Alekhine with f3

Technical questions regarding Openings, Middlegames, Endings etc.
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Matt Mackenzie
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Matt Mackenzie » Mon Aug 21, 2017 4:05 pm

3....Nc6 is an interesting sideline as well. 3....Qe7 is definitely inferior.
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Kevin Thurlow
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Kevin Thurlow » Mon Aug 21, 2017 10:46 pm

"For the player who moves the f pawn that is."

True - but I think you select weaker opponents for such experiments, or play Qf6 (Qf3 if white)

NickFaulks
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by NickFaulks » Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:48 am

Matt Mackenzie wrote:3....Nc6 is an interesting sideline as well.
I tried that once. The game added little to theory, continuing 4.Nxc6 with a draw offer, which was accepted. It was the last round and my opponent needed a draw for his third IM norm.
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Paul McKeown
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri Sep 01, 2017 8:00 am

I play Alekhine's Defence, and have done so for close on twenty years, with a highest grade of 192, if my recollection is correct.

2. f3 is unmotivated rubbish. 2... e5, and it is White that must equalise. Black has, of course, various other moves at his disposal that are good, but 2... e5 really does ask, wtf?

I do appreciate the various transpositional suggestions presented, but no one can seriously suggest that Black should spend sleepless nights worrying about a Reversed Lavatory or a Blackmar Dimwit. About 15 years ago, the BDG was all the rage in leagues with a certain style of player; aiming to play the Slav and the Alekhine, I faced it ten times in one season, lost one, won the rest. Actually the Lavatory is probably more dangerous, even if theoretically even worse, as it is almost entirely unplayed.

Actually the BDG, as suggested here, 1. e4 Nf6 2. f3 d5 3. d4 is better than White usually gets via an Alekhine's move order, as Black cannot take with the knight and force White to play the painfully crap Hübsch Gambit.

2. Bc4 is rather a poor move, which every Alekhine's player ought to know how to handle, either with 2... Nxe4 or 2... b5 (with the idea of 3... Nxe4, but not allowing White his "fun" with Bxf7).

The only decent moves suggested here in this thread for White have been 2. d3, which is surprisingly annoying, if White knows how to play it, and 2. Nc3, which Black can respond to with 2... e5, transposing into various well-established king pawn lines of White's choice, or 2... Nc6, with a Tango to follow. 2... d5 is perhaps to be avoided, except at sub-150 level.

But, really, the question should be asked, why not just play 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3?
Last edited by Paul McKeown on Fri Sep 01, 2017 4:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Paul McKeown
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:48 am

Engaging with the original poster, I would like to ask what is the idea behind suggesting 2. f3?

NickFaulks
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by NickFaulks » Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:00 am

Paul McKeown wrote:Engaging with the original poster, I would like to ask what is the idea behind suggesting 2. f3?
Surely the idea is obvious, it defends the e-pawn. I'm not saying it's a good idea.
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Paul McKeown
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:05 am

NickFaulks wrote:
Paul McKeown wrote:Engaging with the original poster, I would like to ask what is the idea behind suggesting 2. f3?
Surely the idea is obvious, it defends the e-pawn. I'm not saying it's a good idea.
Well, perhaps I'm asking for too much, but I am trying to credit the author with some plan beyond merely defending the e-pawn with a move which has strikingly negative side-effects.

MartinCarpenter
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by MartinCarpenter » Fri Sep 01, 2017 12:00 pm

Preparing g4?!!?

Paul McKeown
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Paul McKeown » Fri Sep 01, 2017 6:14 pm

That looks like a disastrously enterprising idea. We'll call it the Brexit Attack.

Bob Kane
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Bob Kane » Tue Sep 05, 2017 1:03 pm

Does this Alekhine nonsense have a name?
1e4 nf6 2e5 nd5 3Bc4 Nb6 4e6 Nxc4 5 exf7+ kxf7 6Qh5+ Ke6 Qg4+

Paul McKeown
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Re: Alekhine with f3

Post by Paul McKeown » Thu Oct 05, 2017 2:16 pm

Bob Kane wrote:Does this Alekhine nonsense have a name?
1e4 nf6 2e5 nd5 3Bc4 Nb6 4e6 Nxc4 5 exf7+ kxf7 6Qh5+ Ke6 Qg4+
No idea if it has a name or claimed authorship, but it is quite an amusing trap. It seems to fall into that peculiar category of opening trap, trap, but for whom? 6... Ke6 is obviously mad, Black would in practise play 6... Kg8 7. Qd5+ e6 8. Qxc4 d5, when his/her position is really nice. Better still would be simply 4... dxe6, when White has an old-fashioned Badger's Arse.

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