Reti Opening

Richard Reti



The Réti Opening is a hypermodern chess opening characterized by the opening move 1.Nf3 to prevent 1...e5, with the intention of following up, against the "classically recommended" response 1...d5, with 2.c4, coupled with a kingside fianchetto to create pressure on the light squares in the center. One idea behind the opening is to either bring the d5 pawn under attack from the flanks, or entice it to advance to d4 and undermine it later. Because the single opening move 1.Nf3 is rife with transpositional possibilities, it is incorrect to infer that any chess game opening with that move is an example of the Réti Opening. For example, 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 e6 3.d4 Nf6 4.Nc3 is the Queen's Gambit Declined. The Réti should not be thought of as a single opening sequence, and certainly not a single opening move, but as an opening complex with many variations sharing common themes. It is named after Richard Réti, an untitled Grandmaster from Czechoslovakia who most famously used it to defeat José Raúl Capablanca, the reigning World Chess Champion, in a game in the 1924 New York tournament. The Réti Opening was introduced into master play in the early part of 1923, according to Réti.[1] In the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) Réti Opening is classified A04-A09. Hans Kmoch called the system of attack employed by Réti in the game Réti-Rubinstein, Carlsbad, 1923 "the Réti Opening" or "the Réti System." Savielly Tartakower had earlier named this opening "The Opening of the Future."


Scoresheet of Réti-Capablanca gameAccording to ChessBase, out of the twenty possible opening moves, 1. Nf3 ranks third in popularity. It develops the knight to a good square and prepares for quick castling and prevents Black's occupation of the center by 1...e5. White maintains flexibility by not committing to a particular central pawn structure, while waiting to see what Black will do. Two slight drawbacks to the move are that it blocks the f-pawn, and forgoes the option of playing Nge2, ruling out the possibility, for example, of playing the Sämisch system against the King's Indian

Reti Opening Wikipedia

Alekhine's Defense Chess Opening

Alexander Alekhine circa 1925









Alekhine's Defence is a chess opening beginning with the moves

1. e4 Nf6
It is named after Alexander Alekhine, who introduced it in the 1921 Budapest tournament in games against Endre Steiner[1] and Fritz Sämisch.[2] Four years later, the editors of the Fourth Edition of Modern Chess Openings (MCO-4) wrote, "Nothing is more indicative of the iconoclastic conceptions of the 'hypermodern school' than the bizarre defence introduced by Alekhine ... . Although opposing to all tenets of the classical school, Black allows his King's Knight to be driven about the board in the early stages of the game, in the expectation of provoking a weakness in White's centre pawns."[3] White's imposing mass of pawns in the centre often includes pawns on c4, d4, e5, and f4. Grandmaster Nick de Firmian observes of Alekhine's in MCO-15 (2008), "The game immediately loses any sense of symmetry or balance, which makes the opening a good choice for aggressive fighting players."[4]

In addition to Alekhine, another early exponent of the defence was Ernst Grünfeld. Its popularity waxes and wanes; currently it is not very common. De Firmian observes, "The fashion could quickly change if some champion of the opening takes up the cause, as the results Black has obtained in practice are good."[4] The opening's current highest-rated proponent is Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, although Grandmaster Lev Alburt has done much to promote it. De Firmian writes, "Currently Grandmasters Shabalov and Minasian use the opening with regularity, while Aronian, Adams, and Nakamura will use it on occasion. In the past, great players such as Fischer and Korchnoi included the defense in their repertoire, leading to its respectable reputation

Ruy Lopez Classical Opening

This chess lesson titled " Chess Lessons : Ruy Lopez Opening : Classical Defence, Chess Video by Mr.Fisk. The game is between Emmanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz , the year is 1896.

This is one of the better chess videos on the Ruy Lopez posted on You Tube....diamondback

The game after the Chess Video is in Chess Flash format avaiblabe for replay and download.

This game explores the Ruy Lopez Classical Defence opening. The video includes a match between Emanuel Lasker and Wilhelm Steinitz in the Chess World Championship rematch in 1896. - youtube


value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M1qgxLYZGKA&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0">
via videosift.com



LaskervsSteinitz.pgn

Selected Sicilians

Judith Polgar



Here a short selection of Sicilians played by well known Granmasters. All of the following games have extensive analysis provided by Chessbase. All of the games presented here in Chess Flash format are from the Chessbase database that was packaged with the orignal Chessbase Light version 6, which seems no longer available for download from the net.

Chessbase offers a newer versions of Chessbase Light 2007 which you must pay around 50 Euros to register and activate the full blown version.


B82 Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. f4






















Adams.pgn







B60 Sicilian Defence, Richter-Rauser Attack
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 Nc6 6. Bg5



















Khaulf.pgn












B48 Sicilian Defence, Taimanov Variation

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nc6 5. Nc3 Qc7 6. Be3






Laut.pgn




B82 Sicilian Defence, Scheveningen Variation
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 e6 6. f4



Judith Polgar























polgan.pgn



Chess Games Of Judith Polgar

The Main Line Of The Ruy Lopez

Fischer was well known for his use and deep analysis of the Ruy Lopez. This game is taken from the book " Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors".

I like this chess book because each move is commented in plain English somewhat in the sytle of Irving Chernev's book "Logical Chess Move by Move " In that book , Chernev's explains the reasoning behind each move, a good way to improve upon one's chess thinking process.

The game is between Fischer and Shocron at Mar de Plata 1959.

The key is the winning sacrifice Fischer uses at the end of the game.

As always the game is presented in Chess Flash format.

fischer_shocron_1959.pgn


The seond game posted below is the Breyer variation of the Ruy Lopez. This game is also taken from the book " Unbeatable Chess Lessons for Juniors".
This is known as the Breyer variation of the Ruy Lopez. Black temporarily retreats his knight with the idea of redeploying it on d7.

Karpov vs Spassky Moscow 1973

karpov_spassky_1973_0.pgn

Redux: Caro Kann Exchange Revisited

I am posting seven Caro Kann Exchange games played by Jim West in Chess Flash format on this post for clarity purposes. In my previous post on the Caro Kann , a few of Jim West games featuring the Caro Kann Exchange had some errata such as dates and location played.

Please note complete score sheets and graphical chess diagrams can be found on Jim West chess blog dated : February 23. 2007.

Notes and Games are from Jim West


In the past two years*, I have played many games as White using the exchange variation versus the Caro-Kann Defense. After the opening moves 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3, there are three subvariations for Black: (a) 4...Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc8 (or 7...Qd7); (b) 4...Nc6 5.c3 Qc7; (c) lines featuring ...g6


Also on my recent post on the Caro Kann, I tried to go Global in covering the main variations of the Caro Kann , along with some You Tube video which may overwhelmed the average chess blog reader, so in this post , I'm streamlining on just the Caro Kann Exchange.

Jim_West-Steve_Anderson.pgn


Jim_West_-Matt_Boxer.pgn


Jim_West-Noah_Siegel_0.pgn



Jim_West-Jason_Cohen.pgn



Jim_West-Louis_Leiggi.pgn



Jim_West_-Vladimir_Polyakin.pgn


Jim_West-Dylan_McClain.pgn

Caro Kann Defense On You Tube

Here is the Caro Kann defense, my favorite defense as I use when playing Black. I favor this Black defense rather than the Sicilian because it is not as complex and does not have super sharp variations like the Yugo Slave variation of the Sicilian defense. The fist two You Tube videos deal with the advance variation of the opening and some annotation from an actual game , the third You Tube Video deals with a common trap in the Caro Kann.

Unfortunately, I am only familar with the Classical variation and the Exchange variations and not all the variations of the Caro Kann. By posting most of the variations of the Caro Kann on my blog , this will jump start renewed interest in this opening for myself as well as followes of my chess blog.

I will add in a future date some famous Caro Kann games in Chess Flash format as well as some recent Caro Kann games from the 2009 USATE Amateur East Championship, which I will post below the You Tube Video.

Also National Master Jim West of New Jersey has employed the Exchange variation of the Caro Kann opening and I will add a few of his games on this blog post.

Update: April 25, 2009***** On my blog post Redux: Caro Kann Exchange Revisited, posted on April 23, 2009, I have listed in Chess Flash format seven Caro Kann Exchange games played by Jim West during the mid 1990's circa 1995.

At the bottom on this post there three of the seven games by Jim West in the Caro Kann Exchange.

The Caro-Kann Defence is a common chess opening characterized by the moves:

1.e4 c6.
The usual continuation is

2.d4 d5
followed by 3.Nc3 (the Classical Variation), 3.Nd2 (the Classical Variation), 3.exd5 (the Exchange Variation), or 3.e5 (the Advance Variation). 2.Nc3 is the modern variation which has gained much popularity. The Caro-Kann, like the Sicilian Defence and French Defence, is classified as a "Semi-Open Game", but it is thought to be more solid and less dynamic than either of those openings. It often leads to good endgames for Black, who has the better pawn structure.

The opening is named after the English player Horatio Caro and the Austrian Marcus Kann who analyzed the opening in 1886. It is believed to be good against computers especially when it leads to a closed position. It is, hence, one of the more common openings played in computer-human matches.











In keeping with the theme of this chess blog " Chess From The Amateur" here are four games featuring the Caro Kann which were played at the recent 2009 USATE Team East.....diamondback

USTE1.pgn


USTE2.pgn



USTE3.pgn


USTE4.pgn


Notes are from Jim West from his chess blog Caro Kann Exchange orignally posted on
February 23, 2007. The games in Chess Flash format are Variation A only.

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3, there are three subvariations for Black: (a) 4...Nc6 5.c3 Nf6 6.Bf4 Bg4 7.Qb3 Qc8 (or 7...Qd7

Jim_West-Steve_Anderson.pgn


Jim_West_-Matt_Boxer.pgn

http://diamondbackchess.blogspot.com/

Correct Score Sheet Jim West vs Noah Siegel circa 1995 Caro Kann Exchange
Updated on April 27, 2009 in Chess Flash format.
Note: Location and Date of game are now correct......diamondback



Jim_West-Noah_Siegel_0.pgn



Famous Caro Kann Games From The 20th Century

marshall_capablanca_1927.pgn



botvinnik_tal_1960.pgn


deep_blue_kasparov_1997.pgn


Some more Jim West games of Variation B which follows the move order below:

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 cxd5 4.Bd3, Nc6 5.c3 Qc7

Jim_West-Louis_Leiggi.pgn

Scandinavian Defence On You Tube

Hello Chess Blog Fans:

Here is a You Tube on the Scandinavian Defense. I am considering adopting this opening as one my defenses as Black.

I will add later (within 24 hours) , some Chess Flash games posted below the Chess Video.

My future two of three chess blogs will be on openings that I trying to adopt and learn. Ny next post will be on the Caro Kann defense for black..........
diamondback





2 ... Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5: Classical Variation (B01) Scandinavian, 56 moves, 0-1


navara_dobrovolsky_2001.pgn



2 ... Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qa5: Classical Variation (B01) Scandinavian, 29 moves, 0-1

visser_mathe_1993.pgn

French Defense Tarrasch Variation C03-C09

Tarrasch Variation 3.Nd2

The Tarrasch Variation is named after Siegbert Tarrasch. This move was particularly popular during the late 1970s and early 1980s when Anatoly Karpov used it to great effect. It is still played today by players seeking a small, safe advantage.

The move differs from 3.Nc3 in several respects: it doesn't block the path of White's c pawn, which means he can play c3 at some stage to support the d4 pawn; and it avoids the Winawer Variation because 3...Bb4 can be met with 4.c3 when Black has wasted a move (he has to retreat his bishop).

3...c5 4.exd5 exd5, a staple of many old Karpov-Korchnoi battles, usually leads to Black having an isolated queen's pawn (see Isolated pawn). The main line continues 5.Ngf3 Nc6 6.Bb5 Bd6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.Nb3 Bb6 with a position where if White can neutralize the activity of Black's pieces in the middlegame, he will have a slight endgame advantage. Another possibility for White is 5.Bb5+ Bd7 (5...Nc6 is also possible) 6.Qe2+ Be7 7.dxc5 to trade off the bishops and make it more difficult for Black to regain the pawn.








3...c5 4.exd5 Qxd5!? is an important alternative for Black. The idea is to trade his c- and d-pawns for White's d- and e-pawns, leaving Black with an extra centre pawn. This constitutes a slight structural advantage, but in return White gains time for development by harassing Black's queen. This interplay of static and dynamic advantages is the reason why this line has become popular in the last decade. Play usually continues 5.Ngf3 cxd4 6.Bc4 Qd6 7.0-0 Nf6 (preventing 8.Ne4) 8.Nb3 Nc6 9.Nbxd4 Nxd4, and here White may stay in the middlegame with 10.Nxd4 or offer the trade of queens with 10.Qxd4.

While the objective of 3...c5 was to break open the centre, 3...Nf6 aims to close it. After 4.e5 Nfd7 5.Bd3 c5 6.c3 Nc6 (6...b6 intends ...Ba6 next to get rid of Black's "bad" light-squared bishop, a recurrent idea in the French) 7.Ne2 (leaving f3 open for the queen's knight) 7...cxd4 8.cxd4 f6 9.exf6 Nxf6 10.Nf3 Bd6 Black has freed his pieces at the cost of having a backward pawn on e6. White may also choose to preserve his pawn on e5 by playing 4.e5 Nfd7 5.c3 c5 6.f4 Nc6 7.Ndf3, but his development is slowed as a result.

3.Nd2 Nc6 is known as the Guimard Variation: after 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nd7 Black will exchange off White's cramping e-pawn next move by ...f6. However, Black does not exert any pressure on d4 because he cannot play ...c5, so White should maintain a slight advantage.

A fashionable line among top GMs in recent years is 3...Be7!?, an odd-looking move which aims to prove that every White move now has its drawbacks, e.g. after 4.Ngf3 Nf6 5.e5 Nfd7 White cannot now play f4, whereas 4.Bd3 c5 5.dxc5 Nf6 and 4.e5 c5 5.Qg4 Kf8!? lead to obscure complications. Amazingly, 3... h6?!, with a similar rationale, has also gained some adventurous followers in recent years, including GM Alexander Morozevich. Another rare line is 3...a6, the idea being to deny White's light-square bishop use of b5 before playing ...c5.

Tarrasch, 3 ...Nc6 4 c3 ...f5

keres_petrosian_1950.pgn



Tarrasch, 3 ...a6 4 Nf3 ...c5

ivanchuk_dolmatov_1986.pgn


Tarrasch 3 ...c5 4 Nf3 ...Nc6

short_korchnoi_1987.pgn


Tarrasch 3 ...c5 4 Nf3 ...Nc6
karpov_korchnoi_1978.pgn



Tarrasch, 3 ...Be7 4 Ngf3 (exd5 line)


ponomariov_morozevich_1997.pgn



Tarrasch, 3 ...Be7 4 Ngf3 (e5 line)



van_der_wiel_korchnoi_1993.pgn



Tarrasch, 3 ...Be7 4 Bd3 (dxc5 line)


shulman_morozevich_1998.pgn

Catalan Opening ECO Code E01-E09

The Catalan derives its name from Catalonia — nowadays a region shared mainly by Spain and in a lesser area by France — after tournament organizers at the 1929 Barcelona tournament asked Savielly Tartakower to create a new variation in homage to the area's chess history. It had been played a few times before Tartakower's usage in the tournament, however: Réti-Leonhardt, Berlin 1928, for instance, transposed into an Open Catalan.

The Catalan is a chess opening which can be considered to be White adopting a mixture of the Queen's Gambit and Réti Opening: White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2, though the opening can arise from a large number of move orders (see transposition). ECO codes E01-E09 are for the Catalan.

Black has two main approaches to choose between: in the Open Catalan he plays ...dxc4 and can either try to hold onto the pawn with ...b5 or give it back for extra time to free his game. In the Closed Catalan, Black does not capture on c4; his game can be somewhat cramped for a while, but is quite solid

Here are a few games provided in Chess Flash format.

topalov_kramnik_2006.pgn


carlsen_aronian_2009.pgn



deep_fritz_kramnik_2006.pgn



leko_kramnik_2007.pgn


In keeping with the theme of my chess blog "Chess From The Amateur" I am reposting a Catalan Opeing game between two Class C players. This game took place in November 1987 and appeared in Atlantic Chess News in 1988 by Chess Master Jim West of New Jersey.

Jim West also posted this game on his chess blog in May 2, 2007. The name of Jim West blog is naturally " Jim West On Chess ".......diamondback.

I will post this same game in Chess Flash format with game annotations from Jim West and the winner of this contest later on April 16, 2009.

Ron_Marcy_USCF_1465-Ken_Kowalsky_USCF_1461.pgn