New answers tagged opening
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In the Queen's Gambit Declined, why is 5.e3 so much more popular than 5.Nf3 after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7?
As the other answer points out 5. e3 is more flexible but there is a very concrete reason too; After 5. Nf3, Black can play h6 6. Bh4 dxc4 7. e3 c5 and now we are heading to an isolani type of ...
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In the Queen's Gambit Declined, why is 5.e3 so much more popular than 5.Nf3 after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7?
My notes indicate I wondered the same thing when studying the QGD. In his book Playing 1. d4 d5 Ntirlis, for the Bg5 QGD, prefers move order 4. Nf3 Be7 5. Bg5 . This is simply his repertoire.
Later, p ...
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What would be some great books that clarify the positional concepts of the Queen's Indian Defence from the Black side?
In my library I've "The Queen's Indian" by Yrjölä-Tella, Gambit Publications, 2003.
The lines showed might be outdated now but it seems to me that the authors have made an effort of explaing ...
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Petrosian's 9. ... Be7 10. ... Ng8 11. ... Bf8
9 ... Be7 is a normal developing move preparing to castle next move.
10 ...Ng8 reflects a change in plan given white's change to the pawn structure. On f6 the black knight was doing a good job ...
- 87.9k
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Are all main lines and variations of chess openings necessarily SOUND?
Sound book, theory white opening should lead to white win, provided that no inaccuracy, mistake or blunder, from the white. And the same runs for the black defence
Are all main lines and variations ...
- 87.9k
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What are some good books that explain the strategic ideas behind the Nimzo-Indian Defence, from Black's perspective?
I play the Nimzo. There is no doubt that Anatoly Karpov is one of the best, if not the best, strategic players of all times.. This link is a good point to start. You will find many analyzed games of ...
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Winning position after move one?
You've actually already done most of the "hard work" by getting the opening evals. The rest is just looking at the statistics for how often the engine wins against itself. Here is the data ...
- 24.3k
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Why is the outdated Steinitz Defense still so popular among non-professionals?
If it is called the Steinitz defence it cant be all that bad. Steinitz himself employed it because he wanted to keep as much pawn control over the center as he could, but as others have said, the ...
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Ruy Lopez Main Line - Why not Be7 before Nf6?
Nf6 puts pressure on e4 and is more flexible, since it still keeps the option of developing the bishop to c5 as well, as well as the possibility of playing the open defense after Nxe4 next move. ...
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Why is the outdated Steinitz Defense still so popular among non-professionals?
It is a solid option which is relatively easy to play since you do not need to memorize so many concrete variations as in the Berlin defense or in the Marshall gambit, for example.
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Ruy Lopez Main Line - Why not Be7 before Nf6?
5...Be7 will almost always transpose into 5...Nf6 followed by 6...Be7, so there's no special line to worry about. However after 5...Nf6 Black still has other options
We usually want to develop first ...
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Ruy Lopez Main Line - Why not Be7 before Nf6?
Practically/psychologically Nf6 makes White's life a bit harder because it also leaves open the possibility of following up with Bc5 (I see that this is called the Møller defense). This kind of thing ...
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Ruy Lopez Main Line - Why not Be7 before Nf6?
Why does no one play Be7 first?
Because Nf6 is more forcing. It attacks the pawn on e4 forcing white to do something about the threat. Castles indirectly does this by opening the possibility of Re1 ...
- 87.9k
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Why is the Budapest Defense considered not fully sound or even dubious? What theoretical difficulties arise for Black?
The Budapest Gambit is playable, even at top levels. That's different than, say, the King's Gambit which is legitimately dubious for strong players.
However, black has basically two choices:
(1) Don't ...
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Why is the outdated Steinitz Defense still so popular among non-professionals?
Because they want to play Bg4 then Qf6 then Ne7 then Nf5.
Because they can avoid all white's tactics on e5, while still having their tactics on e4.
Because it will often transpose to the normal Morphy ...
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Why is the outdated Steinitz Defense still so popular among non-professionals?
The move 3... d6 is passive, but it is not completely unjustified. White's bishop on b5 threatens to trade itself for black's knight on c6, leaving black's e5 pawn undefended and capturable by white's ...
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