Opening talks

1) Playing against 1d4 – Queen’s Pawn

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.03.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Playing against 1d4"] [Black "Ten Ways to Play for Black"] [Result "1/2-1/2"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Crocker,Philip"] [PlyCount "10"] [EventDate "2018.03.29"] [SourceDate "2018.03.29"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.03.29"] 1. d4 {Play often centres around control of the e4 square. Black can 1) Control e4 with pawns; 2) Control e4 with pieces; 3) Ignore e4 and play against other squares such as dark sqaures} d5 (1... f5 2. c4 (2. e4 $5) 2... Nf6 3. g3 e6 4. Bg2 d5 5. Nf3 c6 6. O-O Bd6 {The Dutch Defence (Method 1)}) ( 1... Nf6 2. c4 e6 (2... c5 3. d5 e6 4. Nc3 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 6. e4 g6 7. Nf3 Bg7 {The Benoni (Method 3)}) (2... g6 3. Nc3 d5 (3... Bg7 4. e4 d6 5. Nf3 O-O 6. Be2 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. d5 Ne7 {The King’s Indian (Method 3)}) 4. cxd5 Nxd5 5. e4 Nxc3 6. bxc3 Bg7 {The Gruenfeld (Method 3)}) 3. Nc3 (3. Nf3 b6 4. Nc3 Bb7 { The Queen’s Indian (Method 2)}) 3... Bb4 {The Nimzo-Indian Defence (Method 2)}) 2. c4 e6 (2... c6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 {The Semi-Slav Defence (Method 1)} (4... dxc4 5. a4 Bf5 6. e3 e6 7. Bxc4 Bb4 {The Slav Defence (Method 2)})) (2... dxc4 3. e4 e5 {The Queen’s Gambit Accepted (Method 3)}) 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nf3 O-O {The Queen’s Gambit Declined (Method 1)} 1/2-1/2 You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

2) Playing against 1c4 – English Opening

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.03.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Playing against 1c4"] [Black "Three Ways to play for Black"] [Result "*"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Crocker,Philip"] [PlyCount "14"] [EventDate "2018.03.29"] [SourceDate "2018.03.29"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.03.29"] 1. c4 {Black has many reasonable ways to play. 3 ways we’ll consider are: 1. Play it as a Sicilian with opposite colours; 2. Copy White’s moves for a while (Symmetrical); 3. Play it offering transposition to a 1d4 opening such as Queen’s Gambit, Slav or KID.} e5 {Method 1 is perhaps the most challenging} ( 1... c6 2. Nc3 d5 3. e3 (3. d4 Nf6 {Is a Slav}) 3... Nf6 4. Nf3 e6 {is solid}) (1... c5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nf3 e6 6. O-O Nge7 7. d3 O-O 8. Bd2 d5 9. a3 b6 10. Rb1 Bb7 11. b4 cxb4 12. axb4 dxc4 13. dxc4 Rc8 $11 {0-1 (66) Petrosian,T-Fischer,R Belgrade 1970}) (1... e6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 { Is a Queen’s Gambit}) (1... g6 2. Nc3 Bg7 3. g3 Nf6 4. Bg2 O-O 5. Nf3 d6 6. d3 e5 7. O-O Nc6 8. Rb1 a5 9. a3 Re8 10. Bg5 h6 11. Bxf6 Bxf6 12. b4 axb4 13. axb4 Bg7 14. b5 Ne7 15. Qb3 Be6 16. Nd2 c6 $11) 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. e3 (4. g3 d5 (4... Bb4 5. Bg2 O-O 6. O-O e4 7. Ng5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Re8 9. f3 e3 $5 10. d3 d5 $13) 5. cxd5 Nxd5 6. Bg2 Nb6 7. O-O Be7 8. d3 O-O {with a reversed Sicilian Dragon}) 4... Bb4 5. Be2 O-O 6. O-O Bxc3 7. bxc3 d6 $11 {Other themes: Generally White plays on the queenside} * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.

3) Playing the Sicilian Defence against 1e4

[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2018.03.29"] [Round "?"] [White "Playing against 1e4"] [Black "Sicilian Defence"] [Result "*"] [ECO "A00"] [Annotator "Crocker,Philip"] [PlyCount "84"] [EventDate "2018.03.29"] [SourceDate "2018.03.29"] [SourceVersionDate "2018.03.29"] 1. e4 c5 {Play can get very sharp in some of the lines. Even the sidelines where White seeks to avoid sharp lines can be heavily analysed} 2. Nf3 (2. c3 d5 (2... Nf6 3. e5 Nd5) 3. exd5 Qxd5 4. d4 Nf6 5. Nf3) (2. d4 {Morra Gambit gives compensation for pawn with easy play} cxd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Nxc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bc4 e6 7. O-O Nf6 8. Qe2 Be7 9. Rd1) (2. f4 d5 3. exd5 Nf6) (2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 {Grand Prix Attack} g6 4. Nf3 Bg7 5. Bc4 e6 6. O-O Nge7 7. d3 O-O 8. Qe1 d5) 2... d6 (2... e6 $5) 3. d4 (3. Bb5+ $5) 3... cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 {General themes: Black usuually plays on the queenside, White on the kingside. Possibiity of opposite side castling. Exchange sac on c3. ..d5/ ..e5 breaks for Black.} 5. Nc3 {There are several sub-variations of the Sicilian eg Dragon, Najdorf, Scheveningen} e6 (5... g6 {The Dragon} 6. Be3 Bg7 7. f3 O-O 8. Qd2 Nc6 9. Bc4 Bd7 10. O-O-O Rc8 11. Bb3 Nxd4 12. Bxd4 b5 $13 {with sharp play}) (5... a6 {The Najdorf} 6. Bg5 e6 7. f4 Qb6 8. Qd2 Qxb2 {The famous Poisoned Pawn} 9. Rb1 Qa3 10. f5) 6. Be2 Be7 7. O-O O-O 8. Be3 Nc6 9. f4 {A position from the Scheveningen which has been played thousands of times} a6 10. a4 Qc7 11. Kh1 Re8 12. Bf3 Rb8 13. Qd2 Bd7 14. Nb3 b6 15. g4 Bc8 16. g5 Nd7 17. Qf2 Bf8 18. Bg2 Bb7 {Black manoeuvres waiting to counter-attack} 19. Rad1 g6 20. Bc1 Rbc8 { The game which made Kasparov world champion} 21. Rd3 Nb4 22. Rh3 Bg7 23. Be3 Re7 24. Kg1 Rce8 25. Rd1 f5 26. gxf6 Nxf6 27. Rg3 Rf7 28. Bxb6 Qb8 29. Be3 Nh5 $15 30. Rg4 Nf6 31. Rh4 g5 32. fxg5 Ng4 33. Qd2 Nxe3 34. Qxe3 Nxc2 35. Qb6 Ba8 36. Rxd6 Rb7 37. Qxa6 Rxb3 38. Rxe6 Rxb2 39. Qc4 Kh8 40. e5 Qa7+ 41. Kh1 Bxg2+ 42. Kxg2 Nd4+ {0-1 (42) Karpov,A (2720)-Kasparov,G (2700) Moscow 1985} * You must activate JavaScript to enhance chess game visualization.