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Main
I've got a couple of stupid chess questions. One's analytical, so
that's why I picked this group instead of rgc.misc to ask them.
As white, I play this line of the Two Knights Defense: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4. Now, the "book" response here is 4. ... exd4, and
I know how I like to play it from there. What I want to know is what's
the best way to handle 4. ... Nxe4? There are several options that look
pretty good for white, so I'm just trying to figure out what the best
possibility is, and identify any pitfalls or traps that I should be
wary of. I usually play dxe5 or Nxe5, but it seems like I could attack
the knight first and save the capture of the e5 pawn for later with
moves like Bd5 or Qe2. Any advice?
Now for the non-analytical question. There's a line of the French
called the Winawer. How is that pronounced? Is it one of those German
things where the w's are pronounced like v's? Just curious.
Actually, there are lots of chess terms and player names that I don't
know how to pronounce, because I learned them from books and the
internet, so I've never heard them. But this particular one is the name
of an opening that I've started trying to play, so I figure I should
find out how to pronounce it.
Actually, I guess another opening that I should ask about is the Giuoco
Piano, since I play that, too (although most opponents usually steer
towards the Two Knights instead). I'm assuming the second word is
pronounced like the musical instrument, but how do you pronounce
Giuoco?
Thanks,
Richard
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Date: 16 Nov 2005 18:13:28
From: Ron
Subject: Re: Stupid chess questions
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In article <[email protected] >,
"[email protected]" <[email protected] > wrote:
> As white, I play this line of the Two Knights Defense: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
> Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4. Now, the "book" response here is 4. ... exd4, and
> I know how I like to play it from there. What I want to know is what's
> the best way to handle 4. ... Nxe4? There are several options that look
> pretty good for white, so I'm just trying to figure out what the best
> possibility is, and identify any pitfalls or traps that I should be
> wary of. I usually play dxe5 or Nxe5, but it seems like I could attack
> the knight first and save the capture of the e5 pawn for later with
> moves like Bd5 or Qe2. Any advice?
5. dxe5 is best.
You've got two major threats here. 6.Bxf7+ Kxf7 7.Qd5+ & Qxe4 or just
6.Qd5! with double attack on f7 & e4.
So black will usually play 5. ... Nc5 (because now Bxf7+? Kxf7 7.Qd5+
Ne6!) when white is better after 6. 0-0 Be7 7.Nc3 0-0 8.Nd5 as in
Sokolsky-Navrodsky, Russia, 1944.
White has more space, better development, and freer player for pieces.
His advantage isn't huge, but he's well-prepared for the middlegame.
-Ron
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Date: 16 Nov 2005 08:33:36
From:
Subject: Re: Stupid chess questions
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[email protected] wrote:
> Now for the non-analytical question. There's a line of the French
> called the Winawer. How is that pronounced? Is it one of those German
> things where the w's are pronounced like v's? Just curious.
The man to whom the line is credited, Szymon Winawer (1838-1919), one
of the world's top players circa 1867-1883, was born in Warsaw, when
what is now Poland was part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. I do not
speak Polish, but I recall reading (in a Soltis column, IIRC) that his
name is correctly pronounced "veen-AH-vehr", to use English phonetics.
However, most Americans tend to say "WIN-a-were" and probably won't
know what you mean if you use the correct pronunciation.
The line 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 is also called the Nimzovitch
variation.
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Date: 18 Nov 2005 11:31:41
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Stupid chess questions
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[email protected] wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
>> Winawer. How is that pronounced? Is it one of those German things where
>> the w's are pronounced like v's? Just curious.
>
> The man to whom the line is credited, Szymon Winawer (1838-1919), one
> of the world's top players circa 1867-1883, was born in Warsaw, when
> what is now Poland was part of the Tsarist Russian Empire. I do not
> speak Polish, but I recall reading (in a Soltis column, IIRC) that his
> name is correctly pronounced "veen-AH-vehr", to use English phonetics.
That fits in with my very limited knowledge of Polish. In Polish, the
sound of the English `W' is given by an `L' with a diagonal bar.
Dave.
--
David Richerby Crystal Composer (TM): it's like a
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ pupil of Beethoven but it's completely
transparent!
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Date: 16 Nov 2005 08:30:33
From: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Stupid chess questions
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Ok, so with a little google search, I was able to answer my own
pronunciation questions:
http://www.chess-poster.com/english/notes_and_facts/pronounce_that_chess_name.htm
It's a nice list, but nowhere near as complete as I'd like. It had the
two specific names I was looking for, though.
--Richard
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Date: 18 Nov 2005 11:29:18
From: David Richerby
Subject: Re: Stupid chess questions
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[email protected] <[email protected] > wrote:
> Ok, so with a little google search, I was able to answer my own
> pronunciation questions:
>
> http://www.chess-poster.com/english/notes_and_facts/pronounce_that_chess_name.htm
>
> It's a nice list, but nowhere near as complete as I'd like. It had the
> two specific names I was looking for, though.
Beware of that list. It's very inaccurate for the languages I know,
namely French and German, so I find it very hard to trust for the ones I
don't know. En passant/prize, Saemisch, Tarrasch, Zuckertort and
zwischenzug are dramatically wrong.
The list also suffers from the problem that it doesn't use IPA so you
can't tell how to pronounce any of the names without knowing the accent of
the person who wrote the list. For example, many Americans pronounce the
word `God' as I would pronounce `Gad' so sound does the letter `o'
indicate in the list? Is 'ah' long or short? Well, actually, it could be
either as they claim Kahs-SPAHR-off, where the first should be short and
the second long.
Dave.
--
David Richerby Metal Tongs (TM): it's like a pair of
www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~davidr/ tongs that's made of steel!
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