Attended my first Chess Club

Originally posted by Eladar
I don't see 1.b3, but my opponents do! 😀

I forgot you have commented on 1.b3 in other threads. I was thinking of Paul Leg's comments about 1.b3.

I am biased toward 1.e4 (or maybe 1.d4), especially for club-level play.

Perhaps 1.e4 would be good for me at this point. I don't know, maybe I'll give it a shot.

I went again last night with good results: won 9 lost 1

One thing I'm disappointed about is the fact that people don't want to talk about the games. The people I played just wanted to set up the board again and play. There was no interest in what they could do to get better. Just anger and frustration at losing and determination to win the next game.

Lesson from last night: apply pressure and watch your opponent make bad moves. OTB games seem to be more this way than CC.

Lesson 2 from last night: don't expect people to want to discuss the games nor discuss how to get better. I found this to be true even when playing stronger players from whom I had hoped to learn.

I'm thinking about trying out other clubs in the area to see if I can find people more interested in discussing the games.

One other thing, I happened upon a game in progress. One of the players had left the table, so I was talking to the kid sitting there about the game. I had he had reached his position out of the KID, but it was out of the Sicilian, I assume it was the Accelerated Dragon.

How many defenses share the basic pawn structure with a Kingside fiachetto, playing d6?

Originally posted by Eladar
One other thing, I happened upon a game in progress. One of the players had left the table, so I was talking to the kid sitting there about the game. I had he had reached his position out of the KID, but it was out of the Sicilian, I assume it was the Accelerated Dragon.

How many defenses share the basic pawn structure with a Kingside fiachetto, playing d6?

Pawns on d6 and c5 make sense with a bishop on g7. Their purpose is pretty much to keep the diagonal from being blocked up. Just look and observe



The pawn on d6 covers the e5 square and the pawn on c5 covers the d4 square. A dream fianchetto position would also have pawns on a3 and b4.

In the sicilian the c file is almost always open so c3 becomes 'the square' with the advance b5-b4 and alot of exchange sac's happening on this square which is why to avoid this white sometimes puts a pawn on c3 instead of a knight. The pawn limits the scope of the fianchetto bishop... but that is a kind of concession by white saying "I'm going to give up my initiative because I am scared of your bishop." Instead the sharper lines involve white moving pawns down the f g and h files trying to destroy the kings pawn protection or land a pawn safely on f6.

In the KID I don't really shoot for that pawn structure. Normally I plan to place my knight on c5 after playing a5. I believe a5 is an attempt to prevent white from taking the c5 square away from my knight with b4.

I'm looking to play the Lenigrad Dutch, which obviously has the KID's pawn structure. So is it basically just these three denfenses that shoot for the pawn structure I've described?

Originally posted by Eladar
In the KID I don't really shoot for that pawn structure. Normally I plan to place my knight on c5 after playing a5. I believe a5 is an attempt to prevent white from taking the c5 square away from my knight with b4.

I'm looking to play the Lenigrad Dutch, which obviously has the KID's pawn structure. So is it basically just these three denfenses that shoot for the pawn structure I've described?

I don't really play the KID so I don't know the positions but I do know that ...c5 or ...e5 almost always have to be played after ...d6 at some point or another if you want any chances (barring any major blunders from either side)


ps. sometimes ...e6 for either ...d5 or ...f5 advances. In semi-closed positions the game tends to hinge on pawn breaks.

When I get home I'll try to find how many times c5 is played in my Joe Gallagher KID books. In the KID black usually tries to play e5.

Originally posted by Eladar
When I get home I'll try to find how many times c5 is played in my Joe Gallagher KID books. In the KID black usually tries to play e5.

Yeah ...e5 might be played more often because of the position but in other fianchetto positions like the pirc ...c5 is often played.

It all depends what White does with his Queens Bishop.

If the Bishop goes to g5 then e5 is often a big blunder so Black goes for c5 break.

Dutch Defense - jnguyen RHP 2009
Gives you an idea of what can happen.

Looks like the KID to me.

I'll have to look out for that. I see this type of game quite often.

Of course I think black's biggest problem is that he didn't check all checks and lost the rook accordingly. Of course not developing cost him a bit more after that.

Hi E.

The Rook drop was a blunder in a bad position and only seeing
the Knight fork on f2.

After 6...e5


The play is forced to here.


When White's position is far superior.

You could say it's KID rule of thumb. If Bg5 then go for c5.

Thanks for the advice. 😀

Originally posted by Eladar
Thanks for the advice. 😀

Oh you sneaky basterd. You've avoided the whole point! Where are the games? WHY didn't you RECORD them???? 😠

😀

Good luck finding another club.