Caro-Kann Defence, Panov Attack, B14 - New Analysis

Opening books, it seems to me, very often fail to include analysis of moves which are natural and perfectly playable in standard openings.

A case in point is the Panov Attack in the Caro Kann where after the standard moves:- 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. c4 Nf6 5. Nc3 g6 6. Qb3 the only move given is 6...Bg7, gambitting the pawn. This is fine if Black wants to go in for a speculative pawn sac, but it is by no means forced. There seems to me to be no reason why Black cannot simply play 6...e6, holding the centre, or even 6...dxc4, though I think 6...e6 is the better of the two.
I have done some extensive computer analysis of these lines and they seem OK for Black, though almost never played. Yet opening manuals, such as Jacob Aagaard's "Easy Guide to the Panov-Botvinnik Attack" (Cadogan 1998) fail to mention these moves entirely and take it as read that Black has to go in for the gambit line. Why this omission? Probably pressure of time and space, but it can create the misleading idea that they are unplayable and thus cause players of the White pieces to consume a lot of time and energy trying to refute it at the board if they are ever confronted by it - when in fact there is no "refutation" to be found.

No sooner had I posted these thoughts on the ECF Forum than it was pointed out to me that in fact Topalov had played 6...e6 against Gashimov at the recent Nanjing Pearl tournament, getting a draw in 40 odd moves. All the more strange then for the omission of any analysis of 6...e6 in any of the manuals.

GMT and putting the clocks back

Now that we have arrived at my favourite day of the year, when the clocks go back and we can all have an extra hour of slumber, there is the predictable and tiresome chorus of nincompoops who want us to stay on British Summer Time all the year round. It is bad enough having to endure this abomination for six months, never mind about all year round. I say let us stay on the time zone we were clearly meant to be on, viz good old GMT, all year round. I know there are the silly arguments from the Eurofanatics that it will put us on the same time zone as the rest of Europe, but does this matter in the slightest. I don't believe any less business is going to be transacted in six hours than in eight, and if people are that obsessed with the number of co-ordinate hours of transaction time we might just as well put the clocks back by eight hours to be on the same time zone as California.
I remember the experiment with this back in the early seventies when it was sensibly abandoned because it meant those in Scotland were getting up in pitch darkness. Whatever time zone you are on there is difficulty but we might just as well stick with the natural one.

Chess Leveller - new blogsite has arrived!!!

Greetings to all and sundry. The new Chess Leveller blogsite is now here, hosted by yours truly. I intend the blog to be chiefly concerned with chess matters, but also covering the full range of my interests and pre-occupations including politics, history, current affairs, sport, games other than chess, books, film, television, art, theatre etc.

Please feel free to contribute anything and everything that might be pertinent to these subjects.