A Modern Benoni with a twist. Gilles Garrigues from France e-mailed with a problem concerning the first two moves of the game: "I find Black's 1.d4 e6 2.c4 c5!? slightly annoying. Note that I am mostly a positional player rated around 2100. What can you recommend?" This move-order is an invitation to take on the Modern Benoni. The difference is that Black wants to avoid playing a king's knight to f6 and have the option of developing it to e7, allowing a different type of set-up. The problem is that when you look it up in your standard reference books, it does not seem to exist. The reason is that the game usually goes 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 c5 3 d5 e6. In this case, after 1 d4 e6, Black runs … [Read more...]
Paths of Glory
The Colorado Gambit 2...f5 is the new trend. Jonathan Adams from Australia e-mailed to ask, "What is the best line to play against the Colorado Gambit? 1 e4 Nc6 2 Nf3 f5. Has it been refuted?" The short answer is no, and the long answer is not yet. It looks like such a weird opening that one assumes that White is instantly better after a couple of moves, but many masters have given it a go. Even the name is open to dispute, as I have seen Colorado Defence, Colorado Gambit, and Nimzowitsch ...f5. If anyone can enlighten me to the origin of the name, I would appreciate it. Admittedly, a big bonus for Black is the surprise value, which is enough to confuse an inexperienced player because … [Read more...]