What can be done to increase the viewership of chess videos? Nowadays, probably everything. There are no barriers and lying is possible at will! For example, on YouTube you can find a video titled „The best opening in the world...“, and what is this miraculous remedy? Perhaps the title "Kiel variation" does not mean much to most readers, after all, there is such chaos in the names of openings and systems that even many experienced players no longer know what is being discussed. The Kiel variation, which this article deals with, arises after the moves 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 Nxd5 4.c4 Nb4.
True, for example František Pithart, in my opinion in one of the best books not only for adult beginners, calls the position after 2...Nf6 the Kiel variation in his list of openings at the end of the book. Further confusion arises because most authors completely call this different concept of play, with the possible recapture on d5 by the knight and not the queen, the Scandinavian Defence or game anyway. And the absolute peak of stubbornness or arrogance (take your pick) is represented by an Australian grandmaster David Smerdon. He named his voluminous 2015 book dealing with the gambit 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 without scruples „Smerdon's Scandinavian“!
Oh, those names
And yet everything is wrong! The variation 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6
should, in my opinion, be correctly called the Marshall Gambit, just as much later, sometime in the 1990s, the variation 3.d4 Bg4
became quite rightly known as the Portuguese Gambit. (Of course also a significant part of ‚Smerdon's Scandinavian‘; Australia simply led and still wins in many areas...)
Videos and viewership
For now I will interrupt the reflection and present a video, during the watching of which, despite illustration truly of nice variations, my hair stood on end in horror. Is the author simply a naive or stupid chess illiterate, or is he bluffing deliberately and are the numbers and inches below the screen the meaning of his life? But after all, this is how one can work up to some paid advertisement… for anything!?
So let's look at the video „The best opening in the world!“ 🙂
Beautiful variations, aren't they? One trap better than the other! But what if we try to seek the objective truth! (After all, some more chess-savvy readers point out the author's bias and incompleteness of the video directly on the page.) When I watched the video of my once favourite variation and weapon with Black, of course, my first reaction was to want to respond immediately, to join the other viewers. „But no,“ I said to myself after a moment. The Kiel variation is worth readers of my site properly orienting themselves in it. Firstly, there are more beautiful variations here than the author showed, and fundamental mistakes and shortcomings need to be pointed out. The Kiel variation has its bright sides, but, alas, also serious drawbacks. How to pass on experience to readers? How about Robinson's diary... 🙂
Robinson's diary
It was already known to children at primary school that the main character of Defoe's novel kept a diary. However, it was not only for orientation in time or because of the feelings of a lonely person. He used the diary to record „what succeeded during the day and what failed“. A kind of plus and minus. An example of a plus entry: „After several days I managed to build a hut!“ An example of a minus entry: „A violent storm almost completely destroyed my temporary shelter.“
Let's now take Robinson's method as our own and divide the next two chapters according to this key!
Plus entry: excellently forged weapon… against weaker opponents
If in a game we encounter a less experienced or simply weaker opponent, and we play blitz or rapid, I can say from experience that the Kiel variation works excellently. You can even rejoice in such a win, which Black achieved in the following historic game. In my opinion, every truly skilled chess player or qualified coach should know it regardless of whether he or his pupil can ever find themselves in a Kiel variation position. It is certainly not as significant knowledge as pulling out the Morphy-consulting game (Paris, 1858) from the sleeve, but still…
Beautiful variations, splendid conclusion. The plus chapter however is not over yet! In the diary what succeeded we still have four more gems prepared!
Minus score in the diary - how to respond correctly with White
If we are playing White, we want to play after 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.d4 and after 3...Nxd5 the statistically most played and principled 4.c4, we must of course be familiar with the Kiel variation 4...Nb4! Although somewhat from the other side, but all the more intimately. For the chess prayer of strong and confident players: „I will find the right plan on the board or remember where I saw the best reply!“ might not be enough. Black's misfortune is that there are several ways that force him to write down in the diary minus events.
Let me add – or repeat: „Sometime in the 1970s a dispute erupted at a distance between one of the authors of the Yugoslav Opening Encyclopedia, who was tasked with processing the then theory of the Scandinavian, Bent Larsen (who harshly condemned the Kiel variation), and opposite him David Bronstein, who boldly used the variation here and there even against stronger opponents. As is often the case, both were right in their own way. The Danish grandmaster correctly determined, that the static factors of the position objectively stand higher, but he did not provide nearly the right evidence. David Iosifovich, I believe, was rather provoking, relying on his own knowledge, boundless imagination, perhaps also analyses, and despite all shortcomings he sensed the existence of Madam Dynamics in the position. His approach was always closer to me and with the Kiel I won mainly many blitz games. However, with bowed head I must admit that from a certain level it is not Kiel variation knight jump to b4 Usable outside of blitz!
From an objective point of view, therefore, sadly, the Kiel variation 4...Nb4 really deserves rather a monument.
