Hello all,
Here is some information on Larsen's opening I have found from the
following 3 quoted sources, and one comment of my own.
Paul Benson.
__. Source one:
1. b3 by Soltis.
"The idea behind 1. b3, is not unlike the idea behind 1. g3. White waits,
making no commitment in the centre, until black's intentions are revealed.
Black runs the risk of becoming over-extended in the centre. White runs
the risk of allowing the opponent too much terrain."
"There are many opportunities for transposition. When black answers 1. ...
d5, the order of developing moves for white can be changed in many
ways,that defy exact classification. The
1. b3 player must be always on the look out for transpositions into
favourable variations of reverse-systems such as, Sicilians,
Nimzo-Indians, and of course, Queens Indians."
__. Source two:
Consult www.en.Wikipedia.org and search for "Larsens Opening". I would
like to give the full address of the page, but can not get any sense out
of the "Retreived from" address given on the page. I think it is something
odd with punctuation concerning the apostrophe. Here is the web page
address information from the page:
Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larsen%27s_Opening. "
Here is an extract from the above page:
Main lines.
Note: search on ** to find different replies for black.
Black has several options to meet 1.b3. The most common are
**A: 1...e5, the Modern Variation, is the most common response, making a
grab for the centre and limiting the scope of the White Bishop. Play on
this line typically continues 2. Bb2 Nc6, attacking and defending the e5
pawn, respectively, and then 3. e3 d5 4. Bb5 Bd6 5. f4 is the main line.
| Warning! Playing the move 5. f4 is extremely tactical. The minefield of
offering material imbalances, for development and positional gain, is just
waiting for you to wander in. Unless you are familiar with it, I recommend
avoiding it, unless quick losses are enjoyable to you. Paul Benson. |
**B: 1...d5, the Classical Variation, is the second most common, also
making a grab for the centre and preserving the option to fianchetto the
King's Bishop to oppose the White one. Here, white uses 2. Nf3 to
hopefully transpose to a reversed Nimzo-Indian Defence. or another Indian
defence. . This can also be reached by the move order 1. Nf3 d5 2. b3.
**C: 1...Nf6, the Indian Variation, developing a piece and not committing
to a particular pawn formation just yet. 2. Bb2 and if 2...g6 then 3. e4,
taking advantage of the pinned knight (e.g., not 3...Nxe4 4. Bxh8, winning
a rook at the price of a pawn).
**D: 1...c5, the English Variation, retaining the options of ...d5, or
...d6 followed by ...e5. 2. c4 transposing to an English Opening. or 2. e4
tranposing to a Sicilian Defence. .
**E: 1...f5, the Dutch Variation. 2. Nf3.
**F: Less common lines include:
1...e6, with black setting up a variation on the French Defence. . Here
Keene recommends 2. e4 and if 2...d5 then 3. Bb2.
1...c6, a Caro-Kann. variant preparing for ...d5. Again Keene recommends
2. e4 and if 2...d5, 3. Bb2.
1...b6, the Symmetrical variation, is completely fine for black.
1...b5, the Polish Variation.
__. Source 3:
There are a number of databases out there, one link in the above Wikipedia
page is:
http://www.365chess.com/eco/a01/_nimzovich_larsenattack/
The following information giving % scores for various first black moves,
can be found on the above page Note: I assume the % figures given are for
white wins, draws, black wins respectively. Some of the % values are
incomplete, or ambiguous as to what they refer to, probably because the
page is column-oriented.
Nimzovich-Larsen attack.
Overview.
Games on Database: 8879
Years Covered: 1851 - 2006
Overall score:
37.3%, 26.2%, 36.4%.
Possible continuations:.
1... e5. 4292
36.3 %, 27.7 %, 36 %.
1... d5. 2809
34.1 %, 29.4 %, 36.5 %.
1... Nf6. 1761
36.6 %, 30.3 %, 33 %.
1... c5. 559
40.4 %, 25.4 %, 34.2 %.
1... b6. 241
35.7 %, 39.4 %, 24.9 %.
1... d6. 226
42.5 %, 27.4 %, 30.1 %.
1... e6. 167
43.7 %, 28.1 %, 28.1 %.
1... f5. 157
33.1 %, 26.1 %, 40.8 %.
1... g6. 132
28.8 %, 44.7 %, 26.5 %.
1... Nc6. 75
49.3 %, 38.7 %,
1... c6. 18
22.2 %, 61.1 %, 16.7 %.
1... b5. 18
38.9 %, 22.2 %, 38.9 %.
1... a5. 10
20 %, 70 %.
1... f6. 6
50 %, 50 %.
1... h6. 2
50 %, 50 %.
1... Nh6. 2
100 %.
1... g5. 2
100 %.
End of information.
