MNb wrote on 04/01/09 at 02:12:20:


My experiences with publishing companies were often frustrating ("no photos, our books are printed on cheap paper"). But the series of articles on the KG in my mag will be continued.

Hi nyoke,
This seems to become the rule ... years ago I lent my own hand-copy of Der Geier to a man who never returned it. Btw, used copies of The Vulture are available from bookfinder.com. - At the moment I don't have the time for a new Vulture book, but the main lines were covered in articles on ChessCafe or in Kaissiber.

MatrixX wrote on 03/09/09 at 19:53:19:

In analogy to my Vulture/Hawk/Woozle against 1.d4 I also studied ways to establish an advantage for White after 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4. In Der Geier (1986) and The Vulture (1989) the last chapter covers these "Penguin" attempts. That name ... well... I thought that these reversed birds, with an additional tempo, should be more respectable (= serious looking) than the black versions...

The main systems were: 3.c5 ("Penguin Hawk"), 3. g3 c5 4.Ne5 ("Eagle") and 3.Rg1 ("Penguin"), with some analysis. I know my nomenclature is horrible. For systematic reasons, the Eagle should be "Vulture Penguin", then I had a "Woozle Penguin", but it was incorrect, so the name was dropped. The Penguin was originally the "Penguin Penguin". The German "Habichdpinguin" was translated to "Penguin Hawk", instead of "Hawk Penguin". Don't ask me why.

The British Chess Magazine 10/2000 has Gary Lane's article "Call my Bluff", with Grunberg - Rahman (3.c5; 1-0, 22). Kaissiber 16 (2001) studies the same game and discusses also Gabriel - Kortschnoi, Zurich 1999 (1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4 3.b4 f6 4.e3 e5 5.c5; 0-1, 32), suggesting some improvements for White.

MatrixX wrote on 03/11/09 at 14:06:27:


You will perhaps know that 4. ed "!?" is the main line, with theory going back many decades.  Playing just as you suggest, the question would seem to be, what do you have in mind after 4...Nxd4 5. Nxd4 Qxd4 6. Nc3 e5 7. d3 Ne7 8. Be3 Qd8 9. Be2 Nf5?

The DW books coverage of 1 nf3 d5 2 c4 d4 etc is a chapter covering an interesting idea for white in the main line reversed benoni stuff. In general that probably is the thing to play. Maybe no real theoretical advantage but unbalanced enough.

Also some general coverage of 2 .. d4 from a black perspective in beating unusual chess openings.

The problem with the lost tempo in 3 e3 Nc6 4 b4 is that there's no black knight on f6 so e5(e4) ideas are just more effective (Qh4+, no tempo gain etc.). So you have to go ed instead and thats never going to be especially dangerous.

Can anyone tell, which variations (ore games) exactly are recommended either by Eric Schillers 'Hypermoder Openig Repertoire for White' within 3.b4 or by Mihai Grünberg in SOS 2 within 3.c5.

@ Unownasofyet: I unfortunately haven't this DW but looked at the list of contents. So far i couldn't find a chapter covering the 1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 d4

nyoke wrote on 03/10/09 at 19:43:08:


Huh?  1. Nf3 d5 2. c4 d4 is generally thought to lead to equality (/unclarity/compensation), while 1. d4 c5 2. d5 Nf6 seems most often thought to lead to +=.  Not a very surprising state of affairs, I would submit.

Not so easy to find so much for white here.

I'd rather like 3 e3 or b4 to work. Sadly 3 e3 Nc6 seems rather effective at equalising. There's even a tactical reason (Qh4+ still being on iirc) meaning that 4 b4 is less effective than the tempo down black equivalent.

3 b4 is more interesting but you do need something against black going c5/f6/e5 etc.