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1. e4
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B00 King's Pawn Opening. The King's Pawn opening move is both popular and logical. It controls the center, opens lines for both the Queen and the Bishop, and usually leads to an open game in which tactics, rather than slow maneuvering, predominates. |
1 comment
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1... Nf6
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B02 Alekhine Defense. Alekhine successfully introduced this defense in the 1920's and it is still valid today. It avoids major attacking lines by White, while inviting White to overextend in the center. |
1 comment
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2. e5
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B02 Alekhine Defense. This natural move declines to advance with 2.Nc3, which would transpose the game into a Vienna game. |
1 comment
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2... Nd5
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B02 Alekhine Defense / Normal Variation 2.e5 Nd5. This is a 'standard' position in the Alekhine Defense. Black's idea is to entice White to advance pawns, making them targets in need of defending later. After ten years or so, the Alekhine is making a new appearance on the tournament scene. 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 is still considered the most solid for White. |
1 comment
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3. d4
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B02 Alekhine Defense / Normal Variation 2.e5 Nd5. |
2 comments
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3... d6
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B03 Alekhine Defense / Normal Variation 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6. |
1 comment
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4. Nf3
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B04 Alekhine Defense / Modern Variation. The Modern Variation relies on development rather than a pawn assault. |
3 comments
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4... Nc6
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B04 Alekhine Defense / Modern Variation. |
1 comment
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5. c4
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B04 Alekhine Defense / Modern Variation. |
2 comments
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5... Nb6 6. Nc3
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Finally developing the queenside knight, but with the c-pawn not being blockaded in the process. White has a very strong center. |

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6... g6
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Black's plan is to fianchetto the dark squared bishop to counterattack the central squares after the inevitable exchange at e5 or d6. |
1 comment
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7. exd6 cxd6
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7...exd6 8.Be2 Bg4 9.d5 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Ne5 11.O-O Bg7 12.Bf4 Nbxc4 was another possibility |
2 comments
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8. d5
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White gains space and begins to harass the black knight, which buys an extra tempo |

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8... Nb4 9. a3 Na6
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Now it is White's move again and the d4-square has been freed by the earlier pawn maneuvre which gives an excellent opportunity to centralize the white Queen, while also threatening one of Black's pieces at the same time. |

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10. Qd4 f6
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Black's position becomes pretty cramped after the text move, so perhaps 10...Rg8 was worth considering. |
1 comment
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11. Be3
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White centralizes the dark squared bishop and enables the possibility of queenside castling in the future. |

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11... Bg7
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Black is aiming to castle kingside. |

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12. h4
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Creating lots of potential threats for Black down the line. The idea is to combine the pawn thrust h4-h5 with pressure on the g6 square (the FOCAL POINT) with a move like Bd3. |

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12... Nc5
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Black finally finds a great square for the poor knight which started it's journey at g8, and has been forced to move four times due to being harrassed by white pawns. Here it is very strong, as the knight outpost at c5 blockades White's potentially powerful c4 pawn, as well as controlling the key squares b3, d3, e4 and e6! |
3 comments
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13. Rd1
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Avoiding the nasty threat of ...Nb3 |

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