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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) The Knight's Tango (Read 21254 times)
Stigma
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Re: The Knight's Tango
Reply #2 - 08/31/10 at 09:43:31
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Palliser's book is a great starting point. It's also available (cheaper) as an e-book in Chessbase format. And he did some updates on Chesspublishing + participated in a few discussions on this forum.

But for a free taster you can also check out Joel Benjamins 4 articles at http://www.jeremysilman.com/chess_opng_shrtcts/archive.html. He recommends mostly the same lines as Palliser, but after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nf3 e6 4.g3 Benjamin goes for the Bogo-Indian with 4...Bb4+ while Palliser accepts an open Catalan with 4...d5 5.Bg2 dxc4.

The Tango is a very solid defence in practice; White must be really well-prepared to set Black problems and below IM level most Whites are not. But I've found it hard to win with against master-level players (therefore I've also had an even more dynamic defence available for when I needed to win).

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 has some of the most fun lines in the Tango, but there are a couple of them I'm worried about. But it's easy to "morph" a Tango repertoire later into a Nimzo-Indian-based one that avoids the 3.Nc3 line. 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 and now:
- 3.Nf3 Nc6
- 3.g3 d5 (or 3...Bb4+) 4.Nf3 dxc4 5.g3 Nc6
- 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qc2 Nc6
- 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Nf3 Nc6

The only extra work needed is on other 4th moves apart from 4.Qc2 and 4.Nf3 in the Nimzo-Indian, chiefly 4.e3, 4.f3, 4.a3 and 4.Bg5.
  

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TN
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Re: The Knight's Tango
Reply #1 - 08/31/10 at 06:07:53
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If you want to learn the Tango, play 2...Nc6 instead of 2...e6 and study Palliser's book. The 3.Nc3 Nc6 move order is inaccurate because you can't play ...e5 in one turn, but 3.Nf3 Nc6 is a respectable option.

Another line you might want to look at is 2...Nc6 3.Nf3 d6, which isn't covered by Palliser's book but can be tricky for an unprepared opponent to face.

I would have recommended the Benko Gambit as a replacement defence to 1.d4, but you have to be willing to sacrifice a pawn for long-term compensation.
  

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Dante88
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The Knight's Tango
08/31/10 at 05:05:46
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My coach tells me I need to pick up a new defense as Black against 1.d4 .  I'm not comfortable with 1.d4 d5, and he says my current opening (The Grunfeld) is much too tactical and dynamic for a positional player as myself (In previous posts I mention that I look up to Karpov and his boa-constrictor style of chess).  He suggested I try out the Tango where the basic line is as follows :

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nc6

I've been playing blitz games to get a feel for it with mediocre results(about a 33/33/33 percentage with W/L/D).  My biggest problem is I haven't been able to find ANYTHING furthering the theory of the Tango.

Could someone point me in the right direction please, or perhaps tell me what kind of defense I should check out?
  
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