Recently, I came across of the newly translated Manual by Harald Keilhack on 1.Nc3 titled “Knight on the Left,” which is well reviewed here. I’ve been inspired by Asa Hoffmann to look more deeply into this terribly neglected first move, and my readers will likely remember my recent post on this line against the caro-kann. It’s odd that it isn’t played more often, considering it is not only sound but also in line with classical opening principals. By developing a knight, white hits central squares, places a knight on a good square, and leaves options open as to the direction the game may take. And yet, if you look for top players who play this, there really aren’t any. Morozevich has tried it on for size, though this shouldn’t surprise anyone, and the Danish Correspondence GM Ove Ekebjaerg played 1.Nc3 exclusively, nearly becoming the Correspondence world champion with this move. And yet, there is a paucity of material on it.
Keilhack’s book is a collection of 99 games, heavily annotated with sidelines and suggestions. The games are grouped together logically according to possible transpositions, which it should come as no surprise this opening is full of. Often, 1.Nc3 will transpose to a King’s pawn game. The Scandinavian is possible after 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 Qd5 (when white’s best move is to simply play the knight back to c3 arriving at a standard scandivian, though in blitz I prefer to bring the knight to g3 just to be tricky.) Obviously, the Sicilian grand prix is possible after 1.Nc3 c5 2.e4 Nc6 3.f4, as well as the french, vienna, caro kann, and nearly any other king’s pawn game. However, 1.Nc3 is more than a simple stepping stone to other variations, it does have a heart and soul all its own and some unique positions that are native to 1.Nc3 alone. The most interesting of these is the Van Geet Attack, which is an aggressive attempt by white to play for knight activity in a closed position on the kingside of the board. Not surprisingly, it resembles a Nimzowitsch defense (1…Nc6) in reverse. The Van Geet Attack occurs after the moves 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 d4 3.Nce2, giving us the following position:
In this position, white plans to move the knight again to g3, then play Nf3, Bc4 or b5, d3, and play a strategic closed game involving an interesting kingside attack with his knights and perhaps a timely f4 break.
In the following game, black plays logical looking moves but gets steamrolled by the straightforward ideas for white in this line. While it’s a miniature, it is nonetheless instructive.
In order to avoid a biased approach, i’m including the following game as well where black pushes back and plays for a kingside pawn storm, which is a common way for black to fight in this variation. White manages to break through on the queenside just in time to sac his queen and get a perpetual.
In general, I’m attracted to this opening because it is uncommon, and yet it is also theoretically rich. Often, players who chose to play uncommon sidelines do so in order to avoid opening theory, however that is not really possible in the 1.Nc3 universe, and without a question the better prepared player will outscore his opponent consistently in this line.
6 Responses to “1.Nc3, The Van Geet Attack”
What if instead of transposing into the Scandinavian after 1. Nc3 d5 2. e4 dxe4 3. Nxe4 Qd5 and instead of 4. Nc3, maybe white should try 4. Qf3?
Hmmm… I will look at that. Qf3 seems a bit curious, bringing the queen out so early, yet, if black has done so why not?! Lately, i have been playing the “inferior” Ng3 just to avoid the scando.
Thanks for looking into it. I have done just some minor looking into two basic replies by black. If black replies with 4. … Nf6? well then he just simply drops his queen after 5. Nxf6+. Against 4. … Bf5 I saw maybe just simply play 5. Nd6+ forcing 5. … Qxd6 (otherwise the queen is lost again) and then follow up with 6. Qxf5 as a possible trading up for the two bishops and then black may have to watch out for the check on the b5 square with the queen.
The more I’m looking at it the more I like you’re suggestion of Qf3. My engine says that black is equal already, but who cares- I like the idea of retreating the knight to g3, and getting a nice game that is nothing like a normal scandinavian.
Yeah thats what attracted me to liking Qf3 because even if it is said to be equal black has to watch his moves and if you do play your knight on g3 the queen could be traded off for good development with the knight on g1 or it could help with controlling some of the center and be useful with an attack on the king side.
on January 1st, 2012 at 7:38 pm #
[...] most of my regular readers know, I’m a fan of offbeat openings. I wrote a post earlier about playing 1.Nc3 here. While this repertoire probably doesn’t appeal to most people because it involves knowing such [...]