World Open 2010 Game 1 Analysis, Part 1

For this post I am going to focus on the first 8 or so moves.

Here is the position after move 8:



This is a critical moment in the game. Both White and Black have committed themselves to certain types of positions. This is an excellent spot to look at and think, well, maybe I should have avoided this entirely.

Personally, I dont think that was the case in this game for me though. I am White, by the way.

The most obvious points in this position are White's doubled and isolated pawns on the c file and Black's lack of a dark squared Bishop. Both of these things present problems to White and Black, and both White and Black should strive as best as possible to attack these weaknesses.

Thus, White needs to somehow attack Black's weakened dark squares. Black needs to attack White's weak c pawns.

That is more or less the end result of the opening.

So, lets go back and look at what moves might be preferred before we get to this critical point. I am going to largely do analysis from White's perspective, because I had White and this is my opening! However, it is absolutely critical to look for Black's best moves and objectively analyze the positions that may come from those moves.

Starting from the beginning then,

1. Nf3 (not going to change this...yet!)

1...c5.

2. c4

Here, I actually do have a fairly compelling alternative. I am not and really have never been a 1. e4 player, but when I do play 1. e4 I always like to play against the Sicilian. That is somewhat strange, because the Sicilian is one of Black's best openings out of all of chess!

For a Class A player, though, I think the White side of the Sicilian is a little bit easier to play then the Black side. White trades off somewhat ethereal positional considerations and gets free and aggressive development. These types of positions are probably where I feel most comfortable. I can do the grinder thing, especially with White, but recently I have become more enamored with attacking.

My Bloodlust knows no limits!

The problem with playing 1. e4, though, is that it leads to a wide variety of very complicated positions. Further, these positions are not at all similar to many of the positions I get into. The difference between and English, Hedgehog and King's Indian isnt all that much. A lot of times, things will transpose anyway. Plus, when my opponent goes off the beaten path, I have a good deal of built up intuition. I can make moves based on this intuition.

If I switch to 2. e4 and go into the Sicilian, I will not be nearly as comfortable, especially in off beat paths. As a quick example, if my opponent played 2...b6 I wouldnt have any idea what to do. How should I defend my e4 pawn? Where are my points of attack?

These sorts of big changes in playing style are very fun, and are a great if not critical thing to do at some point.

I have a feeling I am not at that point though.

Moving along.

2...Nc6

3. Nc3



I dont really see any good alternatives to this move. It just makes too much sense. Maybe 3. d4, but why not play 3. Nc3 first? What variations will White not play Nc3?

3...g6

4. d4



Here, I think I have a decent amount of alternatives. One problem, though, is that if I dont play d4 here, likely will not get to play it later. 4. g3 is a very possible alternative. I tend not to like the double fianchettoed positions because they can be fairly drawish. The symmetry is something I kind of dont like, but looking into a few games using this move would be a good idea for me.

I dont see any other good alternatives that interest me.

4...cxd4 5. Nxd4 Bg7 6. Nc2



This is the main place to look for alternatives. 6. Nxc6 is the main alternative I can see. This allows White to play Qc2 and avoid the double isolated c pawns. The problem, and the reason I avoided this, was that Black plays 6...bxc6 and strengthens his center. Also, the b file is opened. It gives Black a lot of play.

Another alternative is 6. e3. This blocks in the dark squared Bishop, but maybe something like b3 and Bb2 will possible later on in the game. That seems like a good plan to look into.

Finally, 6. Be3 with the idea of g2, and Bg2 might be a good plan as well. The problem I had with this sort of plan though is that it is fairly slow. The e3 Bishop is also very susceptible to harassment by a Knight on g4 or d5. Maybe this is just being afraid of ghosts though.

6...d6

7. e4



Here, I think the main alternative is 7. Bd2. Nothing else really prevents the double isolated c pawns, and if White is going to get double isolated c pawns he should probably get a good lead in development, space and some sort of attacking possibilities.

To me, 7. Bd2 looks kind of clunky and slow. At the same time, though, we havent been talking much about Black.

Black isnt exactly developing his pieces at lightning speed. So my constant issues about slow moves might be unmerited. Because of this, a lot of these slower ideas might be better than what I played.

After 7. e4 Bxc3+ 8. bxc3 the position is more or less set.

There is a great deal of imbalance in the position, which is always cool.

So, as a matter of recap, I should do the following things.

1) Look at games that have 4. g3
2) Look at games that have 6. Nxc6
3) Look at games that have 6. e3
4) Look at games that have 6. Be3
5) Look at games that have 7. Bd2

For my next post, I will try and find and post one game for each of the above.