1. Standard memberAmaurote
    No Name Maddox
    County Doledrum
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    04 Feb '05
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    16156
    05 Nov '15 19:09
    I've seen this two or three times before against both 1.d4 and 1.e4, but I've never been able to identify a name for it. Does anyone know its origin, record and frequency at IM and GM level?

  2. Joined
    29 May '14
    Moves
    500
    05 Nov '15 21:521 edit
    According to a database that I looked at, the move order 1.e4 c6 2.d4 Na6 3.Nf3 Nc7 is more common than the one you give. I've seen the name "de Bruycker Defence" given to 1.e4 c6 2.d4 Na6 (although some websites define the de Bruycker Defence as 1.e4 c6 2.d4 Na6 3.Nc3 Nc7, which seems overly specific).

    Some early history of the opening is given by Gerard Welling in a 1982 issue of the Myers Openings Bulletins (available at http://www.panix.com/~gaillard/chess/scans/MOB25.pdf). He calls it "de Bruycker's Defense", and gives the earliest game as L. Levi - Ted Dunst, round 4 of the Marshall Chess Club championship, 1956, where the move order was 1.d4 Na6 2.e4 c6 3.Nf3 Nc7.
  3. Standard memberAmaurote
    No Name Maddox
    County Doledrum
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    16156
    06 Nov '15 18:171 edit
    Many thanks for this, Stansi, it's much appreciated. Fritz produces a number of hits, although I'm never quite sure how representative some of the games it includes in its database ultimately are. Some of the examples include a move order where white captures the knight on a6, then black re-takes with a check from a queen on a5 a half-move later. This game is quite instructive - Black's knight on C7 moves from queenside to kingside and back again, and survives to tell the tale:

    http://www.365chess.com/view_game.php?g=3867983
  4. Standard membersundown316
    The Mighty Messenger
    The Wood of N'Kai
    Joined
    13 Dec '03
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    156184
    07 Nov '15 00:10
    It's called the De Bruycker Variation. Instead of 2.Nf3, better is 2.d4 and if now 2...Na6, then 3 Ba6: makes hash of Black's Queen-side
  5. Standard memberAmaurote
    No Name Maddox
    County Doledrum
    Joined
    04 Feb '05
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    16156
    07 Nov '15 19:17
    Originally posted by sundown316
    It's called the De Bruycker Variation. Instead of 2.Nf3, better is 2.d4 and if now 2...Na6, then 3 Ba6: makes hash of Black's Queen-side
    Thanks, Sundown. It looks like it transposes as much from the Lemming Opening and the London System as the CK, which you know extremely well. One question - in the line you mention, with 3...Qa5+ and then 3...Qxa6, with no structural problems on Black's queenside, is Black's Queen poorly placed on a6?
  6. Joined
    04 Nov '08
    Moves
    20437
    07 Nov '15 21:38
    C4 looks more natural than e4 in op variation?
  7. Standard membersundown316
    The Mighty Messenger
    The Wood of N'Kai
    Joined
    13 Dec '03
    Moves
    156184
    07 Nov '15 23:26
    Might be, it's a pretty unusual placing for the Queen, White might have to play Qe2
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