Random chess topics

I've been trying to expand my chess opening knowledge, hopefully to the point of having a decent/passable understanding of most chess openings. So, for no good reason at all, I was looking at the Bronstein-Larsen variation of the Caro-Kann (I don't play e4, but why not check it out)? I ran across this blog that gives some history to the variation, which makes the claim that black fell on hard times after the game Riemersma-Pietersee, Dieren 1989. I was unable to find that game in any database, but let's take a look: I'm not sure I quite believe that this exact game was the reason why the Bronstein-Larsen "fell into utter disuse". I looked in Chessbase Online, and white is scoring 70% after 11. ...f5, but of the 23 games played from that position white hasn't played 12. Qe2. Not that it matters, obviously white is scoring well from there. In fact, white scores 70% from 8. g3, with 662 games in the database, so probably a better assessm...

I'm trying to pick up the King's Gambit, at least for blitz games, and so I've been very slowly working through the 680 page John Shaw book, "The King's Gambit". This picks up from the position after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Nc3 (the Quaade, generally the recommended line in the book) Nc6.

I saw a queen sacrifice in a Kramnik game, which is interesting in it's own right. I wouldn't have thought to classify it as an exchange slav theme, until I randomly found an example where the same idea was played in 1977! Kramnik-Anand Wch Blitz 2007 Kramnik's Bxa6 is impressive, and when I first saw the game I wrote it off as typical GM awesomeness. Like, he was just randomly wandering into the variation when suddenly he saw an unusual queen sacrifice, because, that's what GMs do. But then I found this game from 1977... Karl Heinz Budt-Willi Meseberg, 1977

Several years ago I spent a bunch of time trying to master the Exchange Slav. I wanted to document here some of the key themes with example lines. Today I'm going to look at black attempts to go after the b2 pawn with Qb6. After the normal opening sequence 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. Bf4, the b2 pawn is left unprotected, and black might get the idea to play ...Qb6 going after it. White can obviously defend with moves like Rb1 or Qc1, but it turns out the best response is almost always the pawn move a3 (which takes away the b4 square from the queen after a capture on b2). 6. ...Qb6 6. ...Bf5 7. e3 Qb6: 6. ...e6 7. e3 Qb6

I play more blitz chess than I should. But to get something back out of my games, I make a habit of looking up the book moves when I feel like I went astray in the opening. Generally I'll follow the main move in Chessbase Online and keep my eye on the top scoring variation. If it's not clear which way to proceed at a branching point, I can view all games played at that position and look for players I recognize, and see how the top players get things done.

I lose a lot. Not as much as I did 10 or 15 years ago, but I'm still pretty bad. Losing in the opening is never fun, but it's relatively easy to learn from that kind of loss. This particular game was played when I was first learning the Alekhine. I had browsed a few Chase variation lines in "The Complete Alekhine" and decided I would firm up my understanding later, because after all "nobody is going to play it". Well, except the expert at my club, I guess. If black wants to grab on c5 and not get clobbered, this is more or less how to do it