Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: A tricky opening: 1.Nc3

Dick van Geet

In Over-the-Board play Dirk (Dick) van Geet (March 1, 1932 - April 29, 2012) was an International Master who became Dutch Junior Champion in 1952 and later played several times in the prestigious and strong Hoogoven tournament.

In correspondence chess Van Geet was even stronger and managed to become a Grandmaster. Among his notable successes are his first place in the "NBC-Volmac" tournament that was played from 1983 to 1986, and his first place in the ICCF-tournament "40 Jahre BdF" that took place from 1986-1992.

Van Geet's specialty was the move 1.Nc3!? which brought him a number of remarkable wins, in OTB-play and in correspondence chess. Here are two examples:

In his show Robert Ris takes a look at this opening and recommends how to play against it. He writes:

Although the move 1.Nc3 is rarely seen at top level, the Van Geet opening remains a popular choice for games with shorter time controls. Club players also still seem to enjoy this flexible move, as an unprepared Black player could easily be tricked with move-orders because at several moments both sides have possibilities returning to familiar 1.e4 and 1.d4 territory. However, Black shouldn't take matters too easily. The late Dick van Geet played some very interesting miniatures with his favorite move. He once gave a lecture at my local club in Amstelveen, showing us some of his trickery weapons. As a 10 year old boy I felt pretty impressed with all his ideas, but now I'm able to demonstrate you the best way for Black to handle this off-beat opening system.

Know the Terrain Vol. 5: The Philidor Structure

The Philidor structure (White pawns on d4 and e4, Black pawns on d6 and e5), is a fundamental position in the open games. In his new training course, IM Sam Collins shows you just how much explosive power is packed into this apparently simple structure.

But first a warm-up exercise: Black has tried to get rid of the pressure on the knight on f6 by moving it to h5. Can White exploit the position of the knight on the rim?

Move the pieces on the live diagram!

This week's show

The complex Najdorf

When choosing an opening repertoire, there are days when you want to play for a win with Black, when you want to bear down on your opponent’s position with a potentially crushing attack. The Najdorf is perfect for just such occasions. Strategy, combinations, attack and defence, sacrifices and marvellous manoeuvres — exciting chess is all about the Najdorf!

Robert is on air every other Thursday at 17:00 UTC (19:00 CEST / 15:00 EST)

Watch previous shows

Extreme Calculation Training

Special attention will be paid to Intermediate Moves, Quiet Moves, Sacrifices on Empty Squares, Mating Patterns, Ignoring Opponents Threat, Calculation in Defence and Method of Comparison. Plus 50 interactive examples to test your knowledge.

Many more Fast and Furious episodes are available in ChessBase Videos

Links

• All DVDs by IM Robert Ris
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