Chess Lesson: The English Opening
Friday, August 6th, 2010 at
6:17 pm
Explores the English Opening book lines, along with possible variations.
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Filed under: Chess Opening
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@mikebu666
chess puzzles
Very well Explained… Lots of good Info…
Chess, an early love of my life, and it only became richer and lovlier with time, until I flat ran OUT of time to play it…. But I swear she’s always on my mind, and I’m gonna get around to her again… and I’ll nair let her go!! It is a great way to retire from the business of the world and socialize among your favorite fellow minds as life winds down, so even the most mediocre types of men will take it up eventually. But it is really the province of the nobility who truly appreciate it!!
like i could win this guy in chess ! he is good
White knight G1 has E2 and H3 not G3.
What if black does not follow the book moves? do i need to learn every single book opening so i can shift into those?
What happens if black doesn’t follow the book lines, sorry but I’m just learning (at the age of 32!)
@RickinHK – The book lines exist because they are the accepted best moves. If a player goes out of book in the opening, they risk making mistakes that can cost them the game. However, the general principles of the English opening apply no matter what black’s responses are.
@sonofhendrix – No, you don’t need to learn every single opening with every single book move. The English opening is unique in that there virtually aren’t any bad moves white can make, (aside from obvious blunders). Get the book, “Hot to Play the English Opening”, by Anatoly Karpov, as he explains this opening very well.
@DarkRealities – To have success with an opening, one must first understand it. It’s much more than just pushing pieces, hoping it will work. Study the opening, learn it and you will have good results.
@mikebu666 – The best strategy is a winning strategy.
It all depends on your style of play. Some people go for all out attacks, throwing all caution to the wind. Others are more conservative and play a solid game, slowly squeezing the life out of their opponents. Still others are a combination of the two in varying degrees. The best way to improve your game is to go over Grandmaster games, so you can learn why they make the moves they do and you pick up on that.
@RicercarUPSB – There is no luck in chess.
I’m not a great chess player… but why take the bishop with the knight? Wouldn’t that lower your amount of field control and increase the field control of black? Would it not be better to just increase your control with the pieces behind the pawns? I wouldn’t know, as I’m not a chess master… but that’s just what I’m thinking when watching this.
Ah, yes one of my favorites
@lovedarli – Bishops are worth more than Knights.
@JohnQuincyAdams1 yeah, but barely. And only in certain situations. That knight had a lot more control than that bishop had, therefore making the knight more valuable.
@lovedarli – It always depends on the position as to how much a piece is worth or not. However, in general, a bishop is much more powerful than a knight. Two bishops and a king vs a king can force a checkmate, whereas two knights and a kinv vs a king can’t force a checkmate. The bishop pair is very powerful. Also, put a bishop in the center of the board and count how many squares it affects, (not including the square it is on). 13 squares. A knight is only 8. Bishops can pin, knights can’t.
@JohnQuincyAdams1 Yes but my question is based on this circumstance. The bishop had no power when he captured it… it traded a powerful position for a higher worth piece… and I’m just wondering if that would’ve been the best move for that turn.
@lovedarli – As a game progresses into the middle game and into the end game, the bishops power becomes ever greater and the knights power is diminished. This is because as diagonals open up, the power/influence of the bishops is increased and as the game opens up like this, the power/influence of the knights decreases, as they can’t sweep across the board in one move, as the bishops can. Now, specifically to the position you are referring to in the above video at 2:50, with white’s knight at…
@lovedarli …d5, black has just developed their knight to f6, challenging whites knight on d5. If white didn’t somehow move that knight on d5, black would be very wise to take that knight, so as to remove that strong central post it is on and also doubling up whites pawns, as the only way to take back would be with a pawn. This leaves white 2 choices; waste a tempo and falling behind in development and retreat the knight to c3, or exchange it for either the opponents knight or bishop. Since….
@lovedarli …the bishop is worth more than the knight, taking that bishop is a wise move. After black takes back with the queen, this then will allow white to be able to pin blacks knight with Bg5, which ends up with white having the superior position. I hope this has been of help.
i usually play the inversed sicilian with white with a king“s fianchetto and atacking the queen side
it gives posibliities if u can place a piece particualry a knight in the d5 square
for example 1.c4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d3 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Bd2 d6 6.g3 Bg4 7.Bg2 0-0 8.a3 Ba5 9.b4 Bb4 10.Bb5 Rb8 11.Nd5 Qd3 12.Nxb4 axb4….
i mean 11 exchange the bishop
in the variation you expose white has a weekness on the d4 square after exd4 Qxd4 Nc6