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How rude would it be to offer a draw every time an opponent plays the London System? How about the Colle? I realize that these are not completely innocuous systems, but for some reason I just can't buy their right to exist. I know that's a silly viewpoint, but it seems like an affront against chess to me. Lets play an opening so that I don't have to think about the first 7 moves, can play it against anything, and have no diversity of strategic ideas. Just play checkers. It really annoys me in slow games, because I have to spend all this time just holding relatively even position with almost no imbalances. I play the sharpest systems can against these openings, but it still doesn't help much. I should add that I've never lost on the black side of one of these OTB, though I've certainly had many draws (and of course if I played someone much stronger than me in a Colle I'd probably still lose). Am I the only one who gets really dispirited when these openings hit the board? Am I way too concerned with my opponent's opening choices? Probably, but that doesn't undermine in any way the hatred I have for these systems.
I admit it; once, when I was really drunk late at night, I played the Colle-Zuckertort in 3-4 five minute ICC games, and I won them all. Now, I was playing like 200 points below my normal rating level since I had been playing inebriated for several hours, but that's no excuse. I'd like to state publicly that I'm sorry, I've learned from my mistakes, and from that point on I've only played main line openings. I hope you'll find it in your hearts to forgive me. Mea culpa, mea culpa, solus in vinum Colle.
Here's a game for your enjoyment of how I try to treat these systems. I wish they all went like this...
Bryant-Rampley.pgn
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3 comments:
I played Colle at some point, then switched to e4 for the same reasons you mentioned. I can understand you, I get the same emotions when I get Giuoco Pianissimo online (OTB I get mostly Ruy Lopez, which I like and sometimes Giuoco Piano, which is OK).
So boring, that I even began to play Two Knights defense, which is maybe a bit too sharp for me.
I used to play the Two Knights, and I still would if I had to have a win and couldn't risk a draw, though the Italian game is pretty sharp in many lines. I get the Giuco Pianissimo a lot more online too, and the Spanish in tournaments. I think online players are less likely to spend time learning theory. I'm glad I'm not the only one who has a distaste for these systems.
I think this is just a bit too harsh a treatment of the Colle. I linked a blog post to this article (http://chessvine.com/archives/107-Hitting-the-Colle-System-a-Little-Hard.html)
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