The August clinic is now out and can be viewed here by current full members. Amongst the games played was one in which a Tiger Chess member played the Colle System, the game starting out with the moves 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 e6 4.Bd3 c5 5.c3 Nc6 6.Nbd2 Bd6 7.O-O O-O 8.dxc5 Bxc5 9.e4.
At club level almost nobody seems to know what to do for Black in this position, with many players opting for 9...e5. Instead of this Black played 9...Bd6 10.Re1 e5? and after 11.exd5 Nxd5 12.Nc4 reached the position below:
Black is already losing a pawn because 12...f6 loses a piece after 13.Be4. Instead he opted for 12...Be7 (having used a full 40 minutes on the clock), White captured on e5 and eventually won the game.
It is games like this that have convinced me that simple and sound openings, such as the Colle System, are ideal for club players who have relatively little time to study and want to build an opening repertoire. White can also expand out into lines in which he plays c2-c4, and I'm currently working on a new openings course which will demonstrate exactly how to do this.
Nigel Davies
