An English Opening system called the Mikenas-Flohr Variation

[AlanLlewellyn]

Here is a recent-near textbook exposition of an anti-Nimzo-Indian setup which is a definite part of the English opening and very aggressive, a gambit often occurs where White gambits his e5 pawn, black plays the opening to about 14 book moves-this is an introduction to the mikenas-flohr which has no flaws[Event "T93 Team 45 45 (u1300)"] [Site "Internet Chess Club"] [Date "2022.07.23"] [Round "2"] [White "Llewellyn, Alan Mansel"] [Black "mongmong"] [Result "1-0"] [ECO "A19"] [WhiteElo "1457"] [BlackElo "1496"] [Annotator "Llewellyn,Alan"] [PlyCount "51"] [EventDate "2022.??.??"] [WhiteTeam "Hedgehogs"] [BlackTeam "RedDeMate J"] 1. c4 e6 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. e4 c5 4. e5 Ng8 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. d4 cxd4 7. Nxd4 Nxe5 8. Ndb5 f6 9. Bf4 a6 10. Nd6+ Bxd6 11. Qxd6 Nf7 12. Qa3 Ne7 13. Nb5 d6 $2 $14 ( 13... e5 14. Bd2 O-O 15. Nd6 Nxd6 16. Qxd6 Nf5 17. Qd5+ Kh8 18. Ba5 Qe7 19. c5 d6 20. cxd6 Qxd6 21. Qxd6 Nxd6 $15 22. O-O-O $2 $17 Ne4 23. Bb6 Bf5 24. Bd3 Rfc8+ 25. Kb1 Rc6 26. f3 Nc3+ 27. bxc3 Rxb6+ 28. Ka1 Bxd3 29. Rxd3 Rc6 30. Kb2 b5 31. Rhd1 h5 $17) 14. Nxd6+ Nxd6 15. Bxd6 $5 Kf7 16. O-O-O $6 $14 Re8 17. c5 $1 Nc6 $6 $16 {too many moves with the knight, Black must develop his light squared bishop...} 18. Bc4 $1 Qa5 19. Qf3 $3 {switching the attack from the centre to the barren black kingside} g6 $2 $18 {fatally weakening the kingside} 20. h4 Qb4 21. Bb3 $4 $14 {darn not a perfect game for me i saw Nd4 but missed Na5} Nd4 $4 $18 (21... Na5 $3 $14) 22. Rxd4 $3 Qxd4 23. h5 Kg7 (23... g5 24. h6 $3 (24. Qf5 $2 Kg7 25. h6+ Kh8 26. Qf3 $16) 24... Rd8 25. Qf5 Rh8 26. Re1 b6 27. Rxe6 Bxe6 28. Bxe6+ (28. Qxe6+ Kg6 29. Bc2+ Kxh6 30. Qh3+ Qh4 31. Qf3 Kg7 32. Qb7+ Kh6 33. Qf3 Qd4 34. Qh3+ Qh4 $11) 28... Ke8 29. Bd5 Ra7 30. Qc8#) 24. hxg6 hxg6 $4 $18 {only helps me} (24... h6 $1 $18 25. g4 e5 26. g5 Qf4+ 27. Qxf4 exf4 28. Bf7 Bf5 29. gxh6+ Kh8 30. Bxf4 Re4 31. Bd2 Re5 32. b4 Be6 33. Bxe6 Rxe6 34. Bc3 Rg8 35. Rg1 Rc6 36. Kd2 Rd8+ 37. Ke3 Kg8 38. Kf4 Kf8 39. Re1 b6 40. Kg4 bxc5 41. bxc5 Rdc8 42. f4 R8c7 43. h7 Kg7 44. Re8 Kxg6 45. h8=Q f5+ 46. Kg3 Rxc5 47. Qf6+ Kh7 48. Rh8#) 25. Qh3 f5 26. f4 (26. f4 Kf7 $5 {Deep Fritz 14 x64: 1)} 27. Be5 Qxc5+ 28. Kb1 Rf8 29. Qh7+ Ke8 30. Qxg6+ Rf7 31. Bxe6 Bxe6 {11.27/19}) (26. Qh7+ $5 Kf6 27. Rh6 Qg4 28. g3 Bd7 29. f4 e5 30. Qf7#) 1-0

[AlanLlewellyn]

i have a whole system related to the English Opening, anti-dutch, anti-kings indian you name it i play it. The mikenas-flohr is played after 1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4 (note that 3 d4 is a transposition into the nimzo-indian and possibly what black hopes for) (also note that 4...Ng8 is the accepted book move to this line)

[John Sellen]

" black plays the opening to about 14 book moves "
The game above is from an online U 1300 tournament
Its not my experience that U 1300 players dish out 14 moves of theory

[Roger de Coverly]

Its not my experience that U 1300 players dish out 14 moves of theory

It's semi-forced and has been played by some famous names with both colours. I had to look it up, I've never even had the position after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6. Still I might have decided against 2. .. e6 on the grounds that "they've got that odd line with 3. e4 and you have to meet e5 with .. Ng8" ,

[Joey Stewart]

It looks like absolute garbage for black - who would ever willingly give up tempo with a knight retreat AND follow up with grabbing a hot pawn??. I always say the best thing to do against the English is to play the most boring drawing variations against it - white has no intention of taking any sort of risks in this opening so no point humouring them with an exciting game they will likely get the better of you in anyway.

[AlanLlewellyn]

Its not my experience that U 1300 players dish out 14 moves of theory

It's semi-forced and has been played by some famous names with both colours. I had to look it up, I've never even had the position after 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6. Still I might have decided against 2. .. e6 on the grounds that "they've got that odd line with 3. e4 and you have to meet e5 with .. Ng8" ,

not sure if its more common but Roger, another line is 1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 e6 3 e4 d5 meeting 4 e5?! with 4...Ne4 or 4...d4 or even 4...Ne7 is the french advanced variation

[AlanLlewellyn]

It looks like absolute garbage for black - who would ever willingly give up tempo with a knight retreat AND follow up with grabbing a hot pawn??. I always say the best thing to do against the English is to play the most boring drawing variations against it - white has no intention of taking any sort of risks in this opening so no point humouring them with an exciting game they will likely get the better of you in anyway.

there isnt a drawn line in my english repertoire

[AlanLlewellyn]

against the kings indian i play 1 c4 Nf6 2 Nc3 g6 3 e4 d6 4 f4 Bg7 5 Nf3 c5 6 Be2 Nc6 7 0-0 0-0 and i attack all out on the kingside with moves such as g4 and f5 with the centre closed its hard for black to cope

[AlanLlewellyn]

against the dutch i play something similar to against the kings indian

[AlanLlewellyn]

" black plays the opening to about 14 book moves "
The game above is from an online U 1300 tournament
Its not my experience that U 1300 players dish out 14 moves of theory

for a start the average of the team is u1300, i am 1554 and my opponent was 1580 on the icc team 45 45 ratings and it is entirely similar to most of my games which go along a book line for atleast 10 maybe 20 moves playing 1500s and 1600s this is both online and otb i dont know what you are insinuating there.

[John Sellen]

" it is entirely similar to most of my games which go along a book line for atleast 10 maybe 20 moves playing 1500s and 1600s this is both online and otb" "
Really ??
To go for 10 maybe 20 moves along a book line requires BOTH players to know the book line. This just doesnt happen at our level .

[AlanLlewellyn]

" it is entirely similar to most of my games which go along a book line for atleast 10 maybe 20 moves playing 1500s and 1600s this is both online and otb" "
Really ??
To go for 10 maybe 20 moves along a book line requires BOTH players to know the book line. This just doesnt happen at our level .

when i say book i mean livebook on chessbase as in all the moves ever played in different opening positions at the highest(and semi-pro) level not an actual physical book

[AlanLlewellyn]

livebook has 7million games in its book and about 100 million positions

[Nick Ivell]

The ...Ng8 retreat can't be that bad, as Karpov played it in his first match v Korchnoi, albeit in conjunction with a Q-side fianchetto, which I presume makes it better.

Who knows? I would back Karpov's positional judgement against anyone on this forum.

[AlanLlewellyn]

The ...Ng8 retreat can't be that bad, as Karpov played it in his first match v Korchnoi, albeit in conjunction with a Q-side fianchetto, which I presume makes it better.

Who knows? I would back Karpov's positional judgement against anyone on this forum.

it looks terrible to a patzer and you can see why people who dont know the theory behind the line settle for 3...d6 after 3 e4 they do so very often