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Thanks for posting this. I'm just starting out and want to learn the Grand Prix myself. It is fun to watch how you did it! I have Chess Openings for White, Explained but watching the play out is a much nicer way to get the basics!

Chris

Well played! I noticed real positional understanding in your moves which is an improvement. I didn't like your Nf6+ as the N was well placed on e4. The threat is often more terrible than the execution. With your permision I'll make a video analysis of this mate. Blacks opening sucked tho. When you played Bb5 he played e6? This allowed you to take on c6 doubling his pawns as well as creating multiple dark square weaknesses. Nd4! is the move hitting your Bishop.

Nontheless a good game by you. Please keep them coming.

Thanks for posting this game. It was very entertaining. Games like this and positions with similar complications are fun to play. The tension all around the board was never really resolved. I was looking forward to a much more furious king side attack but you went with a more controlled approach and kept it simple. A nice instructive game.

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Hi KingsBlade, nice game and win. I like playing the Grand Prix against the Sicillian also and if black doesn't know whats coming you can launch an effective attack against his king. The Grand Prix is especially good against the Dragon Sicillian where black plays g6.

In this defense its important to play f5 early attacking the g6 pawn. If black takes with his g6 pawn he will have opened up his castled position so usually he waits until white plays fxg6 and then he takes back with either the f pawn or h pawn. Capturing with the h pawn is suicide thought because it opens the h file for an attack by white with the queen on h4 and a knight on say g5 which is the natural position of the Grand Prix. Either way black now only has two pawns for protection of his king with either a half open h file or full open f file depending on which pawn he recaptures with.

You seem to have the main idea of trading off the light bishop for the knight on c6 and playing the queen to e1 to prepare for h4 later. Also when black kicked your queen knight from c3 your move to e2 was correct as that is part and partial to the GP attack, moving yet another piece over to the king side for support of the attack. The one move I didn't like that you played was 15 e5. True this gives your knight an outpost but it also gave black one as well which he took advantage of with 15...Nf5 hitting your queen and now the queen must retreat off the very square she needs to continue the GP attack. I also thought 12 Ng5 was a bit premature as black was able to kick the knight next move with h6 and now a black pawn covers the square the white knight on f3 needs to go to in order to attack f7 and h7 later. I know you said you try for cheapos but unless you are playing a very inexpirienced player your opponent usually won't fall for that and just like many gambits that similarly don't work out for the same reasons, you usually find yourself positionally worse off. It was difficult to play f5 as black had that square well defended but perhaps instead of 15 e5 a better plan would be to play g4 and Ng3 putting more pressue on f5 for the pawn push.

In the GP attack against the Dragon Sicillian white usually tries to get the queen to h4, the dark bishop to h6 attacking blacks bishop at g7 and a knight to g5. You can imagine the mating possibilities with this setup if black earlier decided to trade off his pawn on h7 for whites pawn on g6 after white plays f5xg6 :-).

Anyway enjoyed the game and keep em coming. I really enjoy seeing all the different games by everyone here and hearing what they are thinking when they make moves helps me to anaylize my own moves and games better.

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KingsBlade,

I certainly understand your apprehension in making moves like g4 which loosen up the castled king position and usually that isn't a good idea, however there are times its beneficial to do so. When I first started playing chess I was so afraid to lose I would only play moves that kept the game equal. In other words I would never even think of sacraficing a pawn much less a minor or major piece. Needless to say I didn't win many games this way. I would often see my opponents make these sacrifices that would lead to wins but couldn't understand how or when to play them myself. It was only after playing many games and studying different positions that I started to get a feel for when to sacrifice or not and when to push pawns, even the ones around your king. I am in no way am a master of the game, but I have improved tremendously since my days of being afraid to lose. My best advice is don't be afraid to lose, espcially now when you are still learning, because only through failure do you really learn chess. If you think a move or plan has merit try it by all means. If it doesn't work out go back over the game and see what moves you opponent played to counter it and what you could have done differently to make it work. Often times you can ferrit out a won postion which wasn't clear before. Don't mis-understand what I am saying. Don't play moves carelessly just to play them but rather don't be afraid to make a move if you think it betters your position or even may lead to checkmate. If it doesn't work out and you lose its only a lost game and you can always go back over it and see where you could have made a better move. Then the next time that position comes up, and it most likely will, you will now be prepapred to make the better move.

Hope I helped in some way. :)

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