This is my first video discussing a specific opening variation so any feedback would be appreciated. Do I provide enough sample games? Hopefully my discussion was thorough enough, I had a lot of ground to cover.

EDIT: Also, I'm by no means an authority on the Trompowsky, so if you disagree with any analysis, please post your thoughts...discussion is what chess-videos.com is all about!

Here are the variations I discuss:

1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 c5 3.Bxf6

[3.d5 Qb6 4.Nc3 Qxb2 5.Bd2 Vaganian Gambit named after the Armenian GM]

3...gxf6

[3...exf6 4.Nc3 cxd4 (4...d5 5.e3 Nc6 6.Nge2 Be6 7.g3 cxd4 8.exd4 Bd6 9.Bg2 Ne7 10.0-0 white has a comfortable position) 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Qe4+ Be7 black's pawns are very weak. 7.e3;]

4.d5 Qb6 5.Qc1 f5

[5...Bh6 6.e3 (6.Qxh6 Qxb2) 6...f5 7.Ne2 I suggest this instead of the other line because it's more solid, the other line leads to unclear complications. (7.c4 f4 8.exf4 Bxf4 9.Qxf4 Qxb2 10.Ne2 Qxa1 11.Nec3) 7...d6 (7...e5 8.Nd2 d6 9.Nc4 Qc7 10.a4 b6 11.Nc3 a6 12.Qd1 Rg8 13.Qh5 white went on to win in Vavrak-Hoekstra) 8.c4 Nd7 9.Nbc3 Ne5 10.Nf4 Bd7 11.Qc2 a6 12.Nh5 Qa5 13.f4 Ng6 14.Bd3 Peter Wells describes white's set-up as quite appealling.]

6.c3

[6.g3 Bg7 7.c3]

6...Bg7 7.g3 d6 8.Nd2

[8.Bg2 Nd7 9.Nh3 Wells describes f4 as the optimal square in this line 9...Nf6 10.Nd2 0-0 11.0-0 e6 12.Nf4 Bh6 13.e3 from Adams-Lautier, 1995]

8...Nd7 9.Nc4

[9.Nh3 Nf6 10.Bg2 Bd7]

9...Qa6

[9...Qc7 10.Qg5]

10.e4 fxe4 11.a4 following Stefanova-Xu 11...b5 12.axb5 Qb7 13.Qg5 Rg8 14.Qd2 Nf6 15.Ne2 Bd7 16.b6 Bb5 17.Nc1 a6 18.Nb3 Rb8 19.Rd1 Ng4 20.Nba5 Qc8 21.Bg2 Bh6 22.Qc2 e3 23.fxe3 Nxe3 24.Nxe3 Bxe3 25.Qe4 Bg5 26.Qxh7 Kf8 27.c4 Qg4 28.0-0 Rg7 29.Qe4 Bd7 30.b7 Bf6 31.Qxg4 Bxg4 32.Rd2 Rg5 33.h4 Rg8 34.Rxf6 exf6 35.Rd3 Bd7 36.Kf2

I think you did a very good and thorough job on this, Josh! Thanks! After ...c5, the Tromp becomes a whole different animal than in most lines. It seems like its paramount to defend b2 and d5 sufficiently early on, and then lash out at his misplaced kingside. I also liked the possibility of playing the pseudo-gambits, and the ideas of posting knights on c4 and f4 were great observations as well. Thanks again!

Great video, Josh! I think it's a good idea to limit the scope of opening videos by sticking to a few lines/ideas at a time. And it's a great way to get a bit more familiar with those openings that we might not see as often.

Hi Josh,

That was a very nice overview video: just the right length and just the right information density. Since you play the Tromp regularly, it might be a reasonable thing to try and do a similar one for all the main variations 15-20 minutes at a time. Also a higher level discussion of Tromp vs. pseudo-Tromp is something I'd find interesting. What if Black doesn't cooperate and plays something other than 1. d4 Nf6? If you're trying to convert folks to the Trompowsky, a complete set of videos would probably be enough for a club level player to start building a White reperatoire.

Of course, since you made this video a month ago, maybe you've already done it and I haven't stumpled across it yet.

L8erz...
=wild=

helped a lot thx

Thanks for the encouragement guys! I would like to make some more Trompowsky variation videos, hopefully in the next week or so. As far as a higher-level discussion of the pseudo-Trompowsky, however, I don't think I'll be much help...I usually just wing it. Also to answer your question, Wildman, I play 2.Bg5 against almost every black reply. It doesn't always work out that well, but it's fun.