" of the Q, and all the other pieces make up the circle of the "Q".

<Think of a secret number between 5 and 20.> Don't tell me what your secret number is. Through my powers of clairvoyance I will reach across the internet and reveal your secret number to you.

Now, I want you to put your finger (or mouse) on the White King ♔. You are going to move your finger the same number of times as your secret number. First travel up the tail, then go around CLOCKWISE.

<Please follow this example to make sure you understand> For example, if your secret number is 5, put your finger on the white king, then you say "one" as you move your finger to the black knight, "two" puts you on the white knight, "three" puts you on the white rook, "four" is the black king, and finally you would stop on "five" which is the white pawn. (Of course, you don't have to pick 5. Pick any number between 5 and 20.)

You might end up going all the way around the board. That's perfectly fine, just keep around in the same direction until your finger stops on a piece.

By the rules I just stated it would be impossible for your finger to be on the "tail" of the Q now, so I will remove those pieces from the board:

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< Now, starting from where your finger is, count up to your secret number again, taking one step for each number, BUT THIS TIME GO IN THE OTHER DIRECTION > That is, move COUNTER-clockwise around the circle, as you count up to your secret number. One, two, three, four ... and so forth. Take your time, I'll wait.

< Now, from this new piece you are on, I want you to take FOUR steps in either direction. > You can move to the left or to the right, it's your choice, but be sure to make exactly FOUR steps. I'll copy the board again for your convenience:

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< Now your finger is resting on a piece. > I couldn't possibly know any of the choices you made along the way. Maybe you're on the black rook? Maybe you're on the white bishop? Maybe you went left, maybe you went right. Maybe you picked a big number, maybe a small one.

But wait... I am getting a vision. This is a game of destiny, and it is not in your fate to be a mere pawn. I know that kismet will not permit you stop at a bishop--not the white one, not the black one. Let me sweep those pieces aside.

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You are flesh and blood, not a rook made of bricks and mortar. You are one of these pieces:

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