Novice moves - Black blocks his c-pawn with an early Nc6

[vulturesrow]

First off, Rudel if you are reading, I just got your book in the mail today from amazon and I absolutely love it. Its great work. I balked initially when I saw the price but I think I am going to say its money well spent.

So here was the move order at the beginning:

1. d4 d5
2. Nf3 Nc6

I basically went ahead with the normal CZ development plan...but I feel like I shouldve made a stronger move to exploit the fact that his c pawn was blocked by his Knight... 3. c4 perhaps?

Hope this isnt too trivial a question...

[Rudel]

(03-03-2010 03:59 PM)vulturesrow Wrote:  First off, Rudel if you are reading, I just got your book in the mail today from amazon and I absolutely love it. Its great work. I balked initially when I saw the price but I think I am going to say its money well spent.

So here was the move order at the beginning:

1. d4 d5
2. Nf3 Nc6

I basically went ahead with the normal CZ development plan...but I feel like I shouldve made a stronger move to exploit the fact that his c pawn was blocked by his Knight... 3. c4 perhaps?

Hope this isnt too trivial a question...

Hi there, not too trivial a question at all!

First, let me say that I'm glad you liked the book. For what it's worth, Amazon USED to discount it by 10%, so i put the price at 27.99. The idea was that Amazon would then sell it for 25.19 or so, which they did for a long time. The point is that it then qualified for free shipping, so you not only saved the money for shipping but could get any other books you might want at the same time without paying shipping.

Unfortunately, after I put in the last revision, Amazon did not discount it. I was considering moving the price back down to 25.00...but then I was concerned Amazon would discount it, knocking it below that 25 dollar line.

Anyways, I'm glad you decided to get it; I hope you find it worth the money.

Regarding your second question, there is a good way to get an advantage after Black blocks in his c-pawn. Indeed, you might pick up (after reading a bit more) how it makes sense for White to try to do something a bit different because the C-Z is somewhat built to make Black's ...c5 move look unuseful.

In this particular case, I advocate waiting for Black to move out his Q-Bishop [he almost certainly will do this soon] and then playing Bb5 because Black has no good way of defending his Knight from capture.

You can read more about this in the book. It is section 4 of chapter 11: Chigorin play. I use the somewhat more challenging move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 d5 3.e3 Nc6, but the same basic idea holds (it should transpose in fact).

[vulturesrow]

Rudel,

Thanks. Obviously I havent had a chance to read closely and so missed that section. I will say in spite of the fact that I didnt perhaps get the optimal move order in I still managed to get a really strong attack going on the kingside. Unfortunately I caught the equivalent of what poker players call "fancy play syndrome" and ended up dropping some material by trying to be fancy and miscalculating instead of just taking a straightforward material advantage. I might post it in the game forum if I can get over the shame.

Thanks for the answers and I think its great to have this forum where we can discuss the book and the opening. Its very nice for a low rated player like myself to be able to ask seemingly trivial questions like I did.

[Rudel]

You're very welcome. Glad to have you here!

[Sicilian]

Hi Rudel I have Zuke em & Moment of Zuke really enjoying them,lotta reading to get thru.After d4d5Nf3NF6e3Nc6Bb5couldn’t the game just continue a6Ba4b5and white has to retreat his bishop?Regards from the Sicilian

[Rudel]

That's why I suggest a waiting move...White first waits for Black to commit his Bishop.

White should play 4.Nbd2 and plan to follow up with Bb5 after 4...Bg4 or 4...Bf5

See section 4 of chapter 11 [of "Zuke Em"] for details, especially regarding the continuation 4...a6.