Two e-mails

Here are two e-mails that arrived the same day:

Bughousemaster has made the following comment on
your video: Nuke the Sicilian! How to Sac Your Queen on Move Six and Win.

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Why is this lecture in the 2400+ section??? I
don’t see how a 2400 player would benefit from this
at all…………

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Let’s ask this guy:

Hello Dana Mackenzie,

Some time ago I found out about the opening, mentioned in the title and you invented it. I have played about 70 games now using the variation, and have spent many hours on it.

I played it in a high level tournament called the crazy opening on Gameknot.com

I recently started a new tournament using this opening with players with a average rating of 1500 this to let them learn how to play in a complicated tactical game, and let them annotate the games. Perhaps you can have a look at it, and add more playing data to the variation. (Very interesting comments and alternative solutions.)

I will give you the links to the annotated games and the mini tournament we are currently playing.underneath this email..

In my opinion white has the most fun but if played carefully i think black has the best chances to win..

Gameknot Forum with links to the annotations and the Mini Tournament:

http://gameknot.com/room-fm.pl?home=3&th=226

Link to a high level mini tournament, already played:

http://gameknot.com/mt.pl?id=28603

My name there is Easy19 and my club level is around 2000 (not FIDE official).

And I think your variation is gaining popularity…

Regards, Freddy

I was very interested to hear that someone had actually organized a theme tournament around the Bryntse Variation (aka Queen Sac Variation), 1. e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 de 4. Ng5 Nf6 5. Bc4 Bg4?! 6. Qxg4!? Freddy’s first link takes you to several games with extensive annotations by the players. Some of the annotations are rather amusing. One guy doesn’t get the idea of the opening at all; I think he signed up for the tournament just for the heck of it. Another guy calls his king “Henry” and his queen “Glenda.” But I think there are some high-quality moves and games in there, too. My database of Bryntse Gambit games just got a lot bigger!

Here is why Freddy says that he loves this opening. It is the perfect answer to the disgruntled guy, “Bughousemaster,” who wrote the first e-mail.

The good thing about the opening is that it just has it all.
Extreme Sacrifice
Extreme Binds
Extreme Traps
Extreme sharp play
And extreme strategic play

And I just like all those extremes.. So i must be a Fan.

Thanks, Freddy!

By the way, I should perhaps clarify one thing about Bughousemaster’s question. ChessLecture doesn’t really have a special section for 2400+ players. However, a couple years ago GM Jesse Kraai made up a training guide with lectures targeted for each playing level. Almost all of my lectures are suitable for players 1600 and below, but Jesse apparently felt that the ideas in “Nuke the Sicilian” were subtle enough to be more appropriate for players over 2400.

I also highly recommend Jesse’s lecture, “Nez Nukes the Sicilian,” where he shows a game where Rashid Nezhmetdinov sacrificed his queen in similar fashion. He says that he never really understood that game until he saw mine.