tpoppins wrote:Lyudmil Tsvetkov wrote:
My latest observations are that white gets the biggest possible advantage in the (very strangely) completely untried and unresearched opening 1.e4 e5 2. c4!
<...>
or 1.e4 c5 2.c4!
<...>
or, starting with c4, 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.e4!
These all are most likely to transpose to some version of either the Maroczy Bind or the Botvinnik System. Where does the "completely untried and unresearched" part come from, then?
Lyudmil Tsvetkov wrote:and the resulting King's Indian Attack (KIA, basically the same as the KID for white with a spare tempo) is very favourable for white.
As far as I remember, Fischer had close to a perfect score with this opening.
I didn't look into it specifically but as far as
I can remember he never employed KIA against top-level opposition.
edit: I see that he did employ it once against an international GM - in his second encounter with B. Ivkov in the Second Piatygorsky Cup (1966). It is arguable whether Ivkov could be called a top-level player but at least he played in the Candidates once.
In this particular case psychology - rather than any belief on Fischer's part in the superiority of KIA - may have been the most important factor in the choice of the opening, as Bobby's score against Ivkov until this tournament was a rather miserable +0-2=3. Although he got his first win against the Yugoslav GM several rounds earlier, it is notable that in that game he once again found himself in an inferior position in the opening (as early as move 8, after being shanghaied into the Pirc). Since the mainlines gave him nothing, the "untheoretical" KIA was a logical choice.
It may have been as simple as that.
A player who has a positive score against Fischer should not be a weak player, should he?
Ivkov was actually Junior World Champion, whatever that means.
Fischer had 100% score in that opening, and he produced some of his stunningmost games precisely with this opening. I guess he did not employ it all too often, because this is a very complicated opening, and Fischer did not particularly like complications, he wanted things straigth and clear, with minimal risk involved.
If the KID is a good opening, what should the rating of an opening with reversed colours and a tempo more be?
This is my last uncompleted game with Komodo (left it like that, just as a line, on purpose, to focus on the opening stage):
[pgn]
[Event "Blitz 2m+2s"]
[Site "Microsoft"]
[Date "2016.08.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Lyudmil Tsvetkov, owner"]
[Black "Komodo 10.1 64-bit"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "A00"]
[Annotator "owner"]
[PlyCount "42"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "120+2"]
{512MB, OWNER-PC} 1. g3 {0} e5 {0.00/20 6} 2. Bg2 {2} d5 {-0.29/18 2} 3. d3 {2}
Bd6 {-0.14/20 8} 4. Nf3 {3} Nf6 {-0.18/20 3} 5. O-O {3} O-O {-0.18/21 7} 6. Nc3
{6} c6 {-0.32/19 3} 7. e4 {2} d4 {-0.27/23 6} 8. Ne2 {2} c5 {-0.28/22 4} 9. c4
{3} h6 {-0.34/22 13} 10. h3 {3} Nc6 {-0.36/22 4} 11. Kh1 {4} a6 {-0.39/20 5}
12. Nfg1 {3} b5 {-0.60/21 11} 13. b3 {3} Rb8 {-0.58/22 6} 14. f4 {3} Bd7 {-0.
63/20 6} 15. f5 {3} bxc4 {-0.63/22 6} 16. bxc4 {2} Qe7 {-0.61/24 9} 17. g4 {8}
Bc7 {-0.57/24 4} 18. Ng3 {15} Qd6 {-0.59/21 4} 19. h4 {21} Nh7 {-0.37/18 2} 20.
g5 {4} hxg5 {-0.33/19 4} 21. hxg5 {4} g6 {-0.29/21 5} *
[/pgn]
And this is the final position:
[d]1r3rk1/2bb1p1n/p1nq2p1/2p1pPP1/2PpP3/3P2N1/P5B1/R1BQ1RNK w - - 0 22
Who has advantage above?
Komodo (standard settings, no contempt) gives 30cps black edge, but white simply mates with 22.f6 above.
An opening in which you get a winning position against latest Komodo after some 20 moves should not be that weak, should it?
About the 1.e4 c5 2.c4 opening and transpositions:
When was the last time you saw someone, preferably at the top, play 2.c4 in the Sicilian after 1.e4 c5? Personally, I have not seen that at all.
Or, 3.e4, after 1.c4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6? Personally, I have not seen that at all, even at the top they do not push e4, instead leave black to do that at some point and, as a result, guess what, black is almost always left with advantage.
Here my last game with Komodo, standard settings, in the line:
[pgn][Event "Blitz 2m+2s"]
[Site "Microsoft"]
[Date "2016.08.19"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Lyudmil Tsvetkov, owner"]
[Black "Komodo 10.1 64-bit"]
[Result "*"]
[ECO "A25"]
[Annotator "owner"]
[PlyCount "40"]
[EventDate "2016.??.??"]
[TimeControl "120+2"]
{512MB, OWNER-PC} 1. c4 {0} e5 {0.03/20 4} 2. Nc3 {2} Nc6 {0.10/21 9} 3. g3 {3}
Bc5 {0.10/20 5} 4. Bg2 {2} Nf6 {0.07/22 9} 5. e4 {2} d6 {-0.26/20 4} 6. h3 {2}
O-O {-0.34/20 5} 7. Nge2 {2} Nd4 {-0.29/21 6} 8. O-O {3} Be6 {-0.22/21 9} 9. d3
{3} a6 {-0.29/20 6} 10. Kh2 {3} c6 {-0.26/19 7} 11. f4 {3} b5 {-0.28/18 4} 12.
f5 {6} Bd7 {-0.42/20 4} 13. b3 {3} b4 {-0.61/22 6} 14. Na4 {18} Nxe2 {-0.56/23
3} 15. Qxe2 {2} Bd4 {-0.54/23 3} 16. Rb1 {11} c5 {-0.66/21 2} 17. g4 {12} h6 {
-0.69/20 3} 18. h4 {57} Nh7 {-0.67/20 4} 19. Qe1 {11} Bc6 {-0.64/20 5} 20. Qg3
{25} f6 {-0.62/22 4} *
[/pgn]
And the final position:
[d]r2q1rk1/6pn/p1bp1p1p/2p1pP2/NpPbP1PP/1P1P2Q1/P5BK/1RB2R2 w - - 0 21
Who has advantage above?
Komodo gives some 60cps black edge, but of course, white is considerably better, as only white has attacking chances on the kingside, the center and queen side are closed.
And this is the position very early on, at move 10:
[d]r2q1rk1/1p3ppp/p1ppbn2/2b1p3/2PnPP2/2NP2PP/PP2N1BK/R1BQ1R2 b - f3 0 11
Ever seen a position like that?
Any reminiscences to the Maroczy Bind or Botvinnik System? If yes, please post games.
