Who ’ s afraid of the black pieces ?
annotations were very recent , so it is unlikely that anyone else had found , or at least widely published , my discovery .
If I was to tell you that I have a defence for Black which has scored 69 % for me in all games , I guess that you would ask :
What is it ? Across how many games has that 69 % been scored ? What is the general strength of your opponents in those games ? Would you recommend it for me ?
Let ’ s take the questions one at a time .
The defence is the Latvian Gambit , 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5 .
I started playing it in 1988 , and played it in odd games up to 1996 , by which point I had played it eight times in league chess and once in a rapidplay tournament , and had scored five wins , two draws and one loss . Since 1999 I played it more regularly and my overall score was Played 35 Won 16 Drawn 16 Lost 3 . Not bad , hey ?
I played it against a cross-section of my opponents , but it is fair to say that many of them tended to be weaker than me . The Latvian helped me to achieve the healthy plus score that I needed to maintain my grade . Compare that with my average over the same period of 62 % with Black and 65 % with White .
Would I recommend it for others ? Clearly , we should choose openings which suit our style , so I would not recommend it for everyone . On the other hand , we can all learn lessons from my success with it .
The Latvian has a reputation as being both 4
In the coming months , I shall reveal several more new discoveries that I have made , some of them in very famous games .
K K K K K
Who ’ s afraid of the black pieces ?
tactically and positionally suspect . That reputation is fairly well deserved , but only if White knows his stuff and plays accurately . When it is sprung on an unsuspecting opponent , its aggressiveness can occasion a surprisingly muted response . Weak players with little or no book knowledge are often reduced to 3 d3 ?, which simply hands the initiative to Black . Players who know little about the Latvian shy away from the most critical lines because they don ’ t want to be the victim in a game like the one below .
White : Mark Hindle Black : Dave LeMoir Fakenham , 2001
Lemonade
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 f5 3 Bc4 fxe4 4 Nxe5 d5
4 ... Qg5 leads to a win for White with best play , but can anyone reel it off without any preparation ? I prefer the move played , although I ’ m pretty sure that Black should not gain enough compensation for the exchange and pawn sacrificed . Over the board , it ’ s not so simple for White , and I have scored three wins and one draw in this line .
5 Qh5 + g6 6 Nxg6 hxg6 7 Qxh8 Kf7 8 Qd4 Be6 9 Bb3 Nc6 10 Qe3 Bh6 11 f4 Nge7 12 0 – 0 Nf5 13 Qe1 !
Mark Hindle has been playing it all by ear for some time now . I was aware of 13 Qf2 , when the queen can become vulnerable on the g1-a7 diagonal . Now I , too , was on my own . The reply 13 ... Qd6 is given by Kosten in The Latvian Gambit Lives !, but my move also has its points .