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CC ChroniclesBo Bredenhof
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Surprise Your Opponent A comment from one of my present opponents made me think about different ways to select an opening in future tournaments. In my case, I surprised my opponent already on the third move. If you are tired of your usual openings or if you achieve only draws and some losses, it can be a good time to make a radical shift early in the opening phase. Let us have a look at some ways to to do this. One is to select a new first move – and not one of the established ones. A very flexible first move is the so-called Dunst Opening, 1.Nc3. It can transpose to many different openings and characteristic positions. It is a nice opening to surprise your opponent with. Tim Harding includes it and other unorthodox openings in his book Dynamic White Openings. Another way to start is 1.b4, the Sokolsky or Orangutan. It is weaker than 1.Nc3, but good enough. White tends to equalizes in the middlegame. The positions are often new to the opponent, so this can be an advantage to White. Harding also looks at this line and you can find out more in 1.b4: Theory and Practice of the Sokolsky Opening by Konikowski and Soszynski. For Black it is not as easy to make an unusual first move; though it can be done. Tony Miles famously answered Anatoly Karpov's 1.e4 with 1...a6 – and won! Another try is 1...h6 against 1.Nf3, as I have in one of my games now. It is not a bad move. In many Open Game variations ...h6 is a plus in Black's position. Both moves are playable. From the second move, there are many choices for White. The King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4) is rarely played in CC and can surprise your opponents. If they follow their computers too much, they can get into serious trouble early in the game. If Black is a clever player, White has to play for equality, but in very interesting positions. If you are a 1.d4 player you can answer 1...Nf6 with 2.f3. This is a clever way to induce the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit. A player using this opening once won an ICCF Master group. Again someone who relies overmuch on the computer can find themselves in serious trouble after few moves. I recommend Scheerer's The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit to find out more. When we come to Black's second move there are many options. One way to fight against 1.Nf3 followed by 2.c4 is 1...Nf6 followed by 2...Nc6: the so-called Black Knight's Tango. It can be a nasty surprise for White, especially if he is computer reliant. If White is clever, Black has to fight for equality in very interesting positions. In Palliser's Tango! you can find out if it suits you. Surprise is very nice when it works. But all of these openings can backfire if you are not well prepared. The margin for error is smaller than usual, so home analysis has to be thorough and deep. It is necessary to play through plenty of games and look for effective plans and how to handle critical positions. With an advantage in information and experience your results will be favorable in the long run. Moreover, you will have a lot of fun. When I recently looked through a number of ICCF M-class promotion tournaments, it was not easy to find such "romantic heroes" in the opening. The moves 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.c4, and 1.Nf3 dominate. If there were a ban on these four first moves, the CC game would be much different and more interesting. The problem of too many draws would disappear! During my search I found two players with very different views on opening play. In ICCF WS/M/355, Austin Lockwood (2327) from England began his white games with 1.h3. He deserves recognition for such brave initiative. The other player was IM Henner Hahmann (2183) from Germany. In ICCF WS/M/301, his first move was 1.a3. Let us have a look at a game he played against Rainer Pommrich (2236) also from Germany: Hamann, Henner (2183) – Pommrich, Rainer (2236) 1.a3 g6 2.e4 c5 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 e6 6.b4 b6 7.e5 d6
This opening is called the Anderssen Attack and is mentioned in Harding's book above. White's 2.e4 is probably new and lures black into a Sicilian labyrinth. My Deep Fritz computes that Black should play 1...d5 to stop e4 and take control of the center; for example, 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 Bf5 4.e3 e6 with an active position for Back and equal play. In the current game, White already has an advantage. 8.Bb5 Nge7 9.Ne4 dxe5 10.fxe5 0-0 11.Nf6+ Kh8 12.Bb2 Bb7 13.0-0 Nf5 14.Bxc6 Bxc6 15.Bc3 Qc7
Black has defended well, but White's night at f6 is very troublesome for him and White has an advantage. 16.Qe2 Rfd8 17.Ng5 h6 18.Qg4 Bf8 19.Qh3 Qb7 20.Rf2 cxb4 21.axb4 a5 22.bxa5 Kg7 23.g4 Nd4
It is strange to see how helpless Black is to White's attack. Now White can strike a classic weak spot in Black's position. 24.Nxf7 Qxf7 25.Nh5+ gxh5 26.Rxf7+ Kxf7 27.Qxh5+ Kg7 28.Bxd4 Rxd4 29.g5 hxg5 30.Rf1 Rd7
The combination is over. Material is almost equal, but Black's pieces are badly coordinated and his king is in trouble because of the active white queen. Deep Fritz evaluates about two pawns up for White; i.e., a very large advantage. 31.Rf6 Be4 32.d3 Bf5 33.axb6 Kg8 34.Rxf5 exf5 35.Qg6+ Rg7 36.Qe6+ Rf7 37.d4 Ra4
The material is still about equal, but White's connected pawn mass will decide. 38.d5 Bc5+ 39.Kf1 Rf4+ 40.Ke2 Re4 41.Kd3 Kg7 42.Qc6 Bxb6 43.Qxb6 Rxe5 44.Qd4 Kf6 45.c4 g4 46.Qb6+ 1–0
White's d- and c-pawns, in combination with attacks on the unprotected black king with the queen, are decisive. We can list the following lessons learned from this game: That 1...d5 may very well be the best answer to 1.a3. That it is perhaps unwise to try to reach a favorite opening in unorthodox situations. That there are many unexplored moves to try early on. Until next time, good luck with your CC play!
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