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Hot Topic (More than 10 Replies) C01: Exchange question? (Read 14156 times)
kylemeister
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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #15 - 10/11/17 at 20:49:21
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Regarding Kasparov's use of 4. Nf3, I recalled mainly his game against Korchnoi, who went for another unbalancing approach, 5...Nf6 6. Bd3 c5, and it was said that White got a slight advantage out of the opening.

Another historical bit I noticed: regarding 5...Nf6 6. Bd3 Bd6 7. 0-0 0-0 8. Nc3 (as in Morphy-Chamouillet, given by Spraggett as one of the games which inspired him),  Psakhis in The Complete French (from 1992, the year after Kasparov-Korchnoi) cited two games (Morphy-Löwenthal and Larsen-Petrosian), both as +=.
  
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MartinC
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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #14 - 10/11/17 at 20:19:43
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Mind you, I'm not sure if the nothing when black castles kingside is that different to the sorts of nothing they're trying against all sorts of things these days.....
  
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ErictheRed
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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #13 - 10/11/17 at 19:26:42
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Well, 4.Nf3 in the Exchange has been considered a fairly serious try for an advantage for a long time.   Kasparov played it a few decades ago, if I recall correctly. Also if memory serves, McDonald seemed pretty high on White's chances in his older Mastering the French book. And I don't remember where I've seen it, but I recall some published analysis that was pretty critical of Watson's queenside castling approach to the 4.Nf3 Exchange around the time that his 3rd edition of Play the French came out.

Not that Black should be unduly worried, but it's been considered a legitimate try for a long time (if not as critical as 3.Nc3, etc), and I highly doubt that Carlsen needed to see Spraggett's blog post to decide to give it a try.

If Black acquiesces to a more boring, symmetrical position and castles kingside, however, I don't think that White can claim much. 4.Nf3 seems to particularly be directed against Black's attempts to sharpen the game, which can backfire.
  
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TN
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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #12 - 10/11/17 at 01:47:32
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It would be funny if it was from this blog post that Carlsen picked up his 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bd3 Bd6 6.Qe2 idea! But 6...Be6 is a pretty clear equaliser as Caruana demonstrated this year.

Still, it would be quite an interesting idea to play 4.Nf3 against a higher-rated player, know what to do in the complex lines and outplay them with the queenside attack!
  

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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #11 - 10/10/17 at 22:03:02
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an ordinary chessplayer wrote on 10/09/17 at 18:18:56:
Watson is a reliable guide, but maybe his own record against the Exchange French has made him too pessimistic for white. What could Watson do from the white side?


Someone who makes a living writing books about the French is unlikely to be completely objective about a very straightforward line if it avoids complexity and gives White an advantage.
  
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an ordinary chessplayer
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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #10 - 10/09/17 at 18:18:56
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Joel Johnson, author of Formation Attacks, used to play the very same opposite-wing attack with b4 and a4. We had some blitz games which he mostly won, but back then I attributed that to his greater experience in the line, plus the fact that he was a better blitz player. These days I am not so sure, it might be that white actually gets the advantage when black castles queenside.

Suppose we turn the board around, and have black play ...Nf6, ...Be7, ...O-O, while white is the one who castles queenside. Would black not play ...c6, ...b5, ...a5 etc.? Would the theoreticians not say that black is fine, equal, or perhaps even with initiative? With opposite side castling, everything hinges on a tempo.

Spraggett's handling (Re1, Nf1, Bd2) seems more promising than the way J.J. used to do it (Rb1,Nb3-c5). But that is to be expected when comparing how a GM plays an opening vs how a lowly NM does it.

Watson is a reliable guide, but maybe his own record against the Exchange French has made him too pessimistic for white. What could Watson do from the white side?
  
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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #9 - 10/09/17 at 09:31:54
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I haven't checked the lines yet, but has anyone looked at Kevin Spraggett's suggestions on his website?
http://www.spraggettonchess.com/the-french-exchange-variation/

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Finally, at the ripe old age that I find myself, I can say that the circle is complete: the BEST line against the French is what Paul Morphy played in the middle of the 19th century: the EXCHANGE varation!


The Exchange Variation really is a pain in the ... .
We (still!) need more advice for the Black side!  Wink
  
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MNb
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Re: Exchange question?
Reply #8 - 02/18/12 at 14:11:24
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Gilchrist is a legend wrote on 02/18/12 at 09:19:23:
Maybe play ...Na5 if you have the knight still on c6, or if White plays a5 after having a pawn on b4, play ...a6?

The precise move order is to play a4-a5 first and if Black reacts with ...a6 to follow up with b4-b5 anyway. In a rotationally symmetric way it's the same for Black at the other side of the board. Lines must be openend and then the better placed pieces decide. The tricky thing is to insert a defensive move at exactly the right point. Dom is right: delaying castle (Nge7, f6) to keep White guessing can gain one or two important tempi.
  

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Re: C01: Exchange question?
Reply #7 - 02/18/12 at 12:28:57
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I play the ooo in the Exchange. The a4-b4 pawn roller gains in force against this line when light square bishops are not exchanged.

That's why the best strategy is to use the "delay castling" trick..to let not White use this attack. Useful to remember too are the basic ideas of the good (for Black) exchange of light square bishops and the defence over the greek sacrifice Bxh7.

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Bd3 Nc6!? 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.c3 Bd6 7.oo Nge7 (a little better than the obvious Qd7  Burn-Spielmann,1912)  and now here are some lines vs pawn roller

A) 8.Re1 Qd7

A1) 9.Nbd2 ooo 10.b4 (10.a4 g5Gunnarsson, R.-Ingolfsdottir, Harpa Reykjavik ISL, Open 2004
1/2-1/2 Reykjavik ISL Round 6 2004 and Barrero Garcia, Carlos-Matamoros Franco, Carlos Espartinas ESP, Closed IM 07
1/2-1/2 Espartinas ESP Round 4 2007
)  Rde8 (the idea to play Nd8 vs a later b5) 11.a4 (11.b5 Na5!  Novikova, M.-Zhesterev, Anatol Kiev UKR, 6th Kurass Memorial
0-1 Kiev UKR Round 6 2005 ) Ng6 (with Nbd2, f4 and h4 are weak squares) Hentzschel, E.-Monte, P. 10th European Senior Team Ch
0-1 Dresden GER Round 6 2008

A2) 9.Bg5?! (seen as dubious because improving Black pawn roller on kingside) f6 10.Bh4 h5! Miroiu, George Catalin-Szabo, Gergely-Andras-Gyul Napoca ROM, Men Ch 2008
0-1 Napoca ROM Round 5 2008

A3) 9.Be3 f5 Dayan, Cansu-Vahtra, Tuuli Antalya TUR, World Youth Ch 2007
0-1 Antalya TUR Round 6.25 2007

A3) 9.h3 Bf5 (9...Bh5 insists on castling queenside 10.a4 (10.b4 Nd8!?) ooo 11.a5 (11.Nbd2 g5!) f6 12.a6 (12.b4 Rde8! (Psakhis) Kochiev-Psakhis,Tallinn 1987 (MCO) ) b6 13.Bb5 Rde8 14.Nbd2 Ng6! 15.Rxe8+ Rxe8 16.g4 Nf4 17.Bxc6 Qxc6 18.gxh5 Nxh3+ 19.Kf1 Qb5+  20.c4 dxc4 21.Qa4 Qxa4 22.Rxa4 b5 23.Rxa5 c6 (old database about Exchange)) 10 Bg5 oo=

A4) 9.b3 ooo or 9..oo Kivisto, Mikko-Kekki, Petri FIN-ch
1/2-1/2 Helsinki 1987

A5) 9.Na3 Bxa3  and a kingside castling Sion Castro, Marcelino-De la Villa Garcia, Jesus Maria Leon
0-1 Leon 1989  (Ech)

A6) 9.b4 f6!? 10.a4 oo! 11.Nbd2 Ng6

A7) 9.a4 f6 (9..ooo 10.a5 Ng6 11.b4 Nde8 12.Rxe8+ (12.Re1 Nh4 ; 12.b5?? Nxd4! worth to remelber it) Rxe8 13.Be3 Nf4 14.Bf1 Qf5 15.Nbd2 Qg6 16.Bxf4 Bxf4 17.Qb1 Qh6 18.Qb2 g5 19.b5 Nd8 20.g3 Petlak, Josef-Merenkov, Mikhail Moravia-ch op
1/2-1/2 Moravia 1996
(Ech)

A8) 9.Be2 oo Zulic, J.-Hanson, D. Iowa op
0-1 1994
(Ech)

B) 8.Nbd2 Qd7 9.b4 oo (safe...Banchev-Lupu,Orange 1990)  but 9.Te1 ooo!? (because pawn roller is one tempo less)

C) 8.h3?! Bh5 9.b4 Bg6 or 9.Re1 Qd7 10.b4 Nd8!? or 10..ooo 11.a4 (11.b5 Na5) Rde8 12.a5 Ng6 13.Be3 Nh4 14.Be2 Nf5=

D) 8.Bg5?! f6 9.Bh4 h5 Opocensky-Alekhine,Paris 1925 (Susan Polgar)

E) 8.Be3 Qd7 9.Nbd2 ooo 10.b4 Ng6 Nyland, T.-Roos, J. First Saturday IM-B August 09
0-1 Budapest HUN Round 6 2009

F) 8.a4 Postny-Khenkin,Moscou 2004 Qd7 9.a5/b4 oo

G) 8.b4 Qd7 9.Re1 f6 10.a4 oo or 10.b5 Na5 or 10.Nbd2 Nd8 (with the curious idea of using f7 square for the d8 knight) Haapasalo, Jukka Pekka-Manninen, Marko Vantaa op2
0-1 Vantaa Round 7 1994
(Ech)







  

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Gilchrist is a legend
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Re: Exchange question?
Reply #6 - 02/18/12 at 09:19:23
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Maybe play ...Na5 if you have the knight still on c6, or if White plays a5 after having a pawn on b4, play ...a6?
  

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Re: Exchange question?
Reply #5 - 02/18/12 at 06:15:27
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Mtal wrote on 02/17/12 at 06:14:37:
Hi, I usually try to castle 000 in the Exchange variation. The thing is now and then I get into a little trouble.


Years ago, after having experienced trouble myself with the 0-0-0 line, I examined quite a few games and came to the conclusion that some players preferred to castle long only if White had done a weakening move (such as .h3) on the kingside.
  
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Re: Exchange question?
Reply #4 - 02/18/12 at 04:14:45
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I try to go to the stucture (if allowed) Nbc6, Bd6, Nge7, f6 Bg4, Qd7 and OOO. Then continue with g5-h5-g4. It is risky indeed but white plays exchange typically to avoid this type of doubleedged positions only. My 'practical' results are very good.
  
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Re: Exchange question?
Reply #3 - 02/17/12 at 10:09:50
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Mtal wrote on 02/17/12 at 06:14:37:
The thing is now and then I get into a little trouble.

The thing with opposite castling is that it's more risky, so you only can expect to get into a little trouble now and then.
Usually best is x.b6 cxb6 y.axb6 a6, but that invites a sack on a6 indeed. Now White does not have that many options for this sac (the King's Bishop or a Knight on b4) so it makes sense to hinder such piece arrangements. Also don't forget to make progression with you own attack. After all it takes White at least five moves to play b5-b6.
  

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Re: Exchange question?
Reply #2 - 02/17/12 at 08:54:47
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Moskalenko gives a line where Black exchanges the light square bishops and queens (Bg4-f5, Bxd3, Qf5), after which it becomes a positional fight.
  
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Re: Exchange question?
Reply #1 - 02/17/12 at 07:08:44
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I think the big problem is the pawns arriving on a5 and b5. Castling queenside seems quite risky to me in the Exchange Variation, even if you are trying hard to win castling kingside is still usual.
  

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