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The Big Clamp Compiled by Kenilworthian
Compiled by fredthebear
--*--

This collection (the top 116 games) was compiled by kenilworthian. Fredthebear copied it from the generous kenilworthian. Thank you kenilworthian! Fredthebear has added a few addition games below that.

IM Lawrence Day's "The Big Clamp" was first published as two articles in Modern Chess Theory (1980-1981) and later as a book titled "The Big Clamp: An Anti-Sicilian System" (The Chess Player 1984) which included two additional games. It offers an inspiring approach to fighting for square control beginning with 1.e4 typically followed by f4, clamping down on the dark squares. Though even Day had his doubts about some of the odd ways players have tried to achieve the clamp (including 1.e4 e6 2.e5!? or 2.Qe2!?), his ideas have had a lasting influence. I have included a number of supplemental games to illustrate the 19th Century origins of The Big Clamp and its continuing influence today.

* Pawn Structures: Game Collection: Chess Structures: A Grandmaster Guide

Annabel Lee
by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love— I and my Annabel Lee—
With a love that the wingèd seraphs of Heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me—
Yes!—that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we—
Of many far wiser than we—
And neither the angels in Heaven above
Nor the demons down under the sea
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride, In her sepulchre there by the sea—
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Feb-09-12
ray keene: nimzos best endgames
v lasker zurich 1934
v spielmann carlsbad 1929
v lundin stockholm 1934
v maroczy bled 1931
v henneberger winterthur 1931
v thomas frankfurt 1930
v sultan khan liege 1930
v marshall berlin 1928
v reti berlin 1928
v alehine ny 1927
v tchigorin carlsbad 1907
and for a joke entry duras v nimzo san sebastian 1912 !!

A quote from the link: https://www.libertarianism.org/what...

"Modern day politicians on the left and right sometimes pay lip service to these ideas, but in practice they reject them. Legislation is all about imposing an order from above, rather than letting one emerge from below. And in creating their schemes, politicians all too often fail to give citizens their due as people, treating them as pawns and running roughshod over their rights to decide and plan for themselves."

The first appearance of the (John) Cochrane gambit against Petrov's defense C42 was in the year 1848 against an Indian master Mohishunder Bannerjee.

Below is the acrostic poem by Mrs T.B. Rowland:

Tears now we sadly shed apart,
How keenly has death's sudden dart
E'en pierced a kingdom's loyal heart.

Dark lies the heavy gloomy pall
Upon our royal bower,
Kings, queens, and nations bow their heads,
Each mourn for England's flower.

Oh! God, to her speak peace divine,
For now no voice can soothe but thine.

Ah, why untimely snatched away,
Loved Prince – alas, we sigh –
Before thy sun its zenith reached
Athwart the noonday sky.
Noble in heart, in deed, and will,
Years hence thy name we'll cherish still.

That poem was published on pages 140-141 of Chess Fruits (Dublin, 1884)

"Many have become chess masters, no one has become the master of chess." ― Siegbert Tarrasch

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive." ― Howard Thurman

St. Marher, 1225:
"And te tide and te time þat tu iboren were, schal beon iblescet."

z274 Zdanovs sunk Zelinsky who beat peridiot trounced by Zhuravliov zfret

"A clear strategic triumph for the white player."
Korchnoi vs Karpov, 1978 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 50 moves, 1-0

Day developed this cramping strategy in 1977 in Toronto.
L Day vs D MacLeod, 1978
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 46 moves, 1-0

"White can preserve his options longer...than Black"
B Nickoloff vs C Braga, 1978
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 57 moves, 1-0

Black's f5 "forms a sort of left-handed Benoni structure."
L Day vs D Ross, 1979 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 48 moves, 1-0

"a pawn structure familiar from Antoshin's ... Dutch Defence"
L Day vs H Angantysson, 1979 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 28 moves, 1-0

See Day's later win over Benko with the Big Clamp.
L Day vs Benko, 1979
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 81 moves, 1/2-1/2

"A very double edged...bulwark at f5" for Black
S Makarichev vs Dolmatov, 1979
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 41 moves, 1-0

Black's mistake is 9...d5?
L Day vs Z Vranesic, 1978 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 71 moves, 1-0

The "e4-bulwark" gets reinforced by Bf3
L Day vs Benko, 1980 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 30 moves, 1-0

A near triumph for Black's f5 bulwark strategy.
L Day vs L Christiansen, 1980
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 64 moves, 1/2-1/2

White combines prophylactics with attack.
L Day vs R Blumenfeld, 1980
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 24 moves, 1-0

White deploys a b3 fianchetto to control the dark squares.
L Day vs Y Rantanen, 1980
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 40 moves, 1/2-1/2

Bohatirchuk was Day's early mentor.
F Bohatirchuk vs Yanofsky, 1951
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 41 moves, 1-0

Black slows the attack "by obtaining targets on the queenside"
L Day vs J Tisdall, 1980
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 42 moves, 1-0

L Day vs D Stoll, 1980
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 41 moves, 1-0

"Larsen instructively reduces his opponent to virtual zugzwang"
Larsen vs O'Kelly, 1967
(A02) Bird's Opening, 44 moves, 1-0

Black is punished for his "overambition"
Bronstein vs N Padevsky, 1965
(A02) Bird's Opening, 40 moves, 1-0

Play on both wings and "a decisive switch of fronts"
L Day vs B Clayton, 1979
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 61 moves, 1-0

White "eschews the classical central thrust d2-d4" and plays f4
L Day vs L Williams, 1979 
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 30 moves, 1-0

Too restrained -- white should play e5 before Black does
L Day vs Shamkovich, 1978
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 21 moves, 1/2-1/2

Bronstein vs Balashov, 1967 
(C44) King's Pawn Game, 65 moves, 1-0

L Day vs B Nickoloff, 1978 
(C44) King's Pawn Game, 47 moves, 1/2-1/2

A classic clamp by the master of blockade strategy
Nimzowitsch vs Alekhine, 1926 
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 46 moves, 1-0

"Black can create great complications with f6"
K Burger vs Alburt, 1980
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 41 moves, 1-0

"White's active disposition of forces" gives an endgame edge
Tal vs H Bohm, 1976 
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 39 moves, 1-0

Gufeld vs M Vukic, 1979
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 43 moves, 1-0

"A lively struggle"
Kupreichik vs Sveshnikov, 1979
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 42 moves, 0-1

"Black may consider delaying O-O"
Balashov vs P Dankert, 1979
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 56 moves, 1-0

Balashov vs A Shmit, 1975
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 56 moves, 1/2-1/2

Balashov vs W Schmidt, 1976
(B02) Alekhine's Defense, 23 moves, 1-0

"Bass needed only a draw for the IM norm"
L Day vs L Bass, 1980
(B10) Caro-Kann, 8 moves, 1/2-1/2

L Day vs Hjartarson, 1980
(B10) Caro-Kann, 52 moves, 1-0

L Day vs J Bonin, 1980 
(B10) Caro-Kann, 41 moves, 1-0

Black's Bf5 "cuts a particularly bad impression here"
L Day vs P Youngworth, 1979
(B10) Caro-Kann, 52 moves, 1-0

"The attempt to prevent f4...provoked a gambit reaction"
J Grefe vs Denker, 1979 
(B10) Caro-Kann, 22 moves, 1-0

Suttles vs A Matanovic, 1969
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 30 moves, 1/2-1/2

Suttles vs H Schaufelberger, 1970 
(B10) Caro-Kann, 72 moves, 1-0

Bronstein vs Filip, 1977
(B10) Caro-Kann, 33 moves, 1/2-1/2

B Kurajica vs Csom, 1976 
(B10) Caro-Kann, 40 moves, 1-0

B Kurajica vs A Pomar Salamanca, 1972 
(B10) Caro-Kann, 32 moves, 1-0

L Hazai vs L Lederman, 1980
(B10) Caro-Kann, 86 moves, 1/2-1/2

Black gains active play at the cost of a pawn.
L Day vs J Hebert, 1975
(B10) Caro-Kann, 41 moves, 1-0

L Day vs G Angers, 1980
(B10) Caro-Kann, 43 moves, 1-0

Petrosian vs E Bhend, 1966
(B10) Caro-Kann, 34 moves, 1-0

Aronin vs I Kan, 1952
(B23) Sicilian, Closed, 40 moves, 1/2-1/2

"An even more extreme anti-French method"
Steinitz vs A Schwarz, 1882 
(C00) French Defense, 31 moves, 1-0

Steinitz vs Blackburne, 1883 
(C00) French Defense, 40 moves, 1-0

Steinitz vs M Weiss, 1882  
(C00) French Defense, 36 moves, 1-0

Steinitz vs Winawer, 1882 
(C00) French Defense, 29 moves, 1-0

"It is difficult to tell where strategy runs into provocation."
Steinitz vs J Mason, 1882 
(C00) French Defense, 66 moves, 1/2-1/2

Chigorin's anti-French "first occurred to him as a joke."
Chigorin vs Rubinstein, 1903 
(C00) French Defense, 33 moves, 1-0

Chigorin vs Blackburne, 1905 
(C00) French Defense, 34 moves, 1-0

L Day vs I Kourkounakis, 1980 
(C00) French Defense, 48 moves, 0-1

Chigorin vs Tarrasch, 1893 
(C00) French Defense, 77 moves, 0-1

Chigorin vs Tarrasch, 1893 
(C00) French Defense, 58 moves, 1-0

Chigorin vs Lasker, 1899 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 42 moves, 0-1

Chigorin vs V A Boyarkov, 1899 
(C00) French Defense, 39 moves, 1-0

Eschewing Chigorin's Nc3
Evans vs J Whitehead, 1977 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 30 moves, 1-0

Chigorin vs Von Gottschall, 1905 
(C00) French Defense, 49 moves, 1-0

"An unqualified disaster"
J Grefe vs D Levy, 1975
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 31 moves, 0-1

"On the topic of disasters..."
J Bellon Lopez vs Uhlmann, 1973
(C00) French Defense, 31 moves, 0-1

Suttles vs K Smith, 1972 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 49 moves, 1-0

L Day vs S Krstic, 1974
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 34 moves, 1-0

L Day vs T Upton, 1980
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 51 moves, 0-1

Suttles vs W Pietzsch, 1968 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 36 moves, 1-0

Suttles vs D Haines, 1973 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 30 moves, 1-0

Suttles vs Haines, 1973
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 36 moves, 1-0

Games after the Modern Chess Theory articles -- notice c3!
L Day vs V Jakouljevski, 1983 
(C00) French Defense, 32 moves, 1-0

...but here Day thinks c3 was a mistake
L Day vs A Kuznecov, 1983 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 41 moves, 1-0

Hebden's predecessor
L Day vs A Kuznecov, 1983 
(B23) Sicilian, Closed, 68 moves, 1-0

Supplemental Games: 19th Century Origins of the Big Clamp
McDonnell vs J Finch, 1830 
(000) Chess variants, 26 moves, 1-0

McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834  
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 46 moves, 1-0

McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834  
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 81 moves, 1/2-1/2

McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 39 moves, 1-0

McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 59 moves, 1-0

McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 48 moves, 1-0

McDonnell vs La Bourdonnais, 1834  
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 51 moves, 1-0

La Bourdonnais vs L S Lecrivain, 1836 
(C00) French Defense, 28 moves, 1-0

Bledow vs von der Lasa, 1838 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 38 moves, 1-0

E Williams vs M Wyvill, 1851 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 32 moves, 1-0

E Williams vs Staunton, 1851 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 34 moves, 1-0

Saint-Amant vs Staunton, 1843 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 57 moves, 1/2-1/2

Bohatirchuk was Day's mentor and direct influence
F Bohatirchuk vs R Drummond, 1949
(C00) French Defense, 26 moves, 1-0

F Bohatirchuk vs E Weichselbaumer, 1954 
(C00) French Defense, 62 moves, 1-0

F Bohatirchuk vs E Roehrich, 1947
(B10) Caro-Kann, 33 moves, 1-0

Zvjaginsev's 2.Na3 is The Big Clamp in disguise
Zvjaginsev vs Ponomariov, 2006 
(B20) Sicilian, 58 moves, 1-0

Zvjaginsev vs Y Wang, 2008
(B20) Sicilian, 15 moves, 1/2-1/2

B Savchenko vs V Belov, 2006 
(B20) Sicilian, 33 moves, 1-0

B Savchenko vs O Biriukov, 2006
(B20) Sicilian, 31 moves, 1-0

E Doluhanova vs M A Campana, 2006 
(B20) Sicilian, 29 moves, 1-0

Day rejected the McDonnell French, but Zvjaginsev likes it
Zvjaginsev vs P Zhang, 2006 
(C00) French Defense, 38 moves, 1-0

Stripunsky had the edge
Stripunsky vs Nakamura, 2010 
(C00) French Defense, 45 moves, 0-1

I wonder where Naka got that idea?
Nakamura vs Seirawan, 2012 
(C00) French Defense, 30 moves, 1-0

McShane vs Van Wely, 2009 
(B20) Sicilian, 43 moves, 1-0

McShane vs C Lutz, 2005
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 62 moves, 1-0

L Day vs Z Vranesic, 1980
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 31 moves, 1-0

Turov vs F Hoelzl, 2003
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 36 moves, 1-0

Movsesian vs O Danchevski, 2008
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 28 moves, 1-0

Movsesian vs E Guseinov, 2007 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 26 moves, 1-0

Morozevich vs Grischuk, 2005 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 42 moves, 0-1

Yudasin vs I Sorkin, 2005
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 57 moves, 1-0

G Welling vs I Sokolov, 2009 
(B20) Sicilian, 30 moves, 0-1

Glek tried out the McDonnell - La Bourdonnais French
Glek vs M Dambacher, 2007
(C00) French Defense, 41 moves, 1/2-1/2

Glek vs D Bunzmann, 2007 
(C00) French Defense, 26 moves, 1-0

Glek vs M Rusanov, 2010
(C00) French Defense, 32 moves, 1-0

Philidor played the line himself.
Philidor vs J Bruehl, 1788 
(000) Chess variants, 48 moves, 1-0

KIA Approaches with g3 fianchetto
Chandler vs M Cebalo, 1981
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 36 moves, 1-0

Minasian vs J Ye, 1998
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 45 moves, 1/2-1/2

McShane vs Khalifman, 2005 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 48 moves, 1-0

A Shchekachev vs Khalifman, 1994
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 52 moves, 1/2-1/2

G Jones vs J Gallagher, 2011 
(B20) Sicilian, 31 moves, 1-0

G Jones vs P Tregubov, 2011
(B20) Sicilian, 44 moves, 1-0

A S Rasmussen vs D Hamelink, 2007 
(B20) Sicilian, 42 moves, 1-0

The Grand Prix Attack as Big Clamp
Botvinnik vs Furman, 1961 
(B21) Sicilian, 2.f4 and 2.d4, 33 moves, 1-0

Sicilian Bird (A02) 0-1 Black has extra Kside pawns
Larsen vs Fischer, 1971 
(A02) Bird's Opening, 40 moves, 0-1

KIA / Big Clamp vs Dbl Fio (A07) 0-1Pin causes simplification
R Gunnarsson vs S Kristjansson, 2004 
(A07) King's Indian Attack, 40 moves, 0-1

Sicilian Defense vs Big Clamp (B20) 1-0 Pin on f-file
McShane vs I Cheparinov, 2009 
(B20) Sicilian, 20 moves, 1-0

Grob Opening / Big Clamp vs Sicilian (A00) 1-0
S Sloan vs J Jacobs, 2007 
(A00) Uncommon Opening, 46 moves, 1-0

French Chigorin 2.Qe2 Big Clamp (C00) 1-0 Black's space leaks
Rapport vs Bluebaum, 2015 
(C00) French Defense, 43 moves, 1-0

Sic Chameleon (B20) 1/2-Astonishing problem-like save by Keres
Keres vs Fischer, 1962 
(B20) Sicilian, 77 moves, 1/2-1/2

120 games

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