Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Left Hook Grand Prix Videos




Matt Pullin put together a great two-part series on what I like to call the Left Hook Grand Prix against the Sicilian.  I think he pinpoints some of the critical Black defenses, though he says he has played it from both sides.  Since my most recent Left Hook outing at USATE, I have been moving toward a different repertoire as White, including the Open Sicilian and even the Smith Morra (gasp! -- more on that in upcoming articles anticipating IM Marc Esserman's Smith-Morra lecture at the KCC on April 15th).  The Left Hook is a lot of fun in blitz, though, but I suspect it will become less fun now with everyone following Pullin's excellent recommendations!  For those who want to learn more about the line, here is a complete webliography:
I think Pullin is right that White might prefer the center gambit 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.a3 e6 6.d4!? over the wing gambit 6.b4!? -- though that does raise the question of why 5.a3 in the first place.  If anyone can suggest a better waiting move after 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 looking to meet 5...e6 with 6.d4! I'd like to hear it. The move 5.Be2 does not look like much, as Welling - Ree 1984 and Romanishin - Polugaevsky, Tilburg 1985 demonstrate. Maybe 5.h3 is worth a go, as in Novikov - Korotylev, Moscow 2007I would also mention Nigel Davies's fun Gambiteer II, which covers the reverse line 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.g3 f5 4.Bg2 Nf6 5.e3 d5! which I have had great success with as Black.  

Hat tip to Katar for alerting me to these videos.

4 comments:

Michael Goeller said...

Actually, 5.h3 might be interesting, but not as a way toward 5...e6 6.d4?! since the h4-e1 diagonal is too weakened here....

Michael Goeller said...

Villavicencio Martinez - De la Riva Aguado, Andorra 2006 may represent an improvement for White in the 5...d6 line. And, of course, against 5...e6 White has either 6.d4 or 6.b4 -- and I would not give up on finding ideas for White even against 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 5.a3 e6 6.b4 b6! 7.e5 d5!

Chess Sets said...

Great videos man. I love learning new move sequences and the video format makes it great.

David said...

Excellent videos, keep'em coming.