Article: 3564 of rec.games.chess.analysis Newsgroups: rec.games.chess.analysis Path: info!dregis From: dregis@exeter.ac.uk (D.Regis) Subject: Re: beginner question THE LAST WORD! [Hippopotamus] Message-ID: Organization: University of Exeter, UK. References: <52uaqb$572@mozo.cc.purdue.edu> <52v2hr$eh8@juniper.cis.uab.edu> <01bbb0d7$13765540$8cc3e6ce@sprout.Discover-net.net> Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1996 10:00:44 GMT In article <01bbb0d7$13765540$8cc3e6ce@sprout.Discover-net.net> "a bean" writes: >The question we need to address is simply: What is a good opening for a >"beginner"? > >A beginner today wants advice for today, and not what it is going to take >to become an expert. [...] >There IS an opening that deals effectively with these issues and >can provide the following advantages for "beginners": [...] > >That opening is the "hippopatamus" Orthodoxy suggests: Beginners playing opponents of a similar standard should play open games. Beginners playing opponents who are clearly better should play open games. In the hippo you often get a closed, if not cramped, game. Beginners usually find they don't understand or enjoy the blocked, messy positions that result. They don't understand when they lose against better players, and they don't even understand what was going on if they win against players their own or lower standard. In open games, even if they lose, they have fun, and can understand where they went wrong. It's also a style that is more likely to upset a better player than keeping things closed and under control. Morphy,P - Meek,A [] New York, 1857 1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 3.d5 e5 4.f4 d6 5.Nf3 Bg4 6.fxe5 Bxf3 7.Qxf3 dxe5 8.Bb5+ Nd7 9.Nc3 Ngf6 10.Bg5 Be7 11.d6 Bxd6 12.0-0-0 ... 1-0 Morphy,P - Meek,A (2) New York USA-ch 2nd match, 1857 1.e4 e6 2.d4 g6 3.Bd3 Bg7 4.Be3 Ne7 5.Ne2 b6 6.Nd2 Bb7 7.0-0 d5 8.e5 0-0 9.f4 f5 10.h3 Nd7 11.Kh2 c5 12.c3 c4 13.Bc2 a6 14.Nf3 h6 15.g4 Kh7 16.Rg1 Rg8 17.Qe1 Nc6 18.Nh4 Qf8 19.Nxg6 Kxg6 20.gxf5+ Kf7 21.fxe6+ Kxe6 22.f5+ Ke7 23.Qh4+ Ke8 24.f6 Bxf6 25.exf6 Rxg1 26.Rxg1 Nxf6 27.Bg6+ Kd7 28.Bf5+ Ke8 29.Bxh6 Qh8 30.Rg7 Ng8 1-0 Now, not every player of the 1850s could expect to beat Morphy with Black, but that's not the point. I suggest that beginners seeing these games would find Morphy's play attractive, engaging, comprehensible and would feel willing and able to emulate the style. What he was doing right, they can do right. But they would find Meek's play neither engaging nor comprehensible. What did Meek do wrong? What plans should he have adopted instead? What he was doing wrong, they would do wrong. I'm not against closed openings, and I'm not against introducing positional ideas to relative beginners, but your first opening should be the Giuoco Piano. When you can beat beginners and real beginners (ones that open 1...e5, 2...d5, 3...f6, 4...g5) in the Morphy style with Morphy's openings, then you can move on. -- May your pieces harmonise with your Pawn structure and your sacrifices be sound in all variations D _ / "()/~ Dave Regis &8^D* WWW: http://www.ex.ac.uk/~dregis/DR/chess.html || \_/| = DrDave on BICS ~\ / "...what else exists in the world but chess?" _|||__SHEU: ~/sheu.html -- NABOKOV From info!dregis Fri Oct 4 12:09:35 BST 1996