Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/08/20 23:18I read "A Complete Defense for Black" my GM Keene and IM Jacobs, a book which recommended 1...Nc6 against all first moves! Aside from being more "up-to-date", how does your book differ from the one above?
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/08/29 23:48I just checked out the Table of Contents, and can report the following:
1 e4 Nc6 2 d4
Keene and Jacobs: 2...e5
Wisnewski: 2...d5
1 d4
Keene and Jacobs: 1...Nc6 2 c4 e5
Wisnewski: 1...d5 (Question: How come the book is titled 1...Nc6 when Black doesn't even play 1...Nc6 against 1 d4? The title of the book is misleading!)
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/08/30 08:33Only a little. The sypnosis of the book reveals that I am advocating the Chigorin Defence, so this should not come as a total surprise.
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/08/30 23:23Some buyers of your book might (mistakenly, in this case) believe that the book is actually about 1...Nc6. But almost half of the book is NOT about 1...Nc6! The title is extremely misleading and should be changed at once!
BTW, I'm not claiming that you (the author) or your publisher are trying to pull a fast one...I just don't think that either you or the publisher thought carefully enough about the title.
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/09/19 19:51Here is where I start to appreciate Spanish ortography which makes a difference between: ¡Play 1...Nc6! and Play 1...Nc6! The title, of course, has to be a bit commercial and this one looks more honest than "Win with anything!" sort of. This defence is generally played by the (much) stronger player to avoid a deep preparation of the other side. That explains its outstanding statistic of some variations in databases. As for myself, I am not against the move and play it against the programs sometimes. It's just one tempo down compared with 1.Nc3 which I play against humans. I call the latter "The Romanian Opening" because it was extensively analysed by a former Romanian Champion (and my first coach). Bellon, who played it quite a lot also learned it in Romania (from the author). They called it Dunst, although I could not find that player in any main line. The first game won against a GM (by an IM) is Suba-Lengyel, Varna 1975. The same fate has another defense initiated by Capablanca (as child), analysed by the same trainer (G.Alexandrescu) and popularized by the author, to the point that Nogueiras, M. Gurevich, Gelfand and Karpov played it, and was called "Fort Knox"! (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2/c3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bd7!?) Nowadays, its expert is a former club colleague, Rustemov. Comming back to 1...Nc6 or "The Nimzovich/Bogoliubow", the critical lines are: 1.e4 (d4) Nc6 2.d4 (e4) d5 3.Nc3! and 1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3!? d6 3.Bb5! where now: -3...e5 is the old Steinitz Variation in Ruy Lopez. -3...a6 is scoring very well in the database (Mega 2007), but the only relevant game is of GM Rogers against a 300-less-ELO opponent (and draw!) -3...Bg4 where Milov won a (blitz) game with Black, after being a pawn down. Returning to old variations is not appetising. It's true that I'm fond of transpositions, but only the ones used for gain, not for refuge. If the author provides sound analyses in these variation (and I think that would be the right thing to concentrate on), than the book is an explosively good investment for a large range of players. The logic behind such provoking moves in the opening is a latent energy, which I call "dynamic potential". Besides the surprise factor and the motivation of their player, a "trench principle" gives such openings a good chance, and even better against Thomases!. Of my play against various defences, the less enviable is against Owen, just because I once was told by an authority: "You don't have to prepare against such openings". An opening like "Sicilian Chamaleon" appears in Joel Benjamin's "Unortodox Openings" although it'a a completely normal Sicilian, just catching the Najdorf/Scheveningen fans in offside by move order and transpositions. Most of my games in "chessgames.com" are classified under "other" Are "English" (transposing to QG, Karo-Kan or whatever you like), "Modern Benoni" and "The Hedgehog" other openings? Shall I play either "Petrov" or the King's Gambit" to be considered a serious player? Without any praise to unorthodox openings: do you remember Karpov-Miles? (1.e4 a6). Advanced (>1900 ELO or equivalent) players can find more things on breaking with classic dogma, in my book "Dynamic Chess Strategy" http://menssana.co.uk
For those interested in an opening repertoire that is unorthodox, aggressive AND sound, my new opening book "Play 1...Nc6!" (Everyman) is out now!
Best regards, IM Christoph Wisnewski
Would anyone happen to have a PGN of the games in this book? I can find some of them in my database and on chessgames.com, but wind up typing in a lot of them by hand... which is taking up a lot of time. (not to even mention trying to type in all the variations in the book... that's probably going to take the rest of my life)
is strongly met by 5...Nb4!, the ideas being ...Qe4+, ...Nxc2+ and ...d3, which cannot all be coped with at once.
In fact, ...Qe4+ and ...d3 can both be prevented with 6 d3, and if 6...Nxc2+ then 7 Qxc2 Qxf3 8 Bg2 Qg4 9 Qxc7 Qd7 10 Qxd7 and 10...Bxd7 11 Bxb7 loses a pawn for Black, while on 10...Kxd7 Black forfeits the castling privilege.
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/10/14 21:17noosphere wrote: From pages 16-17:
1 e4 Nc6 2 f4 d5 3 e5 d4 4 Nf3 Qd5 5 g3
is strongly met by 5...Nb4!, the ideas being ...Qe4+, ...Nxc2+ and ...d3, which cannot all be coped with at once.
In fact, ...Qe4+ and ...d3 can both be prevented with 6 d3, and if 6...Nxc2+ then 7 Qxc2 Qxf3 8 Bg2 Qg4 9 Qxc7 Qd7 10 Qxd7 and 10...Bxd7 11 Bxb7 loses a pawn for Black, while on 10...Kxd7 Black forfeits the castling privilege.<br><br>Post edited by: noosphere, at: 2007/10/14 19:35
Fortunately Black can play much better. After 6 d3 Bg4! both 7 Be2 (or 7 Bg2) Nxc2+ 8 Qxc2 Bxf3 and 7 Nbd2 Qc6! are unpleasant for White.
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/10/15 05:34When an opening becomes popular, there will be others who will study it more (as seen above) and the chain reaction ensues. One move openings can be transposed to another position anyway.
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/11/01 23:13It's Called Nimzowitsch's Opening I believe. I have said before anything is playable but do you really want to hinder any possible queenside pawn advance? The C-Pawn is used often as a Lever and to control the center so your plans will obviously involve something else. Yes You have some central control with the Knight there but you forgo b6 Ba6 ideas, you forget about any regroups with the Knight to c5 forget about Nd7-f8 ... I am not saying not to play it but i am saying to think about what you are doing.
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/11/03 22:03Unlike Raymond Keene's "A Complete Defence for Black", this book doesn't seem to cover playing 1...Nc6 against some of the less common flank openings (like the Bird - 1 f4, the Orangutan/Sokolsky - 1 b4, or the Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack - 1 b3). Any thoughts about playing 1...Nc6 against these unusual openings?
Re:Play 1...Nc6! - 2007/11/03 23:52Chesscat wrote: It's Called Nimzowitsch's Opening I believe. I have said before anything is playable but do you really want to hinder any possible queenside pawn advance? The C-Pawn is used often as a Lever and to control the center so your plans will obviously involve something else. Yes You have some central control with the Knight there but you forgo b6 Ba6 ideas, you forget about any regroups with the Knight to c5 forget about Nd7-f8 ... I am not saying not to play it but i am saying to think about what you are doing. Nimzovich himself used to play (as Black): 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 e6. Like you said, it seems like it's going to be very difficult for Black to generate queenside counterplay. In one game, Nimzovich played ...Na5 at some point so that he could play ...c5 and then return the knight to c6. (The Keene and Jacobs book contains several games in this problematic variation.)
BTW, Keene and Jacobs recommend 1 e4 Nc6 2 d4 e5, avoiding the cramped positons that can arise after 2...d5 and 3...e6.
post new topic
other openings? Shall I play either "Petrov" or the King's Gambit" to be considered a serious player? Without any praise to unorthodox openings: do you remember Karpov-Miles? (1.e4 a6). Advanced (>1900 ELO or equivalent) players can find more things on breaking with classic dogma, in my book "Dynamic Chess Strategy" 
