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Posted by jstevens1 ability-tw.com 7/31/2008 15:41:58 play online chess	Subject: The Latvian Gambit Message: Hi everyone, Ion and I decided to run through the Latvian Gambit. I played the black pieces and lost in a game An Expert Lesson in Concentration of Forces. You will find this game in the public annotations gallery. I will be interested to hear your views on the Latvian. Cheers and bye for now. Joanne
Posted by ionadowman ability-tw.com 8/01/2008 03:02:54 play online chess	The Latvian has long ... Message: ... been one of my favorite openings - ever since reading Harry Golombek's assessment: "as unsound as it is violent". But that's just my contrary nature. It is, however, a very risky line to adopt against a "booked" player. Against one who hasn't seen it before, it can be lethal. Keene and Levy had this to say: "If White puts a foot wrong he can easily find himself battered to a premature death." They recommended the approach I took in the ionadowman vs jstevens1 game - a line much analysed by Paul Keres. However, I suspect Harry Golombek's recommendation 3.Nxf5 is the wiser and safer choice. Several years ago I played Black in the 3.Bc4 line and, yep, White went wrong, and, yep, got battered to a premature death. On the other hand, I tried it against a strong player in a club game in Auckland in the early 70's and this time I forgot the theory and got axed. I think the game might have been published in a North Shore journal of some sort... Although I have a fondness for the opening, I haven't played it often, and not at all on GK (except this one time from the White side). Cheers, Ion
Posted by marinvukusic ability-tw.com 8/01/2008 05:40:56 play online chess	Lets put it like this Message: If you play it in OTB, you are likely to get published in a journal :) I like the Golombek's quote! I started looking at 3.Bc4 when I was first trying to create a repertoire, but eventually settled on 3.ef5 as the primary choice (it is actually not a bad move, but is less popular than 3.Ne5).
Posted by chessnovice ability-tw.com 8/01/2008 08:59:34 play online chess	... Message: Like most openings, I only know the Latvian very loosely from the book. Ion made a good and interesting point that the Latvian is one of the rare instances of an unusual "out-of-book" type of opening that's been pretty well covered in the books. The opening rarely fails to make the position an interesting one, but my preference towards unstudied lines has led me to not enjoy playing the Latvian Gambit very often.
Posted by bogg ability-tw.com 8/05/2008 11:43:41 play online chess	ionadowman Message: One of my favorite chess stories centers on a Latvian Gambit game. Many years ago a strong master, Andrew Karklins if memory serves, happened into an Omaha chess tournament. He decided to have a little fun and play the Latvian Gambit against a Lincoln 'B' player, I guess figuring it didn't matter much what he played. The 'B' player blew him off the board. The master failed to consider that the Latvian Gambit Magazine was published out of Lincoln and that the 'B' player in question was a close friend of the publisher. OOPS! CTCampbell
Posted by ionadowman ability-tw.com 8/05/2008 13:30:16 play online chess	bogg ... Message: ... I recall a vaguely similar story from an Olympiad sometime in the 1970s or 80s- except that the roles were reversed in more ways than one. In the match against South Africa (I think it was) Larry Evens had White; his opponent played a Latvian. Mr Evans went a bit wrong and found himself faced with a tremendous attack. When Mikhail Tal got wind of the situation and started hovering around the board - no doubt with the view of publishing a tactical brilliancy pulled off by an amateur against a GM - it looked all up with White. But Black began to go wrong. The quick win became a not-so-quick win, then a draw, then a loss. The GM escaped with the full point! No fairy tales there. then. Cheers, Ion
Posted by loreta ability-tw.com 8/07/2008 03:57:51 play online chess	I gave up Message: I found GK when I was searching some information about Latvian... Here, at beginning I've played a few games using that opening.... Later I gave up with it. Main reason - 3. Nxe5 is quite strong and "booked" opponent creates difficulties to Black too often. Anyway, I've still tried it for next couple years in rapid games (blitz) - and it's a good surprise weapon for unprepared opponent.
Posted by lighttotheright ability-tw.com 8/07/2008 11:10:54 play online chess	Message: I would never play it on GK. But yes, it is a good surprise weapon in blitz. The Danish gambit is another opening that it good in blitz but not on GK.
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