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Off-Book
Yes, compare openings—but within reason By GM LEV ALBURT
SERGIO MADRIGAL FOUND HIMSELF “OFF- book” on the second move and lost the opening battle. Later, he shone. Writes Sergio (my further comments are in italics): I had been out of tournament play for decades,
but I had played some chess and read some chess books in the interim, then I jumped back into tournaments at the 2014 National Open.
TORRE ATTACK (D03) Doyle Lobaugh (1585) Sergio Madrigal (1417)
National Open Championship (5), Las Vegas, Nevada, 06.15.2014
1. d4 Nf6 2. Nf3 It appears White has already gone off-book.
Or will this transpose into a Queen’s Indian if Black continues 2. … e6 and White gets back on book with 3. c4? [Yes.—L.A.] Can Black penalize White for this move order by 2. … d5? That is, does 2. … d5 pre-empt 3. c4? If it doesn’t prevent 3. c4, then does 3. c4 c6 transpose to the Semi- Slav with no damage done? [After 2. ... d5 3. c4, the game can continue as Slav; Orthodox, QGA; etc., etc.] Often times I have thought that openings in
the Under-1600 sections are more treacherous to maneuver than the conventional openings of standard opening theory (as in books such as Modern Chess Openings) because there does not seem to be any books or discussion of how to take advantage of the numerous, early off-book moves commonly encountered in the Under-1600 sections. That is, should the presumption be that when either side goes off-book, there must be [could be—L.A.] some optimal response that gains an advantage (that is, more advantage than that gained by continuing with one’s standard on- book opening moves)? If so, what would the optimal response be here? Or should you be patient and see if the play transforms into a named opening? I should’ve tried to find out, but I reverted to
the Gruenfeld Defense move order, the Gruenfeld being one of my preferred responses as Black to 1. d4.
White’s 2. Nf3 is a very common move, second in popularity only to the “classic” 2. c4. Thus, for a
18 January 2016 | Chess Life
5. ... a6 Here I am the one going off-book since I like
the … a6 move that is typical of the Najdorf Sicilian (the Najdorf Sicilian being my other favorite response as Black to 1. e4), because it: a) prevents Bb5(+), and b) prepares for … b7-b5 later on. In an unfamiliar position, Sergio makes a bad move
(both conceptually and practically). His reasoning is even worse, as the position on the board bears zero resemblance to the Najdorf (or any) Sicilian. Chess- wise, 5. ... a6 is a pure waste of time—and a temptation to later play the dubious, or even rather bad, ... b7-b5. While after, say, 5. ... 0-0 6. Bb5?!, Sergio could have played his ... a7-a6 with a tempo, if he so wished.
6. Bd3 0-0 7. b4 This stops Black’s natural play, with .. c7-c5.
7. ... b5 On the seventh move, both White and Black
9. 0-0 The archetypical 9. a4! successfully exploits weak -
nesses created by Black’s wrongful pawn play. 9. ... Nb6
Heading to my outpost. In my post-game analysis, it is hard to say who
has gone off-book more often. If we compare the first nine moves to a minor variation of the King’s Indian Defense (that is, KID column 79 of MCO- 14), White has gone off-book one time and I have gone off-book three times. Yikes! But my moves as Black are the first five moves of the Neo- Gruenfeld (column 42 in MCO-14). So, I guess it’s a White’s King’s Indian Defense against Black’s Neo-Gruenfeld? These considerations are totally irrelevant and highly confusing.
10. Bxf6 Bxf6 An uncalled-for bad exchtange. Even after allowing
9. ... Nb6 (9. 0-0 rather than 9. a4!) White is still better with 10. e4!.
11. Re1 c6 12. h3 Qc7 13. Nb3 e5
Trying to open up the center. Excellent! White missed an opportunity to expand in the center (on move 10), but Black didn’t.
14. Bc2 White did not care to exchange (e.g. 14. dxe5
Gruenfeld player, 2. ... g6 provides a very good solution. 2. … g6 3. Bg5 White continues off-book, or does he? I wasn’t
sure if 3. … Ne4 would gain anything in the long- term, so I continue with the Neo-Gruenfeld move order for Black. While 3. ... Ne4 is playable, 3. ... Bg7 is the most common (and best) reply here.
3. … Bg7 4. Nbd2 Due to 1. d4 and 3. Bg5, my chess engine calls
this a Neo-King’s Indian: Torre Attack, even though Black has not moved an early … e6.
4. … d5 5. e3
go off-book. I am ceding a potential outpost for White at c5 but also creating one for myself at c4.
8. c3 Nbd7
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