BPaulsen I agree. 

In the first post I didn't give my thoughts while playing the game for two reasons:
- To keep it short.
- To get feedback about the flank openings.

Now I give most of the game and some thoughts about it.



1... c6: 
I came to this move from the Caro-Kann which I played before a pause of 20+ years in tournament chess. Three years ago the main line slav entered in my play (Tarrasch-Defence before). I have to admit that I never occupied with the connection of the slav and the flank openings.

4... Nf6:
Nc6 is better indeed. Here I was thinking about an attack on the queenside from black as a plan for the game.

5... e6:
Smyslov_Fan said all necessary about it. 5... Nc6 is again better. 

6.Nc3:
As 6... d4 loses a pawn I got the feeling to have done something wrong in the opening. So I thought about bringing the king to safety and looking what white did meanwhile.

8. a3:
From this moment on the black plan was to attack at the queenside. This idea and the earlier rejection of d4 didn't let even let me see 8... d4 as a candidate move. 

10... Bd7:
With 11.Ne5 Be8 12.Rc1 Nc5 13.b4 Ba4 in my mind.

12... d4:
In spite of the criticism of Markovic - this is one of the better moves played by black. The attack of white at the kingside is out of scope, the pawn d3 is marked as attacking goal and first time the former "plan" of an attack at the queenside gets a basis on the board - thanks to white's 12. e4.

17... Qxa8:
The two bishops and the b-pawn gave me a good feeling for the rest, which is not of interest here, except hinting to the point of tactical weakness.

What did I learn from your comments:

- Following the principles of center play and development.
- Markovic is right: In my case there's to less knowledge for playing flank openings. B.e.: Not realizing that g3 and cxd5 is weak is a consequence of lacking experience and knowledge.
- Anyway I will read and replay TN's recommendation Beating unusual openings and volume 6 of Tactics in the openings to collect some ideas.
- Smyslov_Fan is right about the tactical and strategic weaknesses. (But that's normal if you're beyond 2200 imo). Thanks for making this concrete in the annotations to this game.

Sorry - needed more time for the summary. Here it is.

Tks for all answers. First I will give a summary according to the questions of the first post two reasons:
–      showing you what arrived here and that I did  occupy with your comments
–      giving you an opportunity for corrections, if I misunderstood something important

About flank openings:

Alias in Reply #1 (in the following Alias #1): 
–      Tie your repertoire against 1.Nf3 and 1. c4 together with the replies to 1.e4 and 1.d4.
–      Rely to general opening principles and tactics.

Uhohspaghettio #4:
–      Learn some moves and plans against flank openings. Symmetry is one way.

Zoo #6:
-      The semi-slav is a good setup against flank openings.

TN #7:
-      The book 'Beating Unusual Chess Openings' could be a very good investment for you.

Smyslov_Fan #11:
-      Learning flank openings requires a lot of knowledge on master level.
-      On the 1850 level openings are a matter of taste, if you don’t want to become a master (2300+)
-      Follow your favourite slav player in reacting to flank openings

About attitude to flank openings:

Alias in Reply #1 (in the following Alias #1):
–      Reset your mind to the flexibility and amount of consequences of mistakes in flank openings.

ChevyBanginStyle #9:
-      Flank openings require patience in learning and practising

Dink Heckler #12:
-      This looks like planless play and a too passive setup. Is there a complex of being the 2nd player?

spagh3tti #13:
-      Answer with logical chess to flank openings (with some additional concrete explanitions over the example game)


Something else:

Markovic #3, #8:
–      Don't start to play flank openings yourself before reaching a strength of 2100+.
–      12. … d4 is a weak move. (Dink Heckler #12 disagrees)

Zoo #6:
-      One have to go through phases of being non-content with “style”
-      Follow Nunn’s advice
-      Stay concrete in thinking
-      Looks like problems of a semi-slav layer

ChevyBanginStyle #9 (and partly kylemeister #10):
-      The original post seems a bit strange to me as the poster does not include his thoughts on the opening, yet raises questions of attitude.
-      White started in the example game with playing bad by combining cxd5 and g6.
-      Black should have played 4. – Nc6
-      Looks like problems of a slav player

Smyslov_Fan #11 + #14:
-      The problems of the TO are strategical and tactical.
-      Special thanks to the annotations to the game. The critics of e6 – Be7 arrived.  

kylemeister #15:
-      Webb – Petrosian is striking.

In a further post I will give some comments to the game and what I learned from your answers.

Bloody heffalumps won't let themselves get trapped!

I analysed the game. 5...e6 stands out as a particularly bad move. The few times White's system has been tried in games involving +2300 players, Black has played 5...Nc6 which develops and maintains black's flexibility.

Here's my analysis, helped along by Firebird at the end. (All mistakes are my own.)


[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Enter New Game"]
[Black "?"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "45"]

1. c4 c6 2. Nf3 d5 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. g3 Nf6 5. Bg2 e6 $6 {I don't understand why
a Slav player would voluntarily incarcerate his own light squared Bishop. 5...
Nc6 followed by Bf5 makes far more sense to me.} 6. Nc3 Be7 {Again, I prefer
Nc6, leaving open the question of where the dark-squared B will go.} 7. O-O O-O
8. a3 a5 {This feels like a knee-jerk reaction. I don't know that b4 and Bb2
was such a scary proposition for White. It seems that Black is  so afraid of
white's possible development that he neglects his own plans. Firebird
considers 8...d4 to be best.} 9. d3 {even better was d4, and white has a nice
type of Catalan position.} Na6 {Yeah, the Na6 ideas are common to many
openings. But here, with the e6/d5 pawn structure, it lacks any bite. I don't
see the plan connected with it.} 10. Bf4 Bd7 {Perhaps Black should play Nc5
immediately here. His maneuver with the light squared B lacks conviction.} 11.
Ne5 Be8 {Why would Black play Be8?  He's made a terrible bishop out of his
light-squared B, and a trade on d7 would only remove Black's (self-inflicted)
bad Bishop.} 12. e4 $5 {White's play has been nicely consistent.  But now may
not be the time to open up the center. More consistent was e3, Rc1, and slowly
increasing the pressure. This hasty move gives black some counterplay.} d4 13.
Ne2 Nc5 14. b4 Ba4 $1 {I missed this when I was analysing without an engine. 
It's amazing, but the B which was doing nothing has come to life. Black's
position is still difficult to play. I think White still has an edge here, but
both sides will have to play creatively to gain an edge.} (14... axb4 15. axb4
Ba4 16. Qb1 Ncd7 17. Nf3 {And White's pieces are all active in the center.
Firebird considers this position almost equal, but White's play is much easier.
}) 15. Qb1 Nb3 16. Ra2 Nh5 (16... Nd7 $5 17. Nf3 g5 $1 18. Nc1 $1 {Again,
Firebird's discovery.} gxf4 19. Nxb3 Bxb3 20. Qxb3 fxg3 21. hxg3 Qb6 {And the
position is about equal.}) 17. Nf3 Nxf4 18. gxf4 axb4 19. axb4 Qb6 20. Rb2 Bxb4
21. Rxb3 Bxb3 22. Qxb3 Ra3 23. Qc4 *

NOTE: It appears that my recommendation, 12.e3, runs into h6 intending g5, which gives Black counterplay. Instead, simple 12.d4 (which could have been played in one move) retains White's advantage.

I don't think 12...d4 is particularly egregious; well, I'd play it at any rate 

Still, your opening play here suggests planless play, playing from move to move. It also suggests you might have a 'colour complex', in that you feel your Blackness too acutely. Obviously, in general Black has to be a bit more circumspect in the opening, but against such a seemingly unambitious White approach, there is no reason not to assert oneself a bit more. I am almost sure that if you painted the Black pieces White and vice versa, you would not play moves like ...e6, a5, Na6, Bd7...e8; you'd be thinking 'how can I exploit this passive setup; how can I seize the initiative?' Instead, I guess you're thinking 'I'm Black, I must consolidate'. Try it; play through the game with colours reversed, and see if your thought processes are any different 

ChevyBanginStyle wrote on 06/23/11 at 04:04:08:


Indeed.  ...Nc6 (on move 4 or at least on move 5) is the sort of move that is so natural, I'd have trouble seriously considering anything else.

Uhohspaghettio wrote on 06/22/11 at 18:12:35:


Oh, dear me.  W-h-a-t  I  p-e-r-h-a-p-s  s-h-o-u-l-d  h-a-v-e  s-p-e-l-l-e-d  o-u-t  w-a-s  t-h-a-t  h-e  s-h-o-u-l-d  n-o-t  t-a-k-e  u-p   f-l-a-n-k  o-p-e-n-i-n-g-s  a-n-d  s-h-o-u-l-d  p-l-a-y  i-n  c-l-a-s-s-i-c-a-l  f-a-s-h-i-o-n  a-g-a-i-n-s-t  t-h-e-m.

@zoo: I can only salute such a principled abstinence not only from concision, but even from cogency.

In re 12...d4: Sheesh, a guy can't even give away a free chess lesson around here.

There is a moment in life, when one strives for attitude while knowing it's just detrimental. The negative impact on chess is that you're not just playing against your position or opponent, but also against "why can't I play moves that would make me proud of who I am/aspire", or something similar. Nobody can fight the "me & my style" phase, just let it go through.

well, sorry for the digression, but sometimes it's a useful reminder.

as for flank openings : you look like a typical semi-slavist who plays a lot of sharp lines and feels anxious or frustrated when White won't play ball. Just reckon that irrespective of your "aggressive repertoire", White can always crawl with d3-g3 and get away with equal chances if he wants to. Your aim in such positions is to stay alert and avoid two pitfalls :
1. "philosophical" thinking (no clue what to do, but can't select a move), just leading to a big waste of time before the game actually begins ;
2. drifting away (he does nothing, i do nothing) and failing to perceive threats in time.

From practical experience, one way to stay into concrete thinking is to assess the stability of the pawn structure. When there's a tension (e/g. d3-e4 vs d5-e6) is one side wanting to exchange or push a pawn, or are both players happy with present structure ?
if so, chances are that White will just shuffle pieces around, trying to gain time on the clock, and you should play at the same pace. I was Black in such a game and realised (after undue philosophical thinking) that White was just shuffling pieces and wouldn't change the position : so I started to regroup pieces or even repeat moves, and White quickly decided to push pawns forward (a common chess pleonasm). Nunn gave the following practical advice for non-forcing positions: if you can't decide between several moves, play one at random (or preferably the first one, to put your intuition to test when at home) after 5 mn "thought" : chances are that further thinking won't shed more light on the matter.

2. watch out for threats (or issues) in seemingly harmless positions. your position after e4 is a good case in point, here is a possible train of thought :

argh, this pesky Ne5 dominates my Be8, prevents rooks connection etc. Let me drive it away! Aha, Bd6 threatens g5, he must defend somehow. unless... Bd6 exd5 g5 Bxg5! Bxe5 d4 Bd6 Ne4 Be7 d6 and i'm toast. Life is so unfair! so, this Ne5 is a strong piece,  I can't play active for now. How's the situation with e&d pawns ? For sure Black doesn't want to take on e4 (that would exchange d5 against backward d3), neither push d4 (blocks the center without gaining squares for Nf6, White's kinside pawns can roll). For now, White doesn't want to take d5, and may push d4 some day. b5 at once doesn't look great, so why not improve a piece by playing Rc8 ? oh no, this runs into exd5, and when Black plays exd5 White will have Bh3, Rc1 and I'll be squeezed to death. So maybe exd5 is a threat against my normal devt, and I should play d4 first to make sure that the white diagonal remains closed ? too cool for White! wait, why not play Nc7 first so that d5 is overprotected? then I can arrange pieces with Rc8, perhaps play b5....

Following this train, I would have played Nc7 in your diagram position. Perhaps this turns out to be a horrible move, but for better or worse it comes after some thinking and some knowledge gained on the position (the threat of a timely exd5 and Bh3 after Rc8). If you can catch such or better threads, you will stay alert in the game. If you don't catch a thread, cut the long thinks and see how things develop.

so, it seems you played the opening quite decently. perhaps Nc6 was more natural than Na6, and presumably d4 was a recognition that you were running short of natural moves. As far as I can see, no need to question your attitude or anything similar.

PS. on the title of the thread : the semi-slav is a robust setup which is especially efficient against all kinds of flank openings. Learning or buying moves against flank openings just sounds like buying expensive maps of the mongolian steps. People needing to prepare against White tries in these setups are strong enough that they shouldn't need books.