Discoveries in old games

Technical questions regarding Openings, Middlegames, Endings etc.
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Roger de Coverly
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Discoveries in old games

Post by Roger de Coverly » Tue Jul 26, 2022 11:45 am

Recently I've been experimenting (again) with the Tiger Modern setup. That's where in the absence of reasons to the contrary, Black's first four moves against 1. e4 will be d6, g6, Bg7, a6, but not always in that order. In a recent lichess 5 minute game I encountered 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. h4. It's not that common, but I found an old game of mine from 1971 (!) which went 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. h4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c5 5. dxc5 Qa5 6. Bd2 Qxc5. That's all very thematic and would have been a known idea even in 1971. The problem is that after 6. cxd6, the reply 6. .. Nxe4 fails to 7. Qd5 when Stockfish evaluates a white advantage as worth a piece of more.

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JustinHorton
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Re: Discoveries in old games

Post by JustinHorton » Tue Jul 26, 2022 2:54 pm

There's a similar theme in the Pirc, isn't there, where an old ...Qa5 idea has (in the computer age) been found to be unsound. Not sure Qd5 is the reason in that instance though.
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John Moore
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Re: Discoveries in old games

Post by John Moore » Tue Jul 26, 2022 7:27 pm

Roger de Coverly wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 11:45 am
Recently I've been experimenting (again) with the Tiger Modern setup. That's where in the absence of reasons to the contrary, Black's first four moves against 1. e4 will be d6, g6, Bg7, a6, but not always in that order. In a recent lichess 5 minute game I encountered 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. h4. It's not that common, but I found an old game of mine from 1971 (!) which went 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. h4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c5 5. dxc5 Qa5 6. Bd2 Qxc5. That's all very thematic and would have been a known idea even in 1971. The problem is that after 6. cxd6, the reply 6. .. Nxe4 fails to 7. Qd5 when Stockfish evaluates a white advantage as worth a piece of more.
The line was played in a game from the Budapest Championship 1963 between Tompa and Ozsvath where 6 .. Ne4 was indeed met by 7 Qd5 and White won very quickly. Janos Tompa became an IM in 1979 and I think that he played on a low board for Hungary in the European Team Championships at Bath in 1973.

Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Discoveries in old games

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Tue Jul 26, 2022 8:12 pm

"Janos Tompa became an IM in 1979 and I think that he played on a low board for Hungary in the European Team Championships at Bath in 1973."

https://www.olimpbase.org/1973e/1973fa.html

Yes,Tompa played a couple of games on Board 8 (+0=1-1). The USSR team is impressive.

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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Discoveries in old games

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Tue Jul 26, 2022 10:23 pm

Kevin Thurlow wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 8:12 pm
The USSR team is impressive.
And would have been still more so had Leonid Stein not keeled over and died just weeks earlier.
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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Discoveries in old games

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Wed Jul 27, 2022 12:12 am

"And would have been still more so had Leonid Stein not keeled over and died just weeks earlier."

Yes - I was at Bath for Round 1 and the mood was sombre, especially in the USSR team, not surprisingly.

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Christopher Kreuzer
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Re: Discoveries in old games

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Wed Jul 27, 2022 12:32 am

John Moore wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 7:27 pm
Roger de Coverly wrote:
Tue Jul 26, 2022 11:45 am
Recently I've been experimenting (again) with the Tiger Modern setup. That's where in the absence of reasons to the contrary, Black's first four moves against 1. e4 will be d6, g6, Bg7, a6, but not always in that order. In a recent lichess 5 minute game I encountered 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. h4. It's not that common, but I found an old game of mine from 1971 (!) which went 1. e4 d6 2. d4 g6 3. h4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c5 5. dxc5 Qa5 6. Bd2 Qxc5. That's all very thematic and would have been a known idea even in 1971. The problem is that after 6. cxd6, the reply 6. .. Nxe4 fails to 7. Qd5 when Stockfish evaluates a white advantage as worth a piece of more.
The line was played in a game from the Budapest Championship 1963 between Tompa and Ozsvath where 6 .. Ne4 was indeed met by 7 Qd5 and White won very quickly. Janos Tompa became an IM in 1979 and I think that he played on a low board for Hungary in the European Team Championships at Bath in 1973.
That 1963 game between Tompa and Ozsvath is here:

https://old.chesstempo.com/gamedb/game/2142173


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