Zatara wrote on 01/13/09 at 05:04:25:


The Chigorin (imo) is playable at almost any level certainly on a one off occasion nearly anybody could lose with the white bits. I have drawn with some GMs with this opening and my otb rating is only around 2100. Of course I have had some disasters aswell, one particularly painful 14 move loss springs to mind! It is a difficult opening to play and if playing at a very high level I don't think you could use it as your only defence to 1d4. In my opinion it is probably better than the modern benoni. I know a lot of people will probably disagree with that but I found the benoni is an extremely difficult opening to play accurately, there is loads of theory in some lines and black can easily go wrong early. In fact if I had to recommend to a player starting out on his journey against 1d4 to play either the Chigorin or the Benoni, I would advise the Chigorin. it cant really be compared to the KID though which is one of blacks more mainstream defences. A coach I had once considered the Chigorin as on a par with the Dutch and I think that is a good comparison. It is somewhat offbeat and unusual but definitely playable if a little difficult at times. Black needs to know what he is doing but thats the same in any opening really.   

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Well I'm not so sure about that. The Chigorin is likely the most aggresive queen's gambit opening option for black. The question is, do you understand how to play it? Would you put all your eggs in that bag? I mean : after 2...Nc6 there is not come back. If you can't get ...e5 then everything will go wrong. 

I have played some games with it otb and i have never lost (2 wins and 2 draws) against 2100 average oposition. One of the vitories included the typical sac of the c pawn in the line 3.cd Qd5 ...,Nge2-d4-b5-c7. 

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It's tactically more forced than those defences (defenses). I mean to get a good playable position you should force things, you knight is in front of your c pawn but you have a slight lead in development. You should use it to get a playable position.

I'm not sure about this because I haven't studied it deep enough but I would say that the Chigorins is less flexible in good plans than  openings like KID and Benoni. But in any case I wouldn't say that one defense is better than other.

Thx

Hi all,
I am wondering till what level is the Chigorin (1d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6)playable to??  Also what reputation does it have?  for example is it as good as the KID or beoni??
Thanks,
Zatara