Sunday, June 17, 2012

I forgot to be happy about it earlier

I realized something I forgot to be psyched about last month: Rachel Maddow liked my photos enough to use them on her show.

Also, I have a new project for the world open: I'm going to go for a few days, not play (maybe play a side event), and track the success rate of different openings in the under sections. Any predictions? I'm betting on the Dutch and the Colle Zuckertort/Torre/London in Under 1400s.

3 comments:

Tony Cortizas, Jr. said...

I am not surprised. Your photos are very good. You have good eye.

Anonymous said...

I’d guess that certain gambits will score well.

For the ordinary weekend player, a good practical approach to openings is to learn a handful of offbeat openings, ones that most of your opponents are not likely to know well. You can do this with quiet, strategic openings like the London or the Colle, as you’ve suggested (the K.I.A. is another one), but you can also do it with double-edged or even dubious openings, such as the Goering, Smith-Morra, or Wing Gambits. If you memorize a few traps and learn the standard attacking strategies, you’ll win a lot of quick games, because many casual tournament players haven’t taken the time to learn how to play against them.

I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this approach to young players who want to develop their skills, but I suspect that it scores well statistically in the under 1800 classes.

Anonymous said...

Agree with the first anonymous poster.

For players 1800-1900 and under, playing offense, that is attacking is easier and more familiar. Playing defense especially against an unfamiliar opening is really hard. Even openings that are derided as refuted or unplayable (I'm thinking Latvian Gambit, Elephant Gambit and Blackmar-Diemer Gambits)can be effective, especially with quicker time limits - Game 30 for example

Have fun and let us know the results!