Patzerovich wrote on 04/12/10 at 15:24:02:


I think you should play mainlines with white/black if you want to get better in chess.
Almost 2000 Elorating should be enough to play every opening.

He has a rating of 1950. That should be enough to play the berlin, right?

I've been playing the Berlin wall for 3 years before John Cox's EXCELLENT book was published on it.

You have already found one of my favorite berlin players Leonid Kritz and Zoltan Almasi are regular practitioners outside of the usual top 10 suspects (Kramnik, Aronian etc). 

Another great resource is Kramnik's dvd my path to the top where he talks a little about his berlin prep for Kasparov in 2000.

Another introductory just fun vid to the berlin is FM Dennis Monokrouss part 1+2 chessvideo.tv on the Berlin Wall. 

In general, when I play the berlin i'm thinking in general ideas for my plans instead of forced moves. As white and black (since I play it from both colors), I have objectives. As black, I want to trade a set of minor pieces (mostly one set of knights), retain if possible the bishop pair (especially the unopposed light square pieces), and try to create light square targets.

As white, I want to get in e6 with whatever possible, especially with e5 f4 g4 h3 setups on the kingside. If white doesn't hammer home his pawn majority... he might find himself quickly worse or lost.

These types of ideas.

TN wrote on 04/04/10 at 20:54:29:


Thank you very much for your answer!
I will think about buying this book, I searched about it in the internet, it really sounds interesting.
Do you have any other advice? 
Where are the black Berlin Wall players in this forum? 

Hi guys!

I recently began playing 1.e4 e5 with black (I quit the Sicilian because I wanted to play something new and I didnt like this sharp games anymore). Now I have a problem:
I have no experience in the Ruy Lopez, I chose to play the Berlin Wall with black. How can I start training my understanding in the Berlin Wall? Are there any pages in the internet (english or german) ? What games should I know? What books are useful?

I hope you can help me

Thanks

PS: My Elo is 1950 if my rating is important