Earlier this week, one of my students asked me what the best line for White was after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4, the Queen's Gambit Accepted. I'm fairly sure that it's 3.e4, but the issue with this move is that it's highly theoretical and will be difficult to learn and play with confidence. Accordingly I suggested that he stick to my recommended Furman Variation with 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.e3 e6 5.Bxc4 c5 6.Qe2, at least for the time being.

This kind of question is actually quite common, and for very good reason. We all want to play the most principled and dangerous moves, but it can come at a heavy cost in terms of study time. Generally speaking I'd say that only full time professionals will have the time and motivation to play the sharpest variations, for most amateurs it's better to aim for a playable middlegame in a position type that you like.

Have I ever played very sharp lines? Well there was a period in the 1990s in which I studied some sharp lines for White, namely that Catalan Gambit and the Botvinnik Variation of the Semi-Slav. The results were actually quite mixed, and probably not much better than playing more quietly in the opening. Shifting the emphasis of the struggle to the middle and endgame is not a bad idea because it can help make us into better chess players..

Training Tournaments

This week's training tournaments return to the Advance Variation of the French, with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 being the starting point of the first tournament and then the additional moves 4.c3 Nc6 5.Nf3 Nge7 featuring in the second. These lines occur in both Building an Opening Repertoire and the more advanced French Defence course.

Sunday November 16th at 5pm UK Time: French Advance with 3.e5 c5

Sunday November 16th at 6.15pm UK Time: French Advance with 5...Nge7
 

Video Discounts

This week's discount is 40% off buying my French Defence course, just use the code nov14to22 on checkout. This is is an advanced, stand-alone opening course which builds on the treatment of the French presented in the Building an Opening Repertoire course. It features over 11 hours of video which explain key games and ideas plus a pgn (portable game notation) file of recommended variations.

Last week's discount was 40% off my flagship Building an Opening Repertoire course and it's still valid until tomorrow. Just use the code 'nov7to15' when you buy it.

My Upcoming Events

I don't have definite plans to play anywhere right now, but I might play in the Bolton Rapidplay in December and then Nova Gorica in Slovenia in January:

December 7: Bolton Rapidplay

One of my local tournaments, details can be found here.

Have a good weekend.

Nigel