Originally posted by DeepThought
As black in the Dutch I find English type systems harder to handle than lines after the queen's pawn has got to d4. Basically because one sees them so much less frequently. Unless you don't like the positions with the queen's pawn on d3 then I'd suggest playing them instead.
Thanks, I'll take that on board next time I see it, it's unfortunately not an opening that I've encountered more than once in a blue moon here.
At the time I played the English less often but without the fianchetto that is now bog-standard against the LD, and I was completely clueless about the importance of not allowing Black to play e5 - which of course is what I duly handed to him here, wrapped in pink ribbon and silvery paper, along with my embarrassment.
I should also mention that Bedlam, the same player, also memorably reduced me to steaming rubble in a Reti Gambit set-up which, once again, is an object lesson, this timeall that when presented with the RG, you should ideally accept the gambit and the consequences that follow, rather than declining it with puny blocking manoeuvres succeeded by suicidal knight blunders:
[Event "Clan challenge"]
[Site "http://www.redhotpawn.com"]
[Date "2006.05.19"]
[EndDate "2006.06.24"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bedlam"]
[Black "Amaurote"]
[WhiteRating "1735"]
[BlackRating "1553"]
[WhiteElo "1735"]
[BlackElo "1553"]
[Result "1-0"]
[GameId "2090920"]
1. e4 e6 2. b3 d5 3. Bc1b2 d4 {I haven't read Johannson's book, but I can't imagine he looks kindly on this option.}4. f4 c5 5. Ng1f3 Ng8f6 6. Bf1d3 b6 7. O-O Nb8c6 8. a3 Bf8e7 9. Qd1e1 Qd8c7 10. e5 {Okay, move the smegging knight anywhere, just not d5, anywhere but d5. Are we clear about this? If you have to choose a square to move this knight, void all thoughts of d5 from your mind, it's clearly a square only a preening idiot would select.} Nf6d5 {Oh, poo.} 11. Qe1g3 O-O 12. c4 Bc8a6 {In my dimension, en passant is apparently something that only happens to other people.} 13. Rf1c1 Nc6a5 14. cxd5 Ba6xd3 15. d6 Be7xd6 16. exd6 Qc7xd6 17. Nf3xd4 Bd3g6 {Look, I'm a Winawer player, I'm not used to dealing with modern concepts like "forks", "discovered attack", "tactics" and "attacking play", I've only recently been introduced to creating fire from rubbing two backward pawns together.}18. b4 cxd4 {Vainly and self-destructively attempting to block the a1-h8 diagonal, but it is at least strategically consistent with vainly and self-destructively declining the original gambit.} 19. bxa5 bxa5 20. d3 Ra8b8 21. Rc1c2 Rb8b3 22. Nb1d2 Rb3xd3 23. Qg3f2 Rd3e3 24. Nd2c4 Qd6b8 25. Nc4xe3 dxe3 26. Qf2g3 Rf8d8 27. Bb2e5 Qb8b6 28. Rc2e2 f6 29. f5 Rd8d5 30. fxg6 Rd5xe5 31. gxh7 Kg8xh7 32. Ra1e1 Qb6c5 33. Re2xe3 Re5g5 34. Qg3h3 Rg5h5 35. Qh3xe6 Rh5e5 36. Qe6h3 Re5h5 37. Qh3xh5 Qc5xh5 {I was depressed at this point, so I had a quick stroll in a graveyard to cheer myself up between moves} 38. Re3h3 1-0 {Ah, well, life's too short for chess. Not that I would know anything about chess, of course.}