How to Approach Openings With Black
This email is inspired by a quote by Bent Larsen from the book “How To Open A Chess Game.” I don't have the book, nor have I read it, so the information I give here was sent to me by a reader of this newsletter, FM Richard Meulders, to whom I am very grateful.
The quote is the following:
''... if Black doesn't want to have to defend carefully during the first part of the game, he must give White something: more space, healthier pawn structure, the bishop pair - or simply a pawn!"
As usual with such insightful quotes, they are usually eye-opening because they manage to define what a person has felt on some level but never managed to clearly verbalise. This is what the above quote did for me.
I immediately understood why I have enjoyed the Najdorf with Black, the Ruy Lopez with White and never quite felf comfortable in that same opening with Black.
In the Najdorf as Black I never really felt I was defending. I felt as equal to White, never inferior and always with an eye to take over the initiative. But in the Ruy Lopez as Black I was always under the impression that I was somehow "lagging behind" and felt under some slight pressure, never really able to shake it off. Similarly, in the Lopez with White, I always felt I had this slight pressure on my side, even in the theoretically less critical lines - I always had an infinitesimal initiative.
My mind then quickly jumped to Fischer's choices of openings in the match with Spassky in Reykjavik.
When he abandoned the Najdorf after Game 15, in spite of leading comfortably and admitting after the match that he stopped playing for a win in that phase, he never chose 1...e5 against Spassky's 1.e4. He just didn't want to defend! He went for the Pirc (Game 17) and Alekhine Defence (Game 19), giving away space in both, and in the final game for the Kan Sicilian.
Even such a universal player like Fischer chose not to defend with Black and preferred to give something to White in return just in order to be able to play "on equal (psychological) terms."
I think this consideration is an extremely important one when considering one's opening choices. Many people are comfortable with patiently extinguishing White's slight initiative after 1.e4 e5. Others are not. It is a matter of preference, but one must know his or her preferences first!
As the saying goes, choose your weapons wisely.
P.S. This week’s video is in fact a repertoire based on Fischer’s treatment of the Kan Sicilian in that last game in Reykjavik. White has several ways to deal with the Kan, so we don’t really know what Fischer had in mind against those options. In the video I attempt to guess what he may have had in mind, based on the match situation, his experience on the white side of the Kan and the games from that period. Take a look and tell me what you think!