[what is this?]

[what is this?]

French Defense Petrosian played it, Morozevich plays it. Good enough reason for you and I both to become well versed in the black side of the French. The question is whether to delve into the classical defense which occurs after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Nf6 (Morozevich's preference) or the winawer which occurs after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 (Petrosian's preference). Then there's also the question of how to deal with the tarrasch variation -- when white plays an early Nd2 rather than Nc3. I'll give you the information necessary to make your choice. The choice you make ultimately depends on what type of game you'd like to see develop. If you follow in the footsteps of Petrosian, you'll have more positional struggles, while Morozevich's french ideas will give you and your opponent chaos to sort out. Either way you'll find yourself never at a loss for ideas in the french defense. 74 games, 1909-2009 Horse Voice This is a collection of games dominated by knight maneuvering. 2 games, 1889-1904 Queens Gambit Breakdown for Black I recommend to every chess player to learn one opening each for 1. d4 and 1. e4. I find the semi slav to be a fun answer to 1. d4. It's a sure fire way to find yourself in a sharp game that will reward the better tactical player. Are you looking for an opening that will give you a decisive game? This is it! Look at some of the names i've featured in this list. Kramnik, Anand, Kasparov, Morozevich, Topalov -- the list goes on! You'd do well to familiarize with some of these variations, including when white brings out the bishop early to pin the knight on f6 as well as the slightly more played Bd3 which leads to the Meran variation. What's nice about studying an opening with a color in mind is that you find that before you know it, you know the ideas of the other side as well. I'll try to categorize these games at some point into themes of some sort, but i'll have to aquaint myself with this opening better before I can do that. 29 games, 1922-2007 The Albin Counter-Gambit Repetoire Getting the most out of an aggressive opening for black. I've done my research, and tested these ideas thoroughly with engines, so you can rest assured there are some good ideas here. Here I explore the options against white's 3 main ideas on the critical move 5. They are as follows: The kingside fianchetto: 5. g3 The queenside fianchetto. 5. a3 with an upcoming b4, Bb2 The quick development with 5. Nd2 Personally, I think 5. g3 is most common for white, so the first game I'll look at goes down that line. and plays the opening exactly how I'd recommend. The ideas for black are generally to get rapid development and active piece play in compensation for going down material, though sometimes white will give back the gambited pawn for a more comfortable position. Another theme for black is to play a well timed f6 to get the Knight out early and get play on the F file. Generally I play that way, except in lines where black can take back on e5 fairly easily and not fall behind in development. There is a line in Gelfand-Radjabov, 2008, where I think giving up the D pawn is less than ideal, so I would rather gambit the pawn on f6 to keep the D pawn on the board. That's another instance where f6 is a good idea. An idea advocated by Rudolph Spielman was to play d3 when white's position is cramped. For example, in Sakaev-Nabaty, 2010, black plays 8. d3, effectively forcing e3, and that gives the LSB a good home on g4, pinning the knight. An early Qe7 is another move I believe is best for black in the lines where white plays Nd2. It looks strange because it blocks in the DSB, but it threatens the recapture on e5 and allows for a fast queenside castle, where black gains king safety and protects the D pawn where it might come under fire in some lines. More times than not, it makes sense to castle queenside in the Albin. Whites has lines that simplify a bit earlier with Qe7, but I think it's an even game when that happens, and the player with the better endgame skill will win. 6 games, 1959-2012