Saturday, December 08, 2007

The Interesting French Exchange II

Geoff Scorebook is away.

I'm happy to dispel rumours that,
(a) his canoe has been found floating in the Thames;
(b) we at S&BCC Blog have cashed in his life insurance policy and are preparing to head off to a new life in Panama.

Fear not. Mr. Scorebook will be back next week.

In the meantime, back to the French Exchange.

Often when books talk about Black being able to win against 3. exd5 it's in the context of some kind of long ... slow ... grind, exploiting every small advantage that comes along. Gurevich-Short, Manilla 1990, as mentioned on the blog a few weeks ago, is a good example of this kind of approach.

However, as Andrew mentioned in the comments to the initial post, the variation can often degenerate into a opposite sides castling and a mutual hack against the enemy king.

For example:-




Now where did I leave that Spanish phrasebook?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here's a game I played (as black), sadly missing the win at move 37 (warning: much else missed too) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. Nf3 Ne7
6. Bg5 f6 7. Bh4 Bf5 8. Nc3 c6 9. Qe2 Bxd3 10. Qxd3 Nd7 11. Bg3 Nf8 12. Bxd6
Qxd6 13. O-O Nfg6 14. Ne2 O-O-O 15. c4 dxc4 16. Qxc4 Nd5 17. Nc3 Nb6 18. Qd3
Ne7 19. Ne4 Qd5 20. Rfe1 Rde8 21. Nc5 Nd7 22. Rac1 Kb8 23. a4 h5 24. b4 h4 25.
h3 g5 26. b5 Nxc5 27. Rxc5 Qd7 28. bxc6 Nxc6 29. Rb1 Ka8 30. Qb5 Re7 31. Qb2 g4
32. hxg4 Qxg4 33. Nh2 Qxd4 34. Qc2 Qe4 35. Qb2 Rg8 36. f3 Qe3+ 37. Qf2 Qxf2+
38. Kxf2 Reg7 39. Ng4 Rf8 40. Rh5 f5 41. Ne3 f4 42. Ng4 a6 1/2-1/2

Mike G

Anonymous said...

That's one topsy-turvey game Mike.

Anonymous said...

Okay, this is totally off-topic. But i was wondering if any of you guys on the other side of the canal could tell me what the brand of the jacket is that the guy on the left is wearing? Is it somekind of English brand? I am looking to buy a jacket of that brand, so that's why i'm asking. Thanks a lot.

TCOEM

Anonymous said...

Maybe you can make out the brand which shows on his left arm.

TCOEM

Anonymous said...

Edwin,

Sorry, I don't recognise the brand. It's not American?

Jonathan,

About the canoe man: What I don't get is why he went to the police. If his wife had just retired to Panama and as he was apparently able to travel, why didn't he join her there? Or have I missed something.

Angus

Anonymous said...

I don't really understand it either.

As far as I know he was out there already. Perhaps they had an argument and he was pissed off she joined him?

Anonymous said...

Never mind, i just found out what it is. The brand is Italian and it's called "Stone Island".

Thanks anyway.

TCOEM

Anonymous said...

I thought that Canoe man and his wife had split up and all the assets were in her name. He was so incensed that he decided to bring the both of them down rather than let her make off with all the loot.
Andrew

ejh said...

re: Andrew's comments about adjournments, I think that as they're getting paid, the Wad Green players don't want to play adjournments simply because they'll be playing an extra evening for (I assume) no extra fee. I can see their point of view: but of course it shouldn't inhibit their opponent from doing what's best for them, and I doubt the WG players would suggest otherwise.

ejh said...

Incidentally, are people really discussing smart clothing on a chess site? Is this a first?

ejh said...

Last point - if the French is not boring despite the existence of the Exchange Variation, why is the Petroff despised?

Anonymous said...

Andrew:
I thought that Canoe man and his wife had split up and all the assets were in her name.

Well they could hardly be in his name given he was officially dead!

Justin:
I don't despise the Petroff. I used to play that too. When I'm done with the French Exchange I might move onto The Russian. After that I might go indepth on why keeping a penny jar for your small change is a really good idea (sneak preview: counting it gives you something to do on a Friday night).

Anonymous said...

Exactly. It is because they had split up that he would have got nothing as the assets were in her name and he didn't want her to have them all.
Andrew