07 Nov 06
reading a book "winning with the Kan" at the moment by Ali Mortazavi.
It seems to me that the Kan is basically a waiting game, setting up a standard hedgehog formation and sitting tight. The whole idea sounds very interesting, waiting to see what white does and you shuffle our pieces around within the hedgehog to counter, then white gets "impatient" and attacks, blacks' key moves then are the pawn breaks d5 and b5 with a seriously sudden queenside assault.
Just wondering if anyone else here plays it frequently? And if it's really worth getting into?
Thoughts?
J
07 Nov 06
Originally posted by onyx2006I've had it come up 4 times (as white) and lost all of them, once against an engine, and the human's I lost to were pretty strong as well: Game 1211978, Game 1235666, Game 1353998 and Game 2020487.
reading a book "winning with the Kan" at the moment by Ali Mortazavi.
It seems to me that the Kan is basically a waiting game, setting up a standard hedgehog formation and sitting tight. The whole idea sounds very interesting, waiting to see what white does and you shuffle our pieces around within the hedgehog to counter, then white gets "impatient" and ...[text shortened]... ne else here plays it frequently? And if it's really worth getting into?
Thoughts?
J
07 Nov 06
1 edit
Originally posted by onyx2006Well Mortazavi wants to sell his book. As far as I can tell from the write up in MCO the Kan's ok., and has the benefit that it's not played as much as the Najdorf or the Dragon. The question you have to ask yourself is whether you mind cramped positions, and you have to be comfortable playing against the Maroczy bind.
Cheers for those! Pity about the engine game, I'll have a look through these....
It's that the book makes the Kan sound like the best thing since sliced bread, looking for proof.
Actually I thought I put up the best struggle in that one, and the checkmate's quite pretty.
07 Nov 06
Originally posted by DeepThoughtIn which one?
Actually I thought I put up the best struggle in that one, and the checkmate's quite pretty.
Re: the najdorf, dragon etc. The Kan's theory is simpler, I think at my level of play - that's what I should aim for? I have tried the najdorf - I find it difficult and I simply can't seem to grasp the dragon. Good point though on cramped positions, but I reckon I'm comfortable on CC, but if it was OTB I'd break out in a sweat! :-/ Will try it for a month, test the water....
07 Nov 06
1 edit
Originally posted by onyx2006Sorry, I meant the one against the engine (Yozzer) which was the second in the list.
In which one?
Re: the najdorf, dragon etc. The Kan's theory is simpler, I think at my level of play - that's what I should aim for? I have tried the najdorf - I find it difficult and I simply can't seem to grasp the dragon. Good point though on cramped positions, but I reckon I'm comfortable on CC, but if it was OTB I'd break out in a sweat! :-/ Will try it for a month, test the water....
I think at our level what it's better to focus on more in openings are the strategic ideas, and try to understand the position as a whole rather than concentrating on tactical lines except where neccessary. The difficulty with the Dragon is that the Yugoslav attack has some extremely sharp lines and it's neccessary to understand how to play them and cope with knife edge tactical positions, when you can easily lose sight of the wood because of all the trees. In the Najdorf after 6. Bg5 you have to learn lines of play by rote (at least for OTB play) the opening is so sharp that the normal rule that it's enough to understand the position doesn't work since the slightest tactical slip can lead to total disaster even against opponents who don't entirely know what they're doing. The fundamental line is 6. Be2, you need to understand that to understand the other lines. Unlike 6.Bg5 it's enough to understand the position, rote learning of lines is counterproductive. Struggle tends to revolve around the queenside (white often plays a4 to keep black hemmed in) and the d5 square, if black can safely play d6-d5 then (s)he should at least equalize. Because most whites play 6. Bg5 or 6. Bc4 (also tactically tricky) I find the more positional approaches (Be2, Be3, f4, f3 etc.) harder to deal with because I haven't had much practise except against players much stronger than I am.
I don't know much about the Paulsen/Kan (see above games...) but according to MCO play can be sharp so you'll need to cope with that. The benefit of playing against a Maroczy bind is that you've normally got a fairly clear task (undermine white's control of d5). I'd give it more like 3 months - you need to get the hang of the middle game positions you get out of it and can't really judge them until you're getting reasonable positions out of the opening against players around your kind of strength. A good thing to do is to see if you can get a stronger player (+25ish ECF) to play white against you OTB, write down the moves and get them to go through it with you afterwards; you'll probably have to buy them some drinks...