GMTonyKosten wrote on 01/01/09 at 20:11:22:
sloughter wrote on 12/30/08 at 10:51:13:
Is the Two Knights' Defense, Ng5 variation, the first opening that is winning for White?
Let's start with the Berliner Variation (Gambit) 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nd4 6.c3 b5 7.Bf1 Nxd5 8.Ne4 Qh4 9.Ng3 Bg4 10.f3 e4 11.cxd4 Bd6 12.Qe2 Be6? (12...O-O 13.Qf2 +-
What's wrong with the obvious 13...exf3 here? White may be a piece up but Black certainly has an enormous lead in development, and I wouldn't fancy having White in an OTB game.
Black has an enormous lead in development.
Not the way I define development. There is a certain internal harmony in chess. To the average chess player, there is no difference in terms of time between the move sequence. Qe2/Qf3 and Qe2/Qe3. The way I define time, Qe2/Qf3 only gains one tempo because the Queen has access to f3 in one move, but took two moves to get there. By contrast, the White Queen takes two moves to get to e3 and thus the maneuver Qe2/Qe3 gains a tempo compared to Qe2/Qf3, because White cannot access the e3 square with his Queen in less than two moves. What this means as a practical matter is that, usually, except in certain endgames, gaining time without effort is usually good, so, if one has a choice in two moves of playing Qe2/Qe3 or Qe2/Qf3, all other factors being equal, Qe2/Qe3 is the superior choice because it gains a tempo.
As far as the position in question, here is how I define time. Black has freed both Bishops, that is two tempos (If you think this is trivial and obvious, consider that Nimzovich regards the following move sequence as giving Black a lead in development: 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 Nf6, whereas I look at freeing the Bishops as developing moves. Thus, unlike Nimzovich, I maintain that White still has his first move advantage.), he has played Bg4 (one tempo) Qh4 (one tempo) O-O (one tempo). (Bd6 (one tempo) The Knight has gained two tempos for a grand total of 8 tempos.
White's Knight can access the g3 square in two moves, so the path in this case doesn't count; it only matters how many tempos it takes for the Knight to get to the g3 square from g1. White has made two developing moves with his Queen and freed the King Bishop for a grand total of five moves of development, but after exf3, it is White on move.
Without analyzing anything ( I don't have a chess board here), my immediate reaction is to reject gxf3 because it loses a tempo to Bh5 i.e. Black cannot access h5 in less than two moves. The way I look at the position, I am going to try to give back the piece advantageously with something like 13.Bxb5 with a four to two pawn majority on the Queenside i.e. if this position ever goes into an endgame, White should have an advantage because of his Queenside pawn majority. Unless White is mated here or loses a lot more than a piece, my immediate reaction is to play 13.Bxb5; this gains a tempo and chops up the Queenside for a big plus in the endgame.
Don't get me wrong---If Muir is right, it is because Black has to waste too much time to regain the material. It's just that as I define time 13.fxg4 is a pawn move that doesn't gain or lose time i.e. he swaps a pawn move for a developed piece, but 13.Qf2 gains a tempo. My idea is not to worry about the material here, but force Black to justify the attack by gaining back enough material to justify his Queenside situation. If he just regains the piece but loses the initiative, then the White Queenside pawn majority should be decisive. In the subject position, when I get home, I will just look for ways to give back the piece advantageously.
By the way, I am well aware that 12.Qe2 is not a Novelty. I never said it was. All I said is that Berliner, a World Champion and Kasparov, a World Champion both give 12...Be6 as best and favorable to Black whereas I am the first person to say it leads to the fastest win by White of any major opening in chess. (By the way, When IM Jeremy Silman looked at the position after 12...Be6, Book, he couldn't believe it was book because it was so bad!)
Obviously, the way I define time, 12...O-O is vastly superior to 12...Be6; I was just under the impression that if two World Champions thought that if 12...Be6 was best, it was best.
You can tell a real chess idiot when he lectures to a GM.