Does z00t know nothing

Originally posted by Korch
His excuse was "Korch was lucky because I was tired and was even losing to 1500s at that time on Playchess, since I have no vacation flag at RHP I soldiered on." 😀

Thread 75227 page 2

What an excuse when you only have 6 games!

How would he manage with 50? Even if 45 of them were rated 400 or more points below him.

Originally posted by Korch
I dont see the problems for white after 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qe2 Bg4 9.Rd1 e6 10.Bb3 with compensation. For example 10...Ne5?! 11.h3! Bxf3 (not 11...Nxf3+? 12.gxf3 Bxh3?? 13.Kh2 trapping bishop) 12.gxf3 with f4 to follow and white have strong initiative.

In the line
1.e4...c5
2.d4...cxd4
3.c3...dxc3
4.Nxc3...Nc6
5.Nf3...d6
6.Bc4...a6!
7.0-0?...Nf6
8.Qe2? (routine Morra but here I think wrong)
...Bg4!
9.Rd1...e6
10.Bb3...Ne5
11.h3
why not
11...Nxf3+
12.gxf3
then
12...Bh5 doing a smash & grab on white's KS

white to move


What is your plan here Korch - I see no immediate weakness with black's position.
13.Bg5 here can be met with ...Be7 or 13.e5...Nd7 I think with no real problem for black.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
In the line
[b]1.e4...c5
2.d4...cxd4
3.c3...dxc3
4.Nxc3...Nc6
5.Nf3...d6
6.Bc4...a6!
7.0-0?...Nf6
8.Qe2? (routine Morra but here I think wrong)
...Bg4!
9.Rd1...e6
10.Bb3...Ne5
11.h3
why not
11...Nxf3+
12.gxf3
then
12...Bh5 doing a smash & grab on white's KS

white to move
[fen]r2qkb1r/1p3ppp/p2ppn2/7b/4P3/1 re can be met with ...Be7 or 13.e5...Nd7 I think with no real problem for black.[/b]

What are you gonna do after 13.e5 Nd7 14.exd6 ?

After 14..... Qf6 15.Nd5 Qg6+ 16.Kh2 Bxd6+ 17.Bf4 Bxf4+ 18.Nxf4 Qf5 19.Nxh5 Qxh5 20.Bxe6 Qe5+ 21.Qxe5 Nxe5 22.Bd5 white have large advantage in endgame, for example 22....0-0 23.Rac1!

If 14...Qh4 then after simple 15.Kg2 black also have problems. for example 15...g6 (trying to complete development) 16.Ne4 (threat Bg5) h6 17.Ng3 Bg7 18.Be3 0-0 19.Rac1 with large advantage.

Originally posted by Korch
What are you gonna do after 13.e5 ?

13.e5...Nd7
Then presumably
14.exd6...Qf6 maybe.
It is starting to look rather awkward for black there!

Maybe black has better options around move 10.
10.Bb3...Be7 looking to castle to relative safety with 11.h3...Bxf3 12.Qxf3...0-0 this looks ok for black?

white to play


I really wanted to avoid playing out these lines with a 2200+ player in the open forums as someone may be watching who might benefit apart from me! 😉
I couldn't resist though...

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
[b]13.e5...Nd7
Then presumably
14.exd6...Qf6 maybe.
It is starting to look rather awkward for black here!

Maybe black has better options around move 10.
10.Bb3...Be7 looking to castle to relative safety with 11.h3...Bxf3 12.Qxf3...0-0 this looks ok for black?

white to play
[fen]r2q1rk1/1p2bppp/p1nppn2/8/4P3/1BN2Q1P/PP ...[text shortened]... ums as someone may be watching who might benefit apart from me! 😉
I couldn't resist though...[/b]

If 10...Be7 then 11.h3 Bxf3 (11...Bh5? 12.g4 Bg6 13.e5) 12.Qxf3 with at least compensation for the pawn due to pressure on d-file.

Originally posted by Korch
If 10...Be7 then 11.h3 Bxf3 (11...Bh5? 12.g4 Bg6 13.e5) 12.Qxf3 with at least compensation for the pawn due to pressure on d-file.

Hmmm, z00t.
Maybe you're right. Under closer examination the "notorious a6" may deserve a ? instead of !

So anyone got a better defence for black against the fragile Morra?

Notice that all the critics of the gambit provide no evidence in the way of theoretical lines. Ironic eh, that supporters of the gambit have to try to do their hard work for them...
🙄

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Hmmm, z00t.
Maybe you're right. Under closer examination the "notorious a6" may deserve a ? instead of !

So anyone got a better defence for black against the fragile Morra?

I did not say that position after 12.Qxf3 is not playable for black - maybe they can reach equal position (like in many other openings), but this line cant be refutation of Smith-Morra.

Originally posted by Squelchbelch

I really wanted to avoid playing out these lines with a 2200+ player in the open forums as someone may be watching who might benefit apart from me! 😉

Like me. Then I can use them when we play in the Morra tournament.

Originally posted by Dragon Fire
Like me. Then I can use them when we play in the Morra tournament.

But you are one of the strongest players in Morra tournament which is currently going.

Tournament 2058

Originally posted by Korch
But you are one of the strongest players in Morra tournament which is currently going.

Tournament 2058

Pity z00ts not in it!

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
9 times out of 10 they'd play:
[b]7...Nf6 amazingly, pretty much anything else loses!

White's idea with 7.Bg5! is to either play 8.Qb3! as I did here Game 3829842 to destructive effect, or, after the correct 7...Nf6 simply stuffing black's pawn structure with
8.Bxf6...gxf6, 9.0-0
[/b]

No offense to your opponent but he played poorly there.

Originally posted by adam warlock
No offense to your opponent but he played poorly there.

I agree - but it does not make Smith-Morra incorrect.

Originally posted by Korch
I agree - but it does not make Smith-Morra incorrect.

Of course not, but that wasn't the best example either.
Actually I think that this gambit is a lot of fun for both playes and the lack of top players playing is due to its risky nature for both sides.
But hey!. I'm just a patzer.

Originally posted by adam warlock
Of course not, but that wasn't the best example either.
Actually I think that this gambit is a lot of fun for both playes and the lack of top players playing is due to its risky nature for both sides.
But hey!. I'm just a patzer.

Maybe not the best example but a typical example of how black often falls apart when faced with a gambit by white which only goes to prove the validity of the gambit.

So far I have seen a lot of stuff (from Morra players) showing how playable the gambit is but nothing showing any refutation by black.

I think those of us that believe the Morra Gambit to be a useful tool in whites armoury have won the debate.

Originally posted by adam warlock
No offense to your opponent but he played poorly there.

The idea was to show how powerful the threat 8.Qb3 was in this position & also how one mistake ends the game quickly in the Morra.

7...h6? might look natural, but is in fact bad news because I can ignore the threat to make a much bigger one myself.
8...Na5?? also looks ok at first glance, but is in fact the losing move because black can't deal with all the threats.

9.Bxf7+! wins fairly easily here: