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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) "The Big Clamp" (Read 35792 times)
Paddy
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #8 - 01/10/10 at 14:19:23
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Possibly the first high-level game to draw attention to the Big Clamp strategy (and it's a strategy rather than a variation) was game 11 of the 1978 Karpov-Korchnoi match.

[Event "World Championship 29th"]
[Site "Baguio City"]
[Date "1978.08.10"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Kortschnoj, Viktor"]
[Black "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2665"]
[BlackElo "2725"]
[PlyCount "100"]
[EventDate "1978.07.??"]
[EventType "match"]
[EventRounds "32"]
[EventCountry "PHI"]
[Source "ChessBase"]

1. g3 c5 2. Bg2 Nc6 3. e4 g6 4. d3 Bg7 5. f4 d6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. O-O O-O 8. c3 Rb8
9. Qe2 Ne8 10. Be3 Nc7 11. d4 cxd4 12. cxd4 Bg4 13. Rd1 d5 14. e5 Qd7 15. Nc3
Rfc8 16. Qf1 b5 17. h3 Bxf3 18. Bxf3 b4 19. Bg4 e6 20. Na4 Na5 21. Nc5 Qe8 22.
Be2 Nb7 23. Nxb7 Rxb7 24. Rdc1 Qd7 25. Rc2 b3 26. axb3 Rxb3 27. Qc1 Rb7 28. Ba6
Rcb8 29. Bxb7 Rxb7 30. Ra3 h6 31. Rac3 Nb5 32. Rc8+ Kh7 33. R2c6 f6 34. Kg2 Qf7
35. Qc2 a5 36. g4 fxe5 37. fxe5 a4 38. Ra8 Na7 39. Ra6 Qe7 40. Rxa4 Rc7 41. Qb3
Nc6 42. Ra1 Nb4 43. Rc1 Rc4 44. Rb8 Rxc1 45. Bxc1 Qc7 46. Rxb4 Qxc1 47. Qd3 h5
48. Rb6 Bh6 49. gxh5 Qg5+ 50. Qg3 Qd2+ 1-0

Karpov himself was later to apply the same strategy for White in the Neo-Gruenfeld!

[Event "Alekhine Memorial"]
[Site "Moscow"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Karpov, Anatoly"]
[Black "Kamsky, Gata"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "D79"]
[WhiteElo "2715"]
[BlackElo "2655"]
[PlyCount "107"]
[EventDate "1992.11.??"]
[EventType "tourn"]
[EventRounds "7"]
[EventCountry "RUS"]
[EventCategory "18"]
[Source "ChessBase"]
[SourceDate "2004.01.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nf3 Bg7 4. g3 c6 5. Bg2 d5 6. cxd5 cxd5 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Ne5
e6 9. O-O Nfd7 10. f4 Nc6 11. Be3 Nb6 12. Bf2 Bd7 13. e4 Ne7 14. Nxd7 Qxd7 15.
e5 Rac8 16. Rc1 a6 17. b3 Rc7 18. Qd2 Rfc8 19. g4 Bf8 20. Qe3 Nc6 21. f5 Ba3
22. Rcd1 Nb4 23. Qh6 Qe8 24. Nb1 Bb2 25. Qd2 Nc2 26. Kh1 Qe7 27. Bg1 Nd7 28.
Rf3 Qb4 29. Qh6 Qf8 30. Qg5 Qg7 31. Qd2 b6 32. Rdf1 a5 33. h4 Nb4 34. a3 Rc2
35. Qf4 Nc6 36. Bh3 Nd8 37. Be3 b5 38. R3f2 b4 39. axb4 axb4 40. Rxc2 Rxc2 41.
Rf2 Rxf2 42. Qxf2 Ba3 43. Qc2 Nxe5 44. dxe5 Qxe5 45. Qc8 Qe4+ 46. Bg2 Qxb1+ 47.
Kh2 Bb2 48. Qxd8+ Kg7 49. f6+ Bxf6 50. Bh6+ Kxh6 51. Qxf6 Qc2 52. g5+ Kh5 53.
Kg3 Qc7+ 54. Kh3 1-0

By the way, there are a dozen or so Big Clamp games annotated here at Chess Publishing, the latest being Movsesian-Dancevski, 2008, with good notes by David Vigorito.

[Event "24th ECC"]
[Site "Kallithea GRE"]
[Date "2008.10.18"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Movsesian, S."]
[Black "Dancevski, O."]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B20"]
[WhiteElo "2732"]
[BlackElo "2421"]
[PlyCount "55"]
[EventDate "2008.10.17"]

1. e4 c5 2. d3 g6 3. g3 Bg7 4. Bg2 Nc6 5. f4 d6 6. Nf3 e6 7. O-O Nge7 8. c3 b6
9. Be3 d5 10. e5 a5 11. Bf2 Ba6 12. Re1 Qd7 13. Na3 O-O 14. Nc2 Rae8 15. Qd2
Rb8 16. Rad1 Rfc8 17. g4 Rf8 18. d4 cxd4 19. Ncxd4 Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Nc6 21. Nxc6
Qxc6 22. f5 exf5 23. gxf5 gxf5 24. e6 Bb7 25. e7 Rfe8 26. Qf4 Qg6 27. Rd3 Qg4
28. Qxb8 1-0
  
ClampIdeasd01.pgn ( 2 KB | Downloads )
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motörhead
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #7 - 01/10/10 at 12:09:40
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Glenn Snow wrote on 01/10/10 at 10:49:44:
linksspringer wrote on 01/09/10 at 22:37:25:
To my mind the Big Clamp is e4, d3, g3, Bg2, f4, Nf3, c3 or am I mistaken?
Richard Palliser has a chapter on it in "Starting out: Closed Sicilian".


I no longer have the booklet that IM Day wrote on the clamp but I remember him sometimes liking the setup with f4, c3 and Be2 and maybe even g4!? before Nf3.


Well,
may be Big Clamp in the true sense is only played with g2-g3 and Bg2 but as far as I remember it (may be wrongly) it is a highly flexible attempt based around the seemingly tame centre-formation Bc3-d3-e4 which turns aggressive with f2-f4. 
Therefore White should allways keep in mind the Black lever c5-c4. Directed against the coupled soft spots d3 and e4 [when there is a Knight on f6 or a Pawn on d5] it may crack the Clamp and take quiete a lot of the sting, that set-up bears.
Sometimes it is more efficient to place the Bishop on e2 even with the Knight g1 resting at home, to flick in g2-g4 quickly. Especially when Black castles early and has placed a Knight on f6.
But sometimes it may well be better to fianchetto the Bishop on g2 - perhaps nevertheless combined with g2-g4.
He who keeps the flexibility in the placement of the pieces may fare well with the Clamp.

cheese
  
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Paddy
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #6 - 01/10/10 at 11:21:00
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GabrielGale wrote on 01/09/10 at 14:30:23:
Can anyone help me with sourcing info on the "Big Clamp"?

I know IM Lawrence Day wrote a slender book on it (published in the 70s?) but it is hard to get hold of a copy ......

Someone told me there was a series of articles in a british chess magazine on the Clamp. Any idea what magazine and the exact citations?

Any other source as to the idea (s) behind the pawn structure and the plan of attack/breakthrough especially after the blocked/closed position has been achieved?

Thanks in advance.


The magazine was Modern Chess Theory and was excellent for its time. Day also wrote a good article for it on the related Closed Sicilian, which seems to have been popular in Canadian circles at that time (the influence of Bogatyrchuk and Suttles probably).

Try 
http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=16101

for some more info.

The basic idea of the Big Clamp is to create an unassailable centre and then build a substantial space advantage, while suppressing Black's counterplay. (The last bit is the hardest, as any decent French defence player will avow. Wink)
  
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #5 - 01/10/10 at 10:49:44
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linksspringer wrote on 01/09/10 at 22:37:25:
To my mind the Big Clamp is e4, d3, g3, Bg2, f4, Nf3, c3 or am I mistaken?
Richard Palliser has a chapter on it in "Starting out: Closed Sicilian".


I no longer have the booklet that IM Day wrote on the clamp but I remember him sometimes liking the setup with f4, c3 and Be2 and maybe even g4!? before Nf3.
  
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JEH
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #4 - 01/10/10 at 09:49:26
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To my mind, the key point about the Big clamp is that White puts a pawn on c3, rather than a Knight, supporting a d4/e5 pawn centre as one of the ideas.

Some move order shenanigans is required. The Strangling DVD goes via 2. d3, and the Creative DVD goes via 2. Na3  Huh
  
Those who want to go by my perverse footsteps play such pawn structure with fuzzy atypical still strategic orientations

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, stuck in the middlegame with you
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linksspringer
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #3 - 01/09/10 at 22:37:25
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To my mind the Big Clamp is e4, d3, g3, Bg2, f4, Nf3, c3 or am I mistaken?
Richard Palliser has a chapter on it in "Starting out: Closed Sicilian".
  
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motörhead
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #2 - 01/09/10 at 20:59:55
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GabrielGale wrote on 01/09/10 at 14:30:23:
Can anyone help me with sourcing info on the "Big Clamp"?


Hi, 
the Dutch book "De Witte Leeuw" by van Rekom/Jansen (actually know for "The Black Lion") deals to some extend with the Big Clamp (1.e4 c5 2.d3 d6 3.f4 or 2.f4 Nc6 3.d3 g6... with Nf3, Be2, c3 and Na3 or Nbd2 to follow). Roundabout 30 pages. I havn't studied it, but I think it offers interesting material to get familiar with it.
The book is written in Dutch, but may be there is a English version. I don't know, check it out yourself.

By the way: The Big Clamp has much in common with the Antoshin-variation of the Dutch Defence, where Black heads for the thrust e7-e5 supporting it with d7-d6, c6-c6, Qc7 and Nbd7.

cheese
  
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JEH
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Re: "The Big Clamp"
Reply #1 - 01/09/10 at 15:37:17
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The Nigel Davies DVD, '1.e4 for the Creative Attacker', incorporates the Big Clamp, plus also his old Foxy DVD, 'Strangling the Sicilian'.
  
Those who want to go by my perverse footsteps play such pawn structure with fuzzy atypical still strategic orientations

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, stuck in the middlegame with you
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GabrielGale
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"The Big Clamp"
01/09/10 at 14:30:23
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Can anyone help me with sourcing info on the "Big Clamp"?

I know IM Lawrence Day wrote a slender book on it (published in the 70s?) but it is hard to get hold of a copy ......

Someone told me there was a series of articles in a british chess magazine on the Clamp. Any idea what magazine and the exact citations?

Any other source as to the idea (s) behind the pawn structure and the plan of attack/breakthrough especially after the blocked/closed position has been achieved?

Thanks in advance.
  
http://www.toutautre.blogspot.com/
A Year With Nessie ...... aka GM John Shaw's The King's Gambit (http://thekinggambit.blogspot.com.au/)
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