12/7/2011 – "Who doesn't want to get a quick advantage, right out of the gate? In
this entertaining DVD, Nigel Davies explores various types of subterfuge from
openings beginning with 1.e4." In his Chess
Cafe review Steve Goldberg summarises: "Nigel Davies has put together
a compelling array of traps, particularly suited to the club or scholastic player
looking for a couple surprises to carry around in his back pocket.
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Unlock the secrets of one of the most resilient and strategic openings in chess with our comprehensive video course, “The Caro-Kann Defence.”
€69.90
Practical
Traps with 1.e4
By Steve Goldberg
Tricks & Traps, Vol. 1, by GM Nigel Davies (DVD), ChessBase 2010;
Playing Time approximately four hours.
In thirty-one video segments, Davies looks for opening traps that have at least
a reasonable chance of surprising your opponent. He does point out a few tricks
that may work against beginning players, but, as he notes, opening surprises
need to be more sophisticated as the playing level of the opposition increases.
Many of the examples shown here include games involving such names as Fischer,
Kasparov, Capablanca, and the like. So the viewer can be assured that Davies
doesn't select openings so offbeat that they are unlikely to ever come into
play. He has put together a reasonably practical set of traps to spring on unsuspecting
opponents.
A wide variety of openings are utilized for this presentation, including the
Ruy Lopez, Pirc, Italian Game, Caro-Kann, Sicilian, and French, among others.
Davies also spends three segments on the Fried Liver Attack (actually, two on
the Fried Liver, one on the Lolli), popular with scholastic players.
The following game illustrates a frequent theme of Davies. A seemingly minor
change from a normal variation goes unappreciated by the opponent, and …
the trap is sprung!
This game involves the Two Knights variation of the Caro-Kann, but as Davies
notes, "If Black thinks it's a regular Caro-Kann, he can end up in a heap
of trouble." Davies's comments are included.
[Event "NED tour sim"] [Site "Netherlands"] [Date "1908.??.??"] [Round "?"]
[White "Lasker, Emanuel"] [Black "Radsheer"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "B11"] [Annotator
"Friedel,Frederic"] [PlyCount "25"] [EventDate "1908.??.??"] [EventType "simul"]
[EventRounds "1"] [EventCountry "NED"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate "2000.11.22"]
1. e4 c6 2. Nc3 {Already White veers off the more well established path.} ({In
the main line Caro-Kann, it goes like this:} 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5
5. Ng3 Bg6 6. h4 h6 7. Nf3 Nd7 8. Ne5 Nxe5) 2... d5 3. Nf3 (3. d4 {would transpose
into the main line.}) {His opponent sees no particular difference (between 3.Nf3
and 3.d4), so he plays:} 3... dxe4 ({A safer approach for Black would be} 3...
Bg4 4. h3 Bxf3 5. Qxf3 e6) 4. Nxe4 Bf5 (4... Bg4 {is another option.}) 5. Ng3
Bg6 {Black still thinks it's the same as the main line Caro-Kann.} ({Black's
last chance to escape this mess would be} 5... Bg4 6. Bc4 e6) 6. h4 h6 {Still
unsuspecting anything.} 7. Ne5 {This is incredibly strong.} Bh7 ({If} 7... Qd6
8. Nxg6 Qxg6 {Black has a bad game since White has the two bishops and all the
play, but it might be more of a fight than the way the game went. Suddenly White's
queen sallies forth to h5, threatening the f7-pawn. }) 8. Qh5 g6 ({If} 8...
Qd5 9. d4 {followed by Bc4.}) 9. Bc4 e6 ({If} 9... gxh5 10. Bxf7#) 10. Qe2 {Now
the bishop on h7 is not exactly a good piece, and he spent three moves getting
there, only to blocked by the pawn now at g6. This is an absolutely horrible
thing to happen to this bishop. Black's position is full of weaknesses.} Bg7
{Perhaps to help get his king castled. But unfortunately for Black, he runs
into this:} 11. Nxf7 {This is immediately decisive because of:} Kxf7 12. Qxe6+
Kf8 13. Qf7# 1-0
Davies mentions that an acquaintance of his has used this line for years at
the club level with tremendous success, "Because so many people don't know
the difference between the line in this game and the main line Caro-Kann. They
think the ‘3…dxe4 4.Nxe4 Bf5' line is ok, when it definitely is
not."
I searched my database for the position after 7…Bh7 and found nearly
200 such games, including many players rated above 2000 as black. One can only
imagine how often such a position occurs among lesser players, although, of
course, not everyone will be fooled by the comparison with the main line Caro-Kann
since not everyone will know the main line to begin with. But this is the type
of "trick" that Davies presents in this DVD – one that an enterprising
player can easily spring once in awhile.
Another example comes from what Davies calls the Noah's Ark Trap in the Ruy
Lopez:
[Event "Budapest"] [Site "Budapest"] [Date "1929.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White
"Steiner, Endre"] [Black "Capablanca, Jose Raul"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "C71"]
[Annotator "Friedel,Frederic"] [PlyCount "64"] [EventDate "1929.09.01"] [EventType
"tourn"] [EventRounds "13"] [EventCountry "HUN"] [Source "ChessBase"] [SourceDate
"1999.07.01"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 d6 5. d4 b5 6. Bb3 Nxd4 7.
Nxd4 exd4 8. Qxd4 {The decisive mistake.} ({Better would be} 8. c3 dxc3 9. Qh5
g6 10. Qd5 Be6 11. Qc6+ Bd7 12. Qxc3) 8... c5 9. Qd5 {[%cal Gd5f7,Gd5a8] Attacking
both f7 and the rook at a8.} Be6 10. Qc6+ Bd7 11. Qd5 {Perhaps expecting a draw
by repetition via 11BBe6, etc.} c4 {Black gets two pawns for his lost bishop,
but it's not enough, and Capablanca went on to win.} 12. Bxc4 bxc4 13. Qxc4
Nf6 14. Nc3 Be7 15. O-O O-O 16. a4 Be6 17. Qd3 Qa5 18. Bd2 Qh5 19. h3 Rfc8 20.
b3 d5 21. exd5 Rd8 22. Qg3 Nxd5 23. Ne4 Bh4 24. Qh2 Nf6 25. Nd6 Qg6 26. Ba5
Rd7 27. c4 Ne4 28. Qf4 Bxf2+ 29. Rxf2 Nxf2 30. Kxf2 Rxd6 31. Qxd6 Qf6+ 32. Kg3
Qxa1 0-1
This trap still snares many players, and if you search your database for the
position after …c5, you'll see some good players as white having fallen
into this. I found fifty-five such games, including one in which the black player,
rated 2125, apparently failed to see the …c4 move (or was just interested
in a quick draw). There were a number of 2000+ players as white that showed
up in this database search.
"The poison behind these moves," Davies says, "is that nothing
seems unnatural for White. There's nothing artificial looking about what Black's
trying to do. He's played a series of perfectly natural moves."
And that's the best and sneakiest kind of chess trick.
As always, Nigel Davies has a pleasant demeanor, a clear voice, and has put
together a compelling array of traps, particularly suited to the club or scholastic
player looking for a couple surprises to carry around in his back pocket. I'm
sure this DVD will put a twinkle in the eyes of a number of players, young and
old.
My assessment of this product: Good (four out of six stars)
Ruy Lopez Powerbase 2025 is a database and contains a total of 12092 games from Mega 2025 and the Correspondence Database 2024, of which 1276 are annotated.
In this 60 Minutes, Andrew Martin guides you through all the key ideas you need to know to play with confidence. Whether you’re looking to surprise your opponents, or simply want a straightforward weapon against e5, the Centre Attack has you covered.
Videos by Mihail Marin: Najdorf Variation with 6.f4 and Nico Zwirs: Italian ‘giucco pianissimo’. ‘Lucky bag’ with 45 analyses by Edouard, Ftacnik, Gupta, Pelletier and others. Update service with over 50,000 new games for your database!
This video course provides a comprehensive and practical White repertoire in the Ruy Lopez! Through instructive model games and in-depth theoretical explanations, you will learn how to confidently handle both main lines and sidelines.
€49.90
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