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The Boomerang in the Alekhine

The Boomerang in the Alekhine

Only Chess

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Cannot praise these free vids enough.
Here is another good one told by Martin in his relaxed
grab a pint, pull up chair and look at this style.

After 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5


Black plays 2...Ng8 which I have seen referred to as the Boomerang
or the plain 'Knights Retreat' or The Petrosian Variation.


Is the pawn on e5 weak or strong?
Andrew gives some games of own to show the debate is open.

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i would prefer white side of the boomerang

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As an Alekhine player I'd be interested to try 2. Ng8.

3. f4 for white would be my main concern.

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i'd rather play moves like d4 and Nf3 as white

1 edit
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I've always thought this sort of idea might be used in the Classical French. The
mainline goes:



And Black's queen is a bit active, but his knight really isn't on the best square.
Consider:



And the knight can make it to f5 easy. The problem with this idea is that
white can retreat his bishop to d2 or e3 and the knight, instead of a bad square to
go to, really has nowhere to go! If he lands on h6 white can lop it off, and if f6 then white has a nasty check:



So it's probably just a clever idea with no practical way to implement. 😞

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ChessMaster calls it B02 Alekhine Defense Brooklyn Variation.