Originally posted by slowmoleWell i play it a bit and there a few key points to remember. First of all, the idea of the English is to control the d5 square and to push a queen side attack, often trading of the 'a' pawn for an open file. Black on the other hand often pushes for a king side attack, hoping to finish white quickly. The bishop is fienchettoed (i forget spelling obviously) on g2 which further reinforces the d5 claim. Black often creats a bishop-queen battery along the c8-h3 diagnol, pulling the bishop out of his home and creating a lurking weakness for white. Both white and black can claim their respective 'e' squares and when black pushes 1..... e6 white should respond with d4, creating a queens gambit, so it is good to know transposing lines.
No, I mean I'm not practiced at it. Is it easy for black to dominate in the centre, and through the mid game?
Originally posted by c guy1Thanks for that...just wondering...excuse my ignorance, (oh, and spelling)... what if black drives through the centre 1...e5, 2...e6 leading toward doubled white pawns on the e file how does this effect whites gambit? will white be a little over developed?
Well i play it a bit and there a few key points to remember. First of all, the idea of the English is to control the d5 square and to push a queen side attack, often trading of the 'a' pawn for an open file. Black on the other hand often pushes for a king side attack, hoping to finish white quickly. The bishop is fienchettoed (i forget spelling obviously) ...[text shortened]... e should respond with d4, creating a queens gambit, so it is good to know transposing lines.
generally what you want to do in the English, is defend d4 slap a knight on d5, try and create a spatial advantage, than play for a breakthrough typically the breakthrough occurs on the wings, ie the a file and the h file, heres a link to a game that follows this idea, its not an english game but the concept is the same
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1066825