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Tournament Talk |
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The Jackson Open & K - 12 Scholastic Open: New Kids on The Block |
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By Sam Smith, President |
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Southwest Minnesota Chess |
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Yermolinsky in Iowa The Hawkeye State Gives a Warm Welcome to the 2-Time U.S. Champion at the 2009 Okoboji Open (Photos by Mark Derby) How do you get a top grandmaster to come to a small chess tournament in rural Iowa? Try picking up the telephone! That was the reasoning of John Flores, a tournament director from the small northwest Iowa city of Sibley. The Okoboji Open had shown surprisingly strong attendance in its first two years, but Flores and tournament organizer Jodene Kruse knew it needed something special to take it to the next level. So he placed a call to Alex Yermolinsky who, along with his wife Camilla Baginskaite and children, had moved to nearby Sioux Falls, South Dakota in late 2007. After talking with John, who could promise little more than lodging, meals, and a simul, Alex graciously agreed to appear without a fee, as a way to promote chess in the region. Risky Business Okoboji ('oak-oh-bo-gee') is one of a group of cities in northwest Iowa linked together by a chain of lakes. It is called The Iowa Great Lakes Region, and it's one of the hottest tourist destinations in the upper Midwest. The Okoboji Open had been a 1-day, 4-round tournament; just one of several events held during the busy Okoboji Winter Games in January. To make it into a major tournament, it would have to become a full-blown weekend competition with more rounds, longer time controls, and a much larger prize fund. That would mean increasing entry fees and finding more sponsors. It would also mean attracting new competitors to a tournament that was just getting established. In uncertain economic times, would players be willing to add another tournament to their schedules, even with a well-known GM playing and giving a simul? With a little over a month to go, things looked less than hopeful. Only two players had pre-registered, sponsors were few and far between, and with the top five prizes all guaranteed, jokes about "needing a bailout" were being told! Then, the registrations slowly started to come in. And sponsors, some of them unlikely ones, began to appear with the needed funding. By the time the first pawn was pushed on Friday night, April 24th, 41 players had registered and John Flores' calculated gamble was a success.
The Players While Grandmaster Yermolinsky was the heavy favorite to walk away with sole possession of First Place and the guaranteed $300, there were several experienced masters and 'young guns' hoping to have some say in that. Iowa players Tim McEntee, James Ellis, and Mitch Weiss were all rated 2200 or higher while fellow Iowan Petros "Pete" Karagianis and Minnesotan Okechukwu Iwu were just under the Master rating. They were joined by Experts Dane Mattson (WI), Daniel Olim (NV), Robert Keating (IA), and Matthew Dahl (MN) and half-a-dozen players with ratings in the 1900's. A tough gauntlet of hungry competitors, but could anyone stop "The Yerminator"?
The Simul The tournament used a 2 or 3-day playing option with a 1-point bye available. Several players took a bye, including Yermolinsky, who needed to fit the simul into his playing schedule. He used it in the second round, as those playing the 2-day option were getting caught up to the rest of the field. Playing a simul during a tournament can be a hazardous proposition, as Capablanca discovered at Moscow in 1925 when a simul against 35 strong players in Leningrad on his rest day preceded losses to two minor Russian masters. In this case, Yermolinsky's task wasn't as tough as Capablanca's, with 7 players, and he turned in a solid performance, winning all of his games. Robert Keating had a winning position in his game but fell victim to a queenside mating attack while tournament director Hank Anzis put up a tough fight for 42 moves before resigning.
[White "Alex Yermolinsky"]
With the simul behind him, two points on the score table, and three rounds to go, Alex sat down to play one of Minnesota's brightest young chess stars, 15-year old Expert Matthew Dahl. Minnesota has a long and rich chess history, and Matthew, a student of respected IM Victor Adler, seems destined to add to it. However, it wouldn't be today. [White "Alex Yermolinsky"] Yermolinsky's next opponent was Pete Karagianis, probably the strongest young player in Iowa. The game turned out to be a little more interesting than expected, with Karagianis coming out a bishop up for two pawns going into a pawn endgame! Yermolinsky kept his cool in a game he could only hope to draw and in the end, aided by Karagianis' time trouble, showed his mettle by doing just that.
[White "Alex Yermolinsky"]
For Yermolinsky, the draw meant First Place was still possible but that he might have to share that honor with Karagianis. And he had another problem. Sitting at 4 - 0 and playing White would be his final opponent, 6-time Iowa Chess Champion, Mitch Weiss. Weiss wouldn't be intimidated facing a grandmaster and he would not be easy to beat. Yermolinsky brought out the Sicilian for a game he had to win, left the book on the 4th move, and produced a workman-like victory against tenacious play by Weiss.
The Best of the Rest Meanwhile, Karagianis was facing the dark horse of the tournament, veteran Master James Ellis. Ellis had just won a great game against Iwu, finishing with a problem-like mate. Ellis had the experience edge, but Karagianis would not be denied.
[White "Pete Karagianis"]
Tournament Wrap-up For Pete Karagianis, the 2009 Okoboji Open will always be remembered as the tournament where he got a draw against a 2-time U.S. Champion, finished in a tie for First Place, and once again topped a 2200 rating. For Alex Yermolinsky, it will be remembered as the time he helped jump-start a promising young chess tournament and energized dozens of players with his great performance, professionalism, and lessons from a lifetime of top-level chess. In fact, the experience was so positive that Alex has committed to come again next April and will encourage other GM's to do likewise. And the Iowa State Chess Association has already cleared the calendar to make room for the Okoboji Open's new time slot in April. Because of the always unpredictable Iowa winters and the fact that hotel rooms are at a premium during the Okoboji Winter Games, the move from January to April, just before the start of the tourist season, is actually a good thing for the Okoboji Open. John Flores and Jodene Kruse will be the first to mention that the Okoboji Open would not exist without the strong support of the IASCA. With much of Iowa's chess activity taking place in the southern half of the state, the IASCA leadership recognizes the value of having a large, nationally-known tournament in northern Iowa. Tournament director Hank Anzis, players Ron Nurmi, and Jason Juett, and many other IASCA members have supported the Okoboji Open since its beginning. And the single largest cash donation to this year's ambitious tournament came from IASCA President Tim McEntee. With strong backing from its state chess association, a great playing site at beautiful Arrowood Resort, and the positive feedback from this year's field of competitors, The Okoboji Open promises many more years of great chess competition.
"The Dynamic Duo of Iowa Chess" They'll never be mistaken for Batman and Robin, but Jodene Kruse and John B. Flores have impressed the Iowa and Minnesota chess communities with their enthusiasm and work ethic. And they're just getting started!
One remarkable lady... She just may be the smartest, funniest, and most energetic promoter of chess you will ever meet. She's Jodene Kruse and she is the founder and driving force behind The Okoboji Open. What makes her story as a chess organizer so impressive is the fact that she only recently became involved in USCF chess. In 2006, Jodene, who was playing chess mostly on the internet, saw that a nearby town was holding a USCF tournament. With a little nervousness, she signed up......and ended up with 2 1/2 points out of a possible 4! She also met John Flores, who was assisting with the directing duties, and learned about chess activities in Iowa from the tournament co-winner, veteran Iowa Chess Expert, Ron Deike. Within a few days, Jodene had the first Okoboji Open already its final planning stages! Jodene was working with kids in an after-school chess program at the time and so she was determined to include a scholastic section at the first Okoboji Open, which ended up with a combined attendance of 45. (That scholastic tournament remains a part of the Okoboji Winter Games.) Later, when she relocated to Sibley, she started a scholastic chess program through that city's recreation department. She also started a chess club which meets at a local pizza place almost every Sunday afternoon and has had some good turnouts for skittles and informal tournaments. As the number of players increases, future plans include rated quads as well as weekend tournaments. Her latest project is to try to introduce chess in the schools of some of the smaller towns around Sibley. In addition to her activities as a chess teacher, chess organizer, and president of the Sibley Chess Club, Jodene also serves on the board of Southwest Minnesota Chess, a privately-funded non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of chess in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa. Despite all of the time she gives to others for chess, Jodene is still one dangerous opponent to face in OTB tournament play. She's aggressive, with a good eye for combinations, and any opponent who looks at her modest rating and thinks they will have an easy game will only think that once! She's won some tough games, including a 5-hour battle at the 2006 Governor's Cup in Sioux Falls, and had some disappointing 'near wins' against much-higher rated competition. Once she settles on an opening repertoire and gains some more USCF experience, watch out! One opponent that Jodene faces, and defeats, every day is cerebral palsy. It didn’t stop her from attending college, it didn’t stop of her from going with her church group to help flood victims in central Iowa last summer, and it certainly isn’t going to stop her from playing, teaching, and promoting the game she loves. Her dream for the Okoboji Open is that one day it will become as big and well-known as South Dakota's Governor's Cup Tournaments of the past, and she just might make it happen!
A Passion for Chess...and helping kids John B. Flores' journey from the tip of southern Texas to a small Iowa city has been a long and interesting one. However, after hearing him talk of the wonderful things that chess can bring to young people, based on his experience in Texas as a paid scholastic chess coach, it's no surprise that he wants to share that with others. After moving to Mankato, Minnesota in 2005, John immediately began to revive chess in that university city. He started a chess website for the region, and began promoting and directing USCF tournaments. John also volunteered his time to teach chess to elementary school children. He met some other tournament directors and players in southern Minnesota and eventually began to work with the Minnesota State Chess Association, redesigning their website. When a job opportunity brought him to Sibley, Iowa with his wife and children in 2008, he found that Jodene Kruse had moved back to Sibley, her hometown. Combining their talents and drive to promote chess, they have introduced some innovative ideas. In June, John arranged to have the Denker Scholastic Boy's State Champions from Minnesota and Iowa, Michael Yang and Matt Anzis, come to Mt. Lake, Minnesota to teach at a 1/2 day chess camp for a dozen kids. All proceeds from the camp were then combined with donations from Southwest Minnesota Chess, Mt. Lake chess coach Dr. Steve Harder, and Dr. W. James Wilde, and both Michael and Matt received $250 checks to help with expenses when they attend the Denker tournament in August. Plans are now in place to make this unique, fund-raising camp an annual event. John's attractive and well-designed website (www.fiorechess.org) serves the tri-state region of Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota and includes national and international chess news to attract an even wider audience. While respectful of others opinions, John doesn't shy away from controversy on his website. However, his views on chess topics are thoughtful and well-framed. Along with the website of Southwest Minnesota Chess (www.swmnchess.org), it provides information of upcoming tournaments and other chess-related news for players in the region. It is some measure of the success of John and the other members of Southwest Minnesota Chess that their service area is now represented by two websites when just a few years ago, a single chess website would have seemed like overkill! As for his playing, John is currently rated in the 1500's, but he has beaten more than one Class A player in recent tournaments, including having one of the biggest upsets at this year's Okoboji Open. A solid endgame player who can hold his own in tactical battles, his games are never dull and he truly enjoys the competition and camaraderie that chess offers, be it internet chess, OTB tournament chess, or casual play with his friends. John has been a major driving force in the growth of chess in SW Minnesota and NW Iowa and any future success will undoubtedly involve his determination to turn good ideas into action. |
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Elementary, My Dear Wood Pusher! One of the first things that every serious chess player should master are the elementary checkmates. I'm not talking about back-rank mates, smothered mates, etc., I'm talking about those most basic, 'bare-bones' mates involving Q+K vs. K, R+K vs. K, B+B+K vs. K, the dreaded B+N+K vs. K, and yes, even the N+N+K vs. K+p "Once-in-a-Hundred-Chess-Careers" mate. Now everyone agrees that mastery of the queen mate and rook mate are absolutely necessary. After all, rook endgames occur as often as all other endgames combined while the queen often survives to the endgame, not to mention all of those 'new' queens that come about through pawn promotion. Since some players refuse to resign even when their naked king faces a queen or rook (I once had both against a Class B player who refused to give up), and since stalemate possibilities always exist, knowing how to efficiently drive the enemy king to the edge of the board and deliver mate is undeniably essential. However, is it really necessary to spend time mastering those other mates? Can't we just look at an example or two of each and leave it at that? Don't we have better things to spend our time on? Certainly a lot of strong chess players, including masters and grandmasters,(i.e. Lev Alburt - see Nov. '09 Chess Life) think that way. Why spend time and effort on something that you will probably never see in actual play? First of all, the venerable Dr. Tarrasch (in The Game of Chess) says that learning the B+N+K vs. K mate is important because "it occurs fairly frequently" (p. 40). And I seem to remember a certain USCF Life Master writing in a Chess Life article about the time he had to deliver on the even rarer two-bishop mate in a tournament and wasn’t sure that he could!!! I'm sorry, but mating someone with two bishops is easy; no experienced chess player should ever have trouble with that. And actually, doesn't professional pride start to enter into the picture at some point? I can't remember all the details of the story but I believe it was either Botninnik or Alekhine who, after hearing of a grandmaster who was unable to perform the bishop and knight mate during a game, became so angry that he roared that any grandmaster who couldn't do that should be summarily stripped of his title!! As for the "I have better things to spend my time on." argument...PALEEEEZ!! No one's chess time is so precious and structured that they can't take a little bit of it to practice how to deliver all of the elementary mates in a crisp and efficient manner. Actually, I recently had the challenge of executing the Q+K vs. K mate during a blitz game with just a few ticks left on my analog clock and was glad I knew 'the shortest distance between two points'...so to speak! In fact, even if you comfort yourself with the know- ledge that you'll probably never be embarrassed by not being able to deliver on those other elementary mates, imagine having to settle for a draw in a Q+K vs. K or R+K vs. K ending because you blundered your way around the board and ran out of time or produced a stalemate. I also wonder how anyone ever thinks they will be able to calculate a long variation involving many pieces when they can't even plan how to deliver a simple checkmate! Don’t you think that being able to 'herd' the enemy king to the edge of the board with minor pieces just might be good practice in learning how to coordinate their actions and developing combinative skills, as well? I think there are really three reasons most chess players don't master all of the basic mates: 1.) Laziness, 2.) They aren't exactly exciting, 3.) The B+N+K vs. K mate can be frustrating to master. Unfortunately, taking the 'cafeteria' approach to chess training always seems to come back to bite us in the butt (Just ask me {re rook endings}, after the 2009 Catfish Days tournament!). As for finding someone to practice against, the ever-ready chess computer is an excellent resource. Besides, how many other times are you going to get to legitimately checkmate Fritz or some other grandmaster-strength program at its highest level?! Which brings up a little story. Between rounds of the aforementioned Catfish Days tournament this year, I happened to sit down at a picnic table with Lynn Adams. I've known Lynn as a chess player for many years as he was part of "the usual group of suspects(!)" who attended many of the Willmar Team Tournaments. As we were chatting, Nate Hoover, who I had never been formally introduced to, joined us and we started talking about a number of chess topics. For some strange reason, the subject of the B+N+K vs. K mate came up and we discussed whether or not it was worthwhile to master it. After a few minutes, I got up to leave but just mentioned in passing (and demonstrated on my tournament board) that simply placing the bishop and knight next to each other diagonally in the center of the board ( i.e. B at d4, N at e5) produces a ‘fence’ (b6, c6, c5, c4, c3, d3, e3, f3, f2) which should make it relatively easy to confine the enemy king to one part of the board. I didn’t say I could easily execute the mate, just that it wasn’t as difficult as most chess players think. Well, that was all the incentive Lynn needed! The next thing I know, he has me facing off against Nate, a master-strength player, in a little game of “Can the life-time ‘C’ player checkmate one of the strongest chess players in Minnesota using only bishop and knight, in 50 moves or less?”! I obviously could have backed out of the deal, especially since I hadn’t exactly volunteered and I hadn’t practiced the mate in some time, but I felt my pride was challenged and had only one honorable course; put my money where my mouth was. I told Nate to place the pieces anywhere he wanted to on the board, and with Lynn counting down my 50 moves, we began. I moved the knight and bishop toward the middle of the board and set up a ‘fence’. I then began to slowly move my king into position so I could force his king back into the a8 corner. Then I hit a problem; I couldn’t force Nate’s king back! He just moved it back and forth between two squares and I had to be careful not to let him escape as I repositioned one of my minor pieces. Eventually I figured out what to do and got him onto the ‘a’ file. The checkmating square would be a1. Even though I now had him on the edge of the board, there was still the point in the process, about half-way down the file, where he could choose to make a break for freedom. If he got away, I was toast, since I had wasted several moves earlier. Sure enough, he went for it, instead of being dragged kicking and screaming down the ‘a’ file. Years before, I had been extremely frustrated at practicing this part of the process because the king would always get away, but later I had found the right way to stop the escape in one of my chess books. Chris Olsen happened to be walking by about then, saw what I was doing, and gave his approval; he was familiar with the mate. I got Nate back onto the 'a' file and played out the checkmate. Job done! I had completed the mate with something like 5 moves to spare. Not exactly the height of efficiency (it should take something like 35 moves), but I’ll take it! We all got a chuckle out of the deal and Nate was a good sport to go along with it. Now we just have to figure out a good challenge for Lynn! Take care. |
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The Scandinavian Defense (Marshall Gambit)
A few words of explanation and apology are in order since the last part of this series appeared about a year(!) ago. Shortly after the 2009 Okoboji Open in April, I had the idea of submitting a write-up of that tournament to Chess Life magazine. Mark Derby had taken some great pictures at the tournament and thanks to some indispensable help from John Flores, who acted as my editor and contact person with the Chess Life editor, I managed to put together what I thought was a pretty good article for the magazine. Since all magazines have their own formats, additional work (and time) went into changing things to meet their requirements. Unfortunately, all of that effort did not result in a published article (that’s another story!!) but between that, a major ’writers’ block’ for me on this part of the Scandinavian Defense series, and some ‘minor’ things like my wife having a rollover accident, me losing my job, and a busy summer with my son and his family from Germany visiting us, I neglected getting this fourth part done in a timely manner. Please excuse my lapse.
Part 4 Icelandic-Palme Variation
Let me begin by giving credit (or blame!) for this variation's odd name to Eric Schiller, who christened it in his Unorthodox Chess Openings . In fact, he gives considerable space to this variation and so if you decide to play it, I suggest you check out his book, which I highly recommend in any case. Because of the strong attack that Black obtains with 3. ...c6 if White tries to hold his extra pawn (Part 2 of this series), it seems unnecessary to have another tool to face 3. c4 with. However, as mentioned in Part 2, it is also possible for White to transpose into the Panov-Botvinnik Attack in answer to 3. ...c6 by playing 4. d4 instead of 4. d x c. Since The Panov-Botvinnik Attack was once considered the refutation of the solid Caro-Kann Defense, some players might not want to face it. Hence, the justification for the Icelandic-Palm Gambit. The Icelandic-Palme Variation uses the same general idea of meeting 3. c4 with a pawn sacrifice that develops a piece; 3. ...e6, 4. d x e B x e. A check of the chess databases shows that this variation is fairly popular, unlike the Kiel Variation, covered in Part 3. And what is particularly interesting is its success rate: With its characteristic third move, Black had more wins in the CM9000 database than White! (White-57 wins, Black-66 wins, Draws-41). Another interesting feature is the large number of 'miniatures' resulting from this variation...from both sides of the board. In other words, it's not only sharp, it's double-edged! (Or it hypnotizes players into making mistakes!)
Let's take a look at a few of those to get a feel for this variation. These all come from the Chess Master 9000 database:
Erling Mortensen Throstur Thorhallsson (Denmark) (Iceland) ELO - 2440 ELO - 2335
Gausdal, Norway 1987
1. e4 d5 2. e x d Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. d x e B x e 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d4 Bb4 ck 7. Nc3 Ne4 8. Bd2 N x B 9. Q x N Qe7 10. Qe3 0-0-0 11. 0-0-0 R(h)e8 12. d5 B x N 13. Q x B Nb4 14. Qe5 N x a ck 15. Kb1 Nb4 16. Be2 B x d 17. Q x Q R x Q 18. R(h)e1 Be4 ck 19. Kc1 Na2 mate
It's not too often that one finds queen-side castling by both players, nor someone with an ELO rating over 2400 getting checkmated in under 20 moves! Note that White was able to play 6. d4, unlike in the 3. ...c6 variation, but that 6. ...Bb4 ck probably makes him wish he hadn't! ****************************************************************************************** Here's another short game where Black emerges triumphant:
Vajda Levente J Conlon (Romania) (England)
ELO - 2105
World Championship Girls Under-12 Bratislava, Slovakia 1993
1. e4 d5 2. e x d Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. d x e B x e 5. d4 Bb4 ck 6. Bd2 Qe7 7. Qe2 Nc6 8. Nf3 B x B ck 9. N(b) x B 0-0-0 10. 0-0-0 N x d 11. N x N R x N 12. Qe5 R(h)d8 13. Be2 Qb4 14. a3 Qa4 15. Qc5 R x N 16. R x R R x R 17. Bd1 Qa6 18. resigns
Did I say that queen-side castling by both players was rare? Apparently not in this variation! The move ...Qe7 is common after Black checks with his king's bishop in response to White's d4 and White interposes, usually with his bishop. In addition to supporting the bishop, it's obvious threat of discovered check gives White one more thing to think about. ****************************************************************************************** The Icelandic-Palme Variation can even defeat the famous, especially when wielded by an Icelander!
Sofia Polgar David Olafsson (Hungary) (Iceland)
ELO - 2320 ELO - 2285
Reykjavik, 1988
1. e4 d5 2. e x d Nf6 3. c4 e6 4. d x e B x e 5. d4 Bb4 ck 6. Bd2 B x B ck 7. Q x B Qe7 8. Qe2 Nc6 9. Nf3 0-0-0 10. Nc3 N x d 11. N x N R x N 12. Qe3 Qd7 13. Rd1 R x R ck 14. N x R Re8 15. Qd2 Bc4 ck 16. Ne3 Q x Q ck 17. K x Q B x a 18. Bd3 Be6 19. Ra1 a6 20. Ra4 Rd8 21. Ke2 g6 22. g4 h5 23. g5 Nd5 24. N x N R x N 25. f4 Bd7 26. resigns
Black wins two pawns with almost ridiculous ease, and White doesn't even manage to get castled, queen-side or king-side! It would be interesting to ask all of the players of the White pieces in the database games how many of them were expecting 3. ...c6 in answer to their 3. c4 and were then planning on playing the Panov-Botvinnik Attack. If you're getting the feeling that this variation is worth looking into further, you're not alone! ******************************************************************************************
However, White can't always be expected to lose against the Icelandic-Palme Variation and sometimes can win a few miniatures, too!
White plays it 'close to the vest', not advancing his d-pawn until the ninth move. Even so, Black does manage to launch a dangerous attack, but then stumbles on his 20th move. Already up by a pawn, and the exchange, White threatens to gain two minor pieces for his queen rook and then exchange Queens for an easy endgame win. Black wisely resigns. ******************************************************************************************
[Event "Open"] ******************************************************************************************
[Event "Olympiad"] One of the marks of a true master is to allow oneself to be 'forced' to make moves you actually want to make! This increases the chance your opponent will be less wary, since they think it is they who are controlling the action. White's 15th move contains two threats but Black only notices the obvious one. Black's 19th and 20th moves quickly bring about his own demise. Black seemed to be determined to play the Icelandic-Palme Gambit like the Marshall Gambit; restraining White's backward d-pawn and then attacking it. To paraphrase Dr. John "I was in the right defense, but I must have used the wrong plan."!! ******************************************************************************************
Obviously, not every game in this variation only lasts 25 moves (or less)! Positional considerations include the fact that Black loses both his d and e pawns, allowing him two open files for his heavy pieces but also raising the possibility of White dominating the center. Another possibility is the fact that, unlike the Marshall Gambit's 3. ...c6, the move 3. ...e6 does not make queenside castling for Black particularly dangerous. This may explain why it seems to be so popular in this variation, in addition to the fact that it quickly brings a rook onto the d-file. That being said, the fact that Black sacrifices a pawn means that rapid development of pieces and tactics are still foremost in Black's planning.
[Event "Ch Yugoslavia"] ******************************************************************************************
We'll conclude our study of the Icelandic-Palme Variation with a game that starts out by the book and then concludes with a nice positional 'grind-out' in the endgame, forcing resignation.
[Event "Open"]
******************************************************************************************
The question of whether or not to use the Icelandic-Palme Variation comes down to a number of factors. If the Scandinavian Defense is only your secondary or 'fall-back' KP defense, it might be hard to justify becoming proficient in both the Marshall and Icelandic-Palme Gambits, particularly because not everyone you play will try to hold the extra pawn with 3. c4. Ideally, if you use the Caro-Kann as your main KP defense and are confident in facing the Panov-Botvinnik Attack, the Marshall Gambit will be all you need to master in the Scandinavian. On the other hand, if the Scandinavian is your main KP defense, then it might be worthwhile to tackle both. I think the right course is to probably use the Marshall Gambit against lower-rated players (U1800) and the Icelandic-Palme Variation against higher-rated players who might be licking their chops to transpose into the Panov-Botvinnik. The surprise value, as well as the looks on their faces alone, will probably be worth playing 3. ...e6. In the end, it really boils down to whether or not you enjoy playing it, because as these and other games have shown, the Icelandic-Palme has been used by, and defeated, some high-ranking players. It is not a gimmick or a cheap trap but rather a dangerous weapon available to Black. |
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