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Normal Topic English 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3 (Read 7854 times)
Dink Heckler
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Re: English 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3
Reply #5 - 03/09/09 at 11:15:26
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OK, I grubbed up Odessky, and this is what he has to say:
(he considers mainly the main line with ...Bd6)
 
  • If you play the English Defence against a strong player, this is what they will play

  • All lines are between +/= and +/-

  • It is pretty difficult for Black to unravel once he has his minor pieces on the optimal squares (Bs on b7 and e5, Ns on c5 and f6, with one of them hopping into e4). Major pieces have little scope, so it's a matter of tinkering, reacting to White's plan, and not dozing off and dropping the Bb7!

  • Theory advances at a glacial pace if at all, so easy to keep up.

  • Lempert is his exemplar for the Black side
  
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Re: English 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3
Reply #4 - 03/06/09 at 07:54:38
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Dink Heckler wrote on 03/05/09 at 09:47:00:
One suggestion, if you are happy going off-piste, is to play 3...g6, trying to argue that 3 a3 is thus rendered superfluous. Miles has a few games in this line.

I was actually looking at it from white's perspective, but I guess I better have a look at that idea, too.
  
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Re: English 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3
Reply #3 - 03/05/09 at 09:47:00
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I don't have it in front of me, but IIRC Odessky is very good on this line, and brutally frank about Black's prospects.

One suggestion, if you are happy going off-piste, is to play 3...g6, trying to argue that 3 a3 is thus rendered superfluous. Miles has a few games in this line.
  
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Re: English 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3
Reply #2 - 03/05/09 at 04:18:36
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My blitz response to 3.a3 would be to play 3...f5 and head for the Dutch.

I would certainly postpone the seemingly automatic Nf6 and play either 3...f5 or 3...Bb7.   

I am not a huge fan of the Capablanca QGD (with an early a3), so I might consider 3...d5.  But again, 3...f5 seems the most direct response.
  
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Re: English 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3
Reply #1 - 03/05/09 at 01:58:53
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In addition - what about leaving the bishop on c8 for a while? 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3 f5; 4...Nf6; 5....Be7 (perhaps 5...Bc5); 6...0-0. Though even in such positions d4-d5 remains a dangerous option Black may hope to prove that 3.a3 is a loss of tempo. Or not?
  
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English 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3
03/04/09 at 08:39:57
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In the English I have been looking at 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3. My main source was the old 1987 Keene, Plaskett & Tisdall book (which is actually a good book, see my comment on not all Keene books being bad in the "worst chess book ever" thread).

So, I was really wondering what the current state of theory is. I assume it's relatively clear by comparison to the Petrosian QID that 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3 Bb7 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d5 has to be miserable for black. It's a bit like the 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 4.a3 Bb7 5.Nc3 Be7 line, isn't it? Of course black has not "wasted time" with Be7, yet, but it still looks positionally questionable for black to me. Similarly 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.a3 Nf6 4.Nc3 d5 presumably is not so great, or is it perhaps one of the more sensible options?

Anyway, presumably the properly English option is 3...Bb7 4.Nc3 f5 5.d5 (followed by g3 & Bg2). Keene et al. seem to see the line as alright due to games like Tal - Miles 1983. As I saw from my database this line seems to be still regularly played at a relatively high level. However white has scored a quite comforting +17 -5  =11 in 2008 and 2009 according to my database. There's an game commented by Runting in my database where the comments seem to assess essentially all lines as +/=. I'd be interested to hear whether this was covered by GM Bauer in his ...b6 book and what he had to say. I also just realised that one of the most recent relatively high level corr games was played in an IECG WCh Candidates' Finale tournament I am currently playing in, so I could also ask one of my corr opponents what he thought on his game there...
  
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