Umlaut v. Clasko

[Umlaut]

[Umlaut]

1: I'm white
2: I'm black

Original Roll String: 1d2

1 2-Sided Dice: (2) = 2

[Umlaut]

Glhf!

1. e4

[Umlaut]

Pirc, eh? Sure, I'll play into it.

1. e4 d6 2. d4

[Umlaut]

I was tempted to mirror your first move. That was always my go-to move, as white, when I played as a kid.

That works for about two moves before you get in trouble with it; 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nxe4? 4. Qe2 and White is just winning. But those first two moves would be quite solid!

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3

[Umlaut]

I mean, 2... Nf6 is a fine move, it's the immediate 3... Nxe4 that's the problem. Black should instead play 3... d6 (I think 3... Qe7 may be playable as well) and only recapture the pawn after the White knight has retreated.

I'm sorry you missed out on the tournament! I may run another next year (or try and sweet-talk someone else into doing so) so if you stick around you'll likely have another chance.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3

[Umlaut]

The difference between the two scenarios is that, after 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qe2, Black can just respond symmetrically with 5... Qe7 to unpin (this generally leads to an early queen trade and a rather drawish position). Actually 4... Qe7 is also black's best try after 4. Qe2 but it doesn't quite work, with Black still down a pawn after 5. Qxe4 d6 6. d5 dxe5 7. dxe5.

In my experience people who make the mistake of playing 3... Nxe4? generally don't follow up with the best continuation, and instead the game goes something like 4. Qe2 d5 5. d3 Nf6?? 6. Nc6+ 1−0

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2

[Umlaut]

That annotation looks right to me! I would say the position at that point is quite equal; you could argue Black has a one-tempo advantage but given that you're headed for an early endgame it's unlikely to really matter. That said, as white I prefer to play 5. d4 rather than 5. Qe2 so this doesn't often come up for me.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3

[Umlaut]

I've played waaaay more blitz games on lichess in the past few years than could possibly be a good use of my time.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O

[Umlaut]

Thanks! I think the 150 is a pretty easy system to play in that the ideas are straightforward and I don't have to memorize a zillion lines to get a good position.

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6

[Umlaut]

You can't really

make

my bishop do anything just yet

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5

[Umlaut]

No hurry!

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5 Nh5 10. g4

[Umlaut]

Oh yikes I completely forgot about this

Let me remind myself what's going on.

[Umlaut]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5 Nh5 10. g4 Bxh6 11. Qxh6

[Umlaut]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5 Nh5 10. g4 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 Ng7 12. h4

[Umlaut]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5 Nh5 10. g4 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 Ng7 12. h4 f5 13. h5

[Umlaut]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5 Nh5 10. g4 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 Ng7 12. h4 f5 13. h5 Qe8 14. Bd3

[Umlaut]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5 Nh5 10. g4 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 Ng7 12. h4 f5 13. h5 Qe8 14. Bd3 gxh5 15. gxh5

[Umlaut]

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 g6 4. Be3 Bg7 5. Qd2 O-O 6. f3 c6 7. O-O-O b5 8. Bh6 d5 9. e5 Nh5 10. g4 Bxh6 11. Qxh6 Ng7 12. h4 f5 13. h5 Qe8 14. Bd3 gxh5 15. gxh5 Nd7 16. Nge2

[Umlaut]

I realized at some point that I abandoned this game when I stepped away from the site but it looks like Clasko did too so