What's new - October '04
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A few days ago I managed to 'recuperate' a point I had lost against Tony Miles ... fifteen years earlier! I repeated the opening he had played against me, while my opponent played just like me! For the details see below! TonyK |
Thanks Tony M!I had hoped to have this update ready many days ago, despite all the chess I played this month, but suffered a number of set backs. Firstly, I updated Windows XP with Service Pack 2 which reduced my system to a crawl!
On top of that it stops the JavaScript pop-up games from working, and the only way I can see to stop this behaviour is either to turn off the Pop-up Blocker altogether (which seems a bit drastic, although it is possible to replace it with something better) or to add 'www.chesspublishing.com' to the list of allowed sites.
If that wasn't enough, I also bought the new version of ChessBase (9) and not only found it to be somewhat unstable (I have lost count of the number of times it has crashed in the last few days!), but also discovered that a lot of the functions I took for granted had either disappeared, changed, or become buried somewhere!
Anyway, I have reverted to using my trusty ChessBase 7, and will further experiment with the new version when I have plenty of free time (and lots of patience)!
All the games are now available to download to the right, but to just have the October '04 Flank Openings games directly in PGN form click here: 
I have also bought Hiarcs 9 on the advice of Mickey Adams, who thinks that it is positionally stronger than the other programs, and it has helped me analyse half the games, for the other half I used Fritz!
English Opening
1...e5
[A29]: Sharp 4...Bb4 theory in Schacher,G - Maki Uuro,M featuring the long mainline starting 9 f3:
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and then Zaitzev's 9...e3.
1...c5
[A31]: In the sharp 4...e5!? line, I mentioned that here:
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10 Na3 was the best move, and this was tried in Horvath, J - Basagic, Z, after which Black tried his best to refute it, but quickly went wrong in the complications - in my notes you can see how Black could have given White real problems.
[A33]: Also in a previous update I stated that in the diagram position:
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the best move is 8...Nfg4!, and this is borne out in Smirin, I - Holzke, F where White did well not to lose.
[A37]: Here is the aforementioned game where I followed Tony Miles' moves that he played against me, but with colours reversed! In Kosten, A - Ivanov, J I tried the 6 d4!? pawn sac and it worked a treat. My opinion of this line is that it is a good surprise weapon, but no more, as Black has plenty of good defences - he just has to be able to remember them!
1...Nf6 & others
[A18]: I never thought i would see the diagram position again after my game against Dizdar (see the archives):
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long-time subscribers will remember that my opponent played the novelty 12...Bxh2+! and achieved a good position. However, in Smirin, I - Kulaots, K White followed this anyway, and Black tried something new, although I don't know why!
Réti
[A11]: Can White stop Black from playing ...d5 with 3 Qa4 ?
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Only temporarily, it seems, and in Hentunen, A - Fressinet, L White was horribly mangled - normal opening development rules also apply to Flank Openings!
[A12]: Rotstein, A - Dogantug, I features some sharp Réti play with a quick e4 from White.
[A14]: Remember the weird 6 Ne5!? from last month?
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Well, I tried it myself in Turkey, but soon regretted it and happily accepted my opponent's draw offer! See Kosten, A - Horvath, C for a dull Grandmaster draw!
Bird's Opening
Young French star Fressinet gives a lesson in positional play to his hapless opponent in Rasidovic, S - Fressinet, L!
e-mails
Please feel free to share any of your thoughts with me, whatever they are, suggestions, criticisms (just the polite ones, please), etc. Drop me a line at the Flank Openings Forum, or subscribers can write directly to tonykosten@chesspublishing.com
Till next month, Tony K