This weird opening is common in blitz against the Sicilian. White doesn't necessarily play d3 on move 2, although sometimes he does. The move looks bad, it locks up his bishop, but I lose to this weird setup often, I can't find a weakness to it, it seems to be good against an e6 Sicilian. Can someone help me figure out what I'm missing? There has to be a way to punish this...
Originally posted by buddy2It is harmless, the problem is, I cannot break it, or gain much of an advantage from it, I get frustrated trying to attack it because I can't find any weaknesses to attack in the setup.
e6 or nc6 should equalize. Probably goes into a close setup with a fianchettoed king's bishop. Looks pretty harmless.
If black equalizes in the opening, white already is at psychological disadvantage. From your other posts, Matalose, you say you are studying tactics exclusively now. The trouble I find with that is that sometimes there's nothing tactical in the position at the moment. I did the CTarts thing for a few weeks and found myself throwing pieces at impregnable positions, assuming that there must be a mate there, just like in the software. Trouble was, unlike the computer program, there wasn't. I think sometimes just looking for the best positional move can keep you alive and if your opponent does the same, the worse you can come up with is a draw. If he makes a mistake, then your tactical skills will become useful.
Originally posted by mateuloseThis opening is not weak or harmless. I think you label anything you haven't seen in a main line somewhere harmless. This is an entry into the close sicilian, which is super dangerous if you aren't prepared. White plays something with the moves....d3, g3, Bg2, Nge2, Nc3, and f4. Black often fianchettoes but not if he plays e6 like you do. I do believe my friend Zumdahl plays this quite a bit. Search through his games or look up the closed sicilian somewhere for more info. I actually really like the positions white gets, and with almost no effort. When people ask me to recommend something for them when they don't want to play 2. Nf3 and 3. d4 I tell them to play the closed.
This weird opening is common in blitz against the Sicilian. White doesn't necessarily play d3 on move 2, although sometimes he does. The move looks bad, it locks up his bishop, but I lose to this weird setup often, I can't find a weakness to it, it seems to be good against an e6 Sicilian. Can someone help me figure out what I'm missing? There has to be a way to punish this...
there's nothing wrong with d3, leading into closed sicilian, especially at our level (club) where anyone with a good book or database can make a good job of any line. By "harmless" I meant black can easily equalize, where it goes from there is any man's guess. Also, the closed sicilian is a main line defence. It just isn't as successful at master level (black has a 37% win ratio, white 34% on d3. If white plays nf3 the ratio reverses and white has a 37% win). I suppose that's why nf3 is much more common.
Oh, by the way, I hope Tony isn't referring to me when he states "I think you label anything you haven't seen in a main line somewhere harmless." I've played the closed as white and gave up on it. that is not to say someone can be successfull with the variation, far from it. I'm giving a personal opinion. When one says "you label..." you're generalizing about a person you don't know, which is much worse than generalizing about the opening of a game.
Originally posted by buddy2Not you, Mateulose. I don't need to know someone personally to tell that they label openings harmless when they haven't seen it before. He has done it quite a few times already, being wrong quite a bit.
Oh, by the way, I hope Tony isn't referring to me when he states "I think you label anything you haven't seen in a main line somewhere harmless." I've played the closed as white and gave up on it. that is not to say someone can be successfull with the variation, far from it. I'm giving a personal opinion. When one says "you label..." you're gener ...[text shortened]... out a person you don't know, which is much worse than generalizing about the opening of a game.
If you don't have a database, www.chesslive.de is a good place to search quickly for opening variations you haven't seen before - search for games where both players are over 2200 to get decent results.
It's very unlikely Black can bust anything White plays where White simply uses 1 tempo passively (e.g. 1.a3 is just equal rather than better for Black). Concentrate on getting good squares for your minor pieces rahter than 'punishing' White.