Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Tough Matchup Thursday

So this Thursday in round two of the championship of one of the clubs I play at I am paired against an Expert.  He's had a relatively long layoff from tournament play, but nevertheless, Experts are Experts for a reason.

I have White, and know that if I play 1. e4 I may very well face a Latvian Gambit.  I am ready for that, but not sure how to handle the Sicilian.  I have been working on the Grand Prix, but he plays that as White, so no edge there since he'll know those positions better than I.

I could play my childhood favorite Alapin and hope to get an edge, but I haven't played that opening in quite some time, although I do still look at games in it from time to time since I still love it.

So what to do?  Well, I could play something else like 1. Nf3, 1.d4, or 1.c4, but should I?  I had been playing those things, but decided that it might be a good idea to go back and focus on 1.e4 until I get a better feel for the opening.

So one of life's little mysteries...

Well, the good news is that I don't have to be to work tomorrow until 4pm so I will get hours and hours to study and prepare. 

So I guess I'll have to make the most use of the time...

1 comment:

  1. Update on this one...

    Wound up playing a Two Knights. The main line Ng5 with Be2 after ...bxc6.

    I will post the game later as I am working on annotating it today.

    I wound up losing although I was better for a while.

    The problem is that this is the first time I've played the Ng5 line and so I'm not all that comfortable with the positions that arise from it.

    This is one of the reasons I need to narrow my openings...

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