Saturday, February 11, 2012

2012 KCCC Ends with a Draw

White to play.  What's the best move?


I have annotated the game Goeller - Moldovan from the final round of the 2012 Kenilworth Chess Club Championship.  It was a useful lesson in a sharp line of the Two Knights French, which I will be sure not to repeat.  Despite some difficulties, though, I reached a position where I was suddenly gaining some initiative, but I agreed a draw on Black's offer because I was short of time.  The draw ended up securing me 2nd place in the tourney on tie-breaks.  John has also annotated the game on his blog, the Chess Coroner.

2 comments:

b said...

It surprises me that the reversed KID 3...d4 4.Ne2 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.g3 does so badly in practice. Could you shed some light here?

Michael Goeller said...

Yes, that's a good point -- the statistics suggest Black is fine. And Fritz certainly does not favor White. I have been playing over a game of Speelman's with the line from his Best Games and he emphasizes that Black is fine out of the opening since he has more space. But if you want to play a game with lots of pieces on the board and lots of ideas and plans, then it certainly is not a bad choice for White. In general, I do think that Black is equal in the d4 lines, but it is still a line I have enjoyed playing as White and certainly not anything to fear.

I have been working on a full-blown article on the Two Knights French for some time and am getting closer to completion. I will be including at least one game on the reversed KID plan, though I will also discuss other things too, including a3 and Bc4 which is not bad.