Gilchrist is a legend wrote on 07/05/11 at 07:54:43:


If you adopt t this policy, you let people who play, for example, Khalifman's repertoire take you into a KID Classical every single time.  I personally I don't equate giving my opponent control over what system I play with having an extra option.  Further the KID is a mighty complex and committal system to prepare just to face the English.  If that's synergy I'll take, umm, what's non-synergy?  Anergy?

punter wrote on 07/01/11 at 01:25:48:


Thanks Punter, this is a very interesting anti-Grunfeld sideline. It may well be what I was looking for.

If someone plays both Grünfeld and King's Indian, then the annoying anti-Grünfeld English lines with c4, Nf3, Nc3 with or without Qa4+ can be diverted by simply following a King's Indian setup. Also I suppose c4, Nc3 with the aim of e4 without a preliminary d4 to prevent a Grünfeld can be answered with a King's Indian as well.

Yes, the philosphical musings are of scant utility.   

Some openings synergize well with others: for instance, it makes sense to combine the Nimzo with the Benoni, because after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nf6 3.Nf3 you can't get a Nimzo anyway, and some of White's more dangerous tries against the Benoni are avoided.  The same is true of combining the Noteboom and Stonewall Dutch; after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c6 4.e3, Black doesn't have to play the Meran and can go 4...f5 with a Stonewall where White hasn't fianchettoed.  I know of no opening that synergizes with the Grunfeld like this.

trw wrote on 07/04/11 at 20:11:25:


I don't understand how you can associate the QGA with play for all-out attack. Much more typically Black weasels around and tries to get into a better ending. In that way I do think it compares to Alekhine's and the Gruenfeld.

But these meta-theoretical considerations are of scant utility.

Caro Kann is also similar in alot of ways. The passivity black takes on hoping for a better endgame always. QGA really seems unrelated to Grunfeld. Related to KID sure, the burning your bridges for all out attack type opening is QGA.

IMJohnCox wrote on 07/04/11 at 11:43:19:


In the blog on Quality Chess Jacob Aagaard stated that the PDF is wrong. Answering the question which line is given against the fianchetto he wrote: "We recommend c6 and d5, the solid line."

In this context it should be mentioned that Avrukh wrote an article for the german magazine "Schach" which appeared this month. There he updates his recommendation for White in his "GM-Repertoire" after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 d5 5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Nf3 Nb6 7.Nc3 Nc6 8.e3 0-0 9.0-0 Re8 10.Re1 when he looks at 10... e5, 10... Bd7 and 10... a5. He concludes that White is clearly better against the first two options.

After 10... a5 as his main line he follows among others the game Leitao-Caruana, Khanty Mansisk ol 2010 which went 11.Qe2 Be6 12.Rd1 Bc4 13.Qc2 Nb4 14.Qb1 e5. Here he deviates from the game and ends his analysis after move 22 saying "The position looks pretty balanced, but I would still prefer to play with the white pieces!".

It´s interesting to note that in the 6 games so far where the position after 14.Qb1 e5 has been reached White managed to score only one draw.