Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Zilbermints Englund Gambit vs Grandmaster

Lev Zilbermints has been a long time player of the Englund Gambit 1.d4 e5 with great success in blitz games. Lev Zilbermints has his own variation 3...Nge7. White is a titled grandmaster with the handle "blindhawk" playing anonymously. Objectively we know that the gambit 1.d4 e5 is not the strongest move, but it can be very tricky. So tricky that even grandmasters can struggle when required to play at a very fast speed.

The 3...Nge7 line has ideas similar to Albin-Counter Gambit 5...Nge7 lines. The knight can swing from e7 to g6 to recapture the pawn on e5. Lev Zilbermints has another idea in his system which reminds me of how Henri Grob played Black with 4...h6 and 5...g5 before moves like 6...Bg7 and 7...Ng6. Other Englund Gambit ideas include games by Francesco Cavicchi with 3...Qe7 or the counter gambit 2...f6. A chess engine or a titled master with several minutes to think on each move might find a slight advantage for White, but the edge is very minor vs a human in blitz. In competitive play, any edge can disappear in a split second and quickly be reversed. Here's a great example.

You might like my book: Chess Strategy Englund 1.d4 e5

blindhawk (2212) - Zilbermints (2205), ICC 5 0 Internet Chess Club, 22.12.2014 begins 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Nge7 4.Bg5 [The critical line seems to be 4.Nc3 Ng6 5.Bg5 Be7 6.Bxe7 Qxe7 7.Nd5 Qd8 8.Qd2 h6+/- when Stockfish, Rybka and Houdini all favor White, but each have a completely different way to continue.] 4...h6 5.Bh4 g5 6.Bg3 Bg7 7.Nc3 Ng6 [Houdini likes regaining the pawn for Black with 7...g4 8.Nd4 Nxe5] 8.e3 Ncxe5 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.h4 [10.f4!?+/=] 10...g4 [10...d6=] 11.h5 f5 12.Nd5 d6 13.Bh4 Qd7 14.Nf6+ [14.Qd2+/-] 14...Bxf6 15.Bxf6 0-0 16.Bh4 Qe6 17.Qd2 Bd7 18.b3 Bc6 19.0-0-0 b5 20.Rg1 a6 21.f4 [21.Qa5+/=] 21...Nd7 22.Qc3 Be4 23.Be1 Rac8 24.Qd4 Qf6 25.Bc3 Qxd4 26.Rxd4 Nf6 27.Bb2 Kh7 28.a4 Nxh5 29.axb5 axb5 30.Bxb5 Ng3 31.Kb1 c6 32.Ba6 Rcd8 33.Rgd1 d5 34.Bb7 Rf7 35.Bxc6 Rc7
36.Bxd5? [36.Rxe4 Nxe4 37.Bxd5 Nc3+ 38.Bxc3 Rxc3=/+] 36...Bxc2+ 37.Ka2 Ra7+ 38.Ba3 Bxd1 39.Rxd1 Ne2 40.Kb2 Rad7 White resigns 0-1



email: sawyerte@yahoo.com
Copyright 2011-2024

Friday, January 16, 2015

English 1.c4 d5!? Fianchetto 4.g3

Black can play any first move vs the English Opening. My 1.c4 d5 may cost Black some tempi, but it makes White think more on his own. Any aspect of the game that gains time on the clock is a bonus in blitz. The blessing and curse of the English is its flexibility. White commits to 1.c4. Moves like Nc3 and Bg2 are common, but beyond that White has a lot of decisions to make in both strategy and tactics. The set-up for White's kingside knight, dark-squared bishop, and central pawns can be anything, depending on what Black does.

In the 1980s I even experimented with 1.c4 f6, intending 2...e5, Nge7, d5, Nbc6, Be6, Qd7, 0-0-0 followed by ...g5 and ...h5, an ironic twist: the Sicilian English Attack vs the English Opening. Below White continued logically and could have obtained a slight positional advantage with the best play. My opponent Michi played reasonable moves, but Black was able to equalize.

My English Tactics book (1.c4) has 500 combinations and checkmates.
My Checkmate Tactics book has the best 500 opening mates.
My Combination Tactics book has the best 500 ways to win material.

Michi (1802) - Sawyer (1941), ICC 3 0 Internet Chess Club, 28.06.2014 begins 1.c4 d5 2.cxd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qd8 4.g3 [4.d4 e5!? 5.dxe5 Qxd1+ 6.Nxd1 Nc6=; 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.d4 e6 6.e4 Be7 and after six moves both sides have developed two pieces. White has more space and must play aggressively to push for an advantage. Still, it is not clear which bishop move would be best, nor whether the space advantage will dissipate over time.] 4...Nf6 [4...e5 5.Bg2 Nf6 is a standard English Opening type of position.] 5.Bg2 c6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.0-0 Nbd7 8.d4 e6 9.Ne5?! [This allows Black to equalize immediately. 9.h3+/= putting the question to the bishop seems better.] 9...Nxe5 10.dxe5 Qxd1 11.Rxd1 Nd5 12.Nxd5 exd5 13.f3 Be6 [13...Bc5+!?] 14.f4 g6 15.e4 dxe4 16.Bxe4 Bc5+ 17.Kg2 Ke7!? [17...0-0!=] 18.a3 [18.b4!] 18...Rhd8 19.Rxd8?! [19.f5!=] 19...Rxd8 20.b4?
20...Bb6 [20...Bd4!-+] 21.Kf3 h5 22.Be3 [22.f5 gxf5 23.Bg5+ Ke8-/+] 22...Bg4+ 23.Kf2 Rd2+ 24.Ke1 Bxe3 25.b5 Re2+ 26.Kf1 Bd4 27.Bd3 Bxa1 28.Bxe2 Bxe2+ 29.Kxe2 cxb5 [White resigns] 0-1



email: sawyerte@yahoo.com
Copyright 2011-2024

Thursday, January 1, 2015

10 Favorite Chess Posts of 2014

Happy New Year 2015! Here are my top 10 Favorite Chess Blog posts for 2014. I wrote 365 total posts during the year 2014. These 10 Favorites are the Annual Update. Updated versions of most other posts can be found in my books. Enjoy!

1. Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Keybook Online
Published 3/3/2014

2. Book Review King's Gambit by GM John Shaw
Published 2/4/2014

3. Book Review Alekhine by Lakdawala
Published 6/15/2014

4. Fries Nielsen in Irregular Veresov Opening
Published 7/30/2014

5. Blackmar-Diemer Gambit Vienna Famous Trap
Published 8/5/2014

6. BlackDragon Trap Queen Budapest Gambit
Published 2/16/2014

7. Trap of Queen in Pirc Defence Chess Opening
Published 7/3/2014

8. Two Knights Tango Checkmates Big Daddy
Published 1/26/2014

9. Karpov French Defence Tarrasch Jeff Baffo
Published 7/20/2014

10. Webster on Kampars, Fischer, and Diemer
Published 8/16/2014

Tim Sawyer Chess Blog Posts by Year
2011 - 174
2012 - 580
2013 - 366
2014 - 365
2015 - 287
2016 - 333
2017 - 192
2018 - 349
2019 - 366
Total Blog Posts 2011-2019 = 3012




email: sawyerte@yahoo.com
Copyright 2011-2024

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