Albin is great, but if you wanna play it often for correspondence games against opponents who use databases, expect to lose occasionally.
And, after 2. Nf3 black is unhappy 😕 but can still get good play.
I've been using the Albin with good success, especially in blitz where it reigns supreme.
Originally posted by pwnguinOne beautiful game won by Czech GM Pavel Blatny:
Sample games?
[Event "New York op"]
[Site "04"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Nelson Gamboa"]
[Black "Pavel Blatny"]
[ECO "A52"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "58"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Nc3 O-O 7.Bd3
Re8 8.a3 Ngxe5 9.b4 Nxf3+ 10.Qxf3 Ne5 11.Qe2 Nxd3+ 12.Qxd3 Bd6
13.O-O b6 14.Ra2 a5 15.b5 Bb7 16.Re2 Bxh2+ 17.Kxh2 Qh4+ 18.Kg1
Bxg2 19.Kxg2 Qg4+ 20.Kh2 Re5 21.Qd5 Qh5+ 22.Kg1 Rg5+ 23.Qxg5
Qxg5+ 24.Kh1 Qf6 25.Bb2 Qf3+ 26.Kg1 Re8 27.Rd2 Qg4+ 28.Kh1 Re6
29.f3 Qh3+ 0-1
Originally posted by Korchnot suprised white missed that firestorm!
One beautiful game won by Czech GM Pavel Blatny:
[Event "New York op"]
[Site "04"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Nelson Gamboa"]
[Black "Pavel Blatny"]
[ECO "A52"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "58"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Nc3 O-O 7.Bd3
Re8 8.a3 Ngxe5 9.b4 Nxf3+ 10.Q ...[text shortened]... 24.Kh1 Qf6 25.Bb2 Qf3+ 26.Kg1 Re8 27.Rd2 Qg4+ 28.Kh1 Re6
29.f3 Qh3+ 0-1
[Event "Amber Tournament (Rapid)"]
[Site "Nice FRA"]
[Date "2008.03.17"]
[EventDate "2008.03.15"]
[Round "3"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "V Kramnik"]
[Black "S Mamedyarov"]
[ECO "A52"]
[WhiteElo "2799"]
[BlackElo "2760"]
[PlyCount "78"]
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e5 3. dxe5 Ng4 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. e3 Ngxe5 6. a3 a5 7. f4 Ng6 8.
Bd3 Bc5 9. Qh5 d6 10. Nf3 a4 11. Bd2 O-O 12. Ne4 Qe8 13. O-O-O f5 14. Nxc5
dxc5 15. Kb1 Nge7 16. Qh4 h6 17. Bc3 Be6 18. Rhg1 Rd8 19. Ka1 Rxd3 20. Rxd3
Bxc4 21. Bxg7 Kxg7 22. g4 Ng6 23. gxf5 Rxf5 24. Rc3 Bf7 25. Qf2 Qe6 26. b3
axb3 27. Nh4 Rh5 28. Kb2 Qf6 29. Nxg6 Bxg6 30. e4 c4 31. Qd2 Qd4 32. Qxd4+
Nxd4 33. Rcg3 Rxh2+ 34. Kb1 Kf7 35. Rxg6 c3 36. Rg7+ Ke8 37. R7g2 Rxg2 38.
Rxg2 Nf3 39. Kc1 Nd2 0-1
Impressive win. I bet Kramnik knew he was busted after 19.Ka1? Rxd3! Still, his opening treatment was interesting - holding off Nf3 until after f4. No doubt the Budapest was a surprise - this plan probably avoided any specific preparation.
Maybe Nf3 instead of the ambitious Qh5, with the plan of O-O, Kh1 and e4. O-O-O looks shaky for white with a3 played and the Black pawn already on a4. c4 is weak forever.
Originally posted by KorchA double bishop sac. Man I'm so obsessed with pulling that one off since I totally botched one.
One beautiful game won by Czech GM Pavel Blatny:
[Event "New York op"]
[Site "04"]
[Date "1996.??.??"]
[EventDate "?"]
[Round "?"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "Nelson Gamboa"]
[Black "Pavel Blatny"]
[ECO "A52"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "58"]
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Nc3 O-O 7.Bd3
Re8 8.a3 Ngxe5 9.b4 Nxf3+ 10.Q ...[text shortened]... 24.Kh1 Qf6 25.Bb2 Qf3+ 26.Kg1 Re8 27.Rd2 Qg4+ 28.Kh1 Re6
29.f3 Qh3+ 0-1
I've been playing the budapest for about 15 years with good results, it's a really good option if you dislike closed games!
The main problem being like for the albin : 2.Nf3 (ugly! i hate this!) Then it's hard to gambit !
On the budapest, i confirm that chessbase cd by oleinikov is very nice, and there's a very recent book by moskalenko too, excellent, with many fresh ideas and recent games (2 games by mamedyarov, so it can't have been such a surprise for kramnik at melody amber!)
The albin looks interesting too, have a look at morozevitch's games
Originally posted by KorchIndeed yes - a great game.
One beautiful game won by Czech GM Pavel Blatny:
...
Out of interest, how much do you think Black calculated at the point of the first Bishop sacrifice. it seems to me not beyond the bounds of possibility he'd actually seen the final position before he played ... Bxh2+!!
Mind you he might also have got to the point where White has to give up Queen for his rook and just reasoned it MUST be winning and not bothered (or needed) to calculate any further.