1.e4 e5 2.a3!?

Originally posted by greenpawn34
You have to consider what Black opening is deemed unplayable
because there appears a pawn a6.
(Which would be the case with White and his extra 2.a3 move).

I dismiss 1.e4 e5 2.a3 simply because of 2... d6, kind of like a Phillidor Defense with an extra move. I haven't tested this, so I can't comment much more.

Originally posted by Ragwort
One of my favourite Abrahams games is this one from 1946...

[pgn][Event "London-B"]
[Date "1946.??.??"]
[White "Abrahams, Gerald"]
[Black "Winter, William"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
[BlackElo "0"]

1.e4 c5 2.b4 cxb4 3.Bb2 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.c4 bxc3 6.Nxc3 Qd8 7.Nf3 Nf6 8.d4 e6 9.Bd3 Be7 10.O-O O-O 11.Re1 Nc6 12.Re3 Nd5 13.Nxd5 exd5 14.Ne5 Bg5 1 ...[text shortened]... 9.Rxe8+ Rxe8 30.Bf8 1-0[/pgn]

The "diagram" appears in The Chess Mind also...

That last move, B-f8. What was wrong with RxR mate? If white just makes a mate threat, it looks like black gets in some deadly checks.

Hi

I think it's a gag. The game the lad posted was NOT Abrahams v Winter.

It may have been a screw up in his PGN or some kind of subtle
humerous twist playing on words...It's all in The Chess Mind.

The Knight sac and Pin question.



A common idea. Judgement and simple calcualtion should tell you if
it is going to work,

If White can bring enough pieces to bear on the pinned piece then
he should win back the piece with a a couple of pawns in his pocket
and an exposed King to work on.

You can apply ROT's and guidelines.
If you can get a Knight to e4 or d5 or there are Rook lifts to the 3rd rank
in the postion then it has a good chance of working.

Here is a brutal example from one of the Labourdonnais v McDonnell matches
played in 1834. This is the first example I can find of this idea in a game
so we are seeing a pioneer at work.

White's solution for getting rid of the black squared Bishop "have a Rook"
now appears quaint and obvious. Back then it possibly raised a cheer or two.

Originally posted by greenpawn34
The Knight sac and Pin question.

[fen]3q2k1/5p2/5n2/6B1/8/8/8/8 b - - 0 1[/fen]

A common idea. Judgement and simple calcualtion should tell you if
it is going to work,

If White can bring enough pieces to bear on the pinned piece then
he should win back the piece with a a couple of pawns in his pocket
and an exposed King to work on.

You ...[text shortened]... 18. Qxa1 Kg7 19. f4 Qe7 20. Qc3 b6
21. Rf3 Nc4 22. Bxf6+ Qxf6 23. Rg3+[/pgn]

I used one of those in one of my games (it's still in progress but it's pretty much over), the funny thing is I had never heard of this before:



It's a nice little trick that allows you to retain the pin and exert some pressure on the kingside, if your opponent can't break the pin this can turn out quite dangerous. What do you reckon the drawbacks are?

Perfect, thank you! Exactly what I wanted, a couple of examples of this attack working.
It makes sense. Get a rook lift or a knight to e4/d5 to keep pressure on the pinned knight.

In my games where this attack took place the center was closed. so that explains why
the attack failed.

This also sheds some light on an annotation by Alekhine where he stated "there is nothing
to fear from the knight sac at g4 since the queen can move to e3". Unpinning the knight
and protecting it at the same time.