Thursday, February 24, 2011

Beginners' trap?

Local Class A player Dean Arond plays many objectively dubious openings.  But he knows them very well, he has fun playing these sharp lines, and more than one master has fallen into his snare.  In the following game, Dean equalizes against Whitney Young's Sam Schmakel with an opening best known as a beginners' trap.


White to play
Sam Schmakel-Dean Arond, Skokie 2011

I thought the ending was interesting, too!  You can play through the game on the interactive board below:

2 comments:

Frederick Rhine said...

After 3...Nxe4!?, Schmakel must have wondered if he was facing a "Fool's Arond." Dean also used 3...Nxe4 against Eric Rosen, getting a probably winning position (as I recall), but Eric managed to win anyway.

Frederick Rhine said...

If Koltanowski (and before him Hermann Helms) was the "Dean of American Chess," is Arond the "Dean of Chicago Chess"?