Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Fried Liver on Toast

I’ll keep this short. Maybe if I hurry I can get my Wacky Wednesday post up before Polly, who, like many an active chess player, seems to be luxuriating in the warm afterglow of last weekend’s amateur tournaments.

I like playing the Fried Liver Attack as White whenever my opponent obliges. Here is the critical position in the opening (which is arrived at in part because Black played 5. … Nxd5 rather than 5. … Na5, which computers and those who know about chess say is better.) Black to move, of course, since she’s in check.

The best move in this position is Ke6, which protects the knight on d5. (Of course, by bringing the king farther out toward the center it also leads to a sharp, highly tactical, and dangerous game, which is what makes the Fried Liver Attack so much fun.) There may be other playable moves, but the one that is instantly disastrous for Black is the one my opponent played in the game below.

Yes, 7. ... Kg8??? spells doom. Don’t let it happen to you.

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Tom, this is probably my favorite opening of all time (whenever I get a chance to play nowadays). I got so beat up by kids when I was learning by them doing this opening that I'm now determined to beat as many newbie kids as possible using it and make them cry. :)

Tom Panelas said...

That's the ticket, Lamarr: make them cry. Elizabeth would be proud of you.

And a :o) back at ya.

Unknown said...

Her post was absolutely hilarious. Hey, it's good to gloat sometime. I make sure when I play basketball with the guys on Fridays and kids are there, I block every one of their shots and yell "In your face!". It keeps them interested. :)

(For the record, I've only done that a couple of times, and it felt good, and the kids enjoyed it, haha!)

Anonymous said...

I'm testing this openID login. Ignore this comment.

Polly said...

You did beat me to the punch. I do have a good excuse though. I did finally get the position up.

Robert Pearson said...

Call me chicken, but this is why I haven't answered 1. e4 with e5 for several years...seems to me that White gets all the fun. I'm the guy that Morphy was calling out in his articles back in 1858. But my results have been better.

Tom Panelas said...

Thanks for stopping by, wahrheit. What do you like, the Sicilian?

Of course, you're well within your rights not to answer that and spill your opening repertoire.

Anonymous said...

Don’t let it happen to you.

This is the whole reason why the Sicilian was developed: some Italian had been victimized by the Fried Liver one too many times.

Anonymous said...

Wahrheit said...

Call me chicken, but this is why I haven't answered 1. e4 with e5 for several years...


Uh, you gotta be kidding? That's not chicken, it's just wrong.

Google for Traxler (or Wilkes-Barre) because
1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.Bc4 Nf6
4.Ng5 Bb5(?!)
with the idea of sacrificing the bishop on f2 is full of entertaining lunacy, and with a bit of prep you will crush anyone who hasn't seen it before.

Tom Panelas said...

Re: "entertaining lunacy": Yeah, tell me about it. :o)