Erudition shines through in your posts.

Agrestic what a wonderful word.

I miss your and flags sword fighting very fun and entertaining.Really.Not in a mean way.I do understand why you left the forums though,there is a problem with selective enforcement.

I used to play the Closed Sicilian, and I've gone back to it because I'm tired of trying to learn the 8 billion variations of the Open Sicilian. Maybe you'll come back to the forums one day.

girolamo...aww, you still care.  I will look for that Nd4 chance and let you know how it goes.

Anthony...I'm exhausted with openings.  Thanks for bringing this Botvinnik thing to light...for now I'm going to just see what I can do by winging it.

goldendog.  It's a big compliment that one of my favorite posters feels that way.  If you do get fed up, be sure to leave a forwarding address :P

Ditto on the forums. They're not as fun as they used to be... Sorry to see you go.

On the closed sicilian there may be an answer. There is the Botvinnik system which is a tad difficult to get the hang of but does give chances for counterplay. There is some pawn play to worry about but it is more aggressive than in main closed sicilian lines.

Yes there is a gaping hole on d5 but if you want to liven things you're going to have to give a little. Play will depend greatly on how White decides to develop his pieces so even though it's a system, play will be very dynamic. Black can get play on the queenside via ...Rb8 and ...b5, the center with ...d5 or the kingside with ...f7-f5 but this really depends on the position so don't go crazy lol.

It's useful against other openings like the English, Dutch/reversed Dutch, king's indian attack and many other non 1.e4 openings named after European landmasses.

Hope this helps.

I'm sorry you've quit the forums. They are just that much less entertaining for me now.

As for the censorship, I find it to be very misdirected lately. For some reason he/she/they insisted that the phrase "retarded virgin" could not be seen in the forums.

A mindless bit of censorship, and my request for an accounting of who and why was deleted as well.

If I feel I have to leave the site I'll try to remember to say goodbye.

Nevertheless, there's one thing you ABSOLUTELY need to know about the Closed Sicilian: Black usually obtains a favourable game when (s)he gets to play ...Nd4 at a moment when White is more or less forced to take on d4 (usually with a knight), AND (s)he is able to maintain the newly doubled pawn.

The reason? Counterplay on the half-open c-file, of course!

bjazz...that's very kind.  I'll stick to blogs for now :) 

fiveswords.  Ah, the distinction...yes, I suppose I meant that it gives Black more than many other openings do.  I didn't realize GMs play the Italian still.  I think that without a database, it's very pleasant for White.  thanks for contributing.

Black may get equality more often in the italian game, but not the advantage.

its not uncommon to see GMs 2300+ lose as black vs the italian game, in fact the opening served nigel short extremely well.

I agree its easier to understand than a lot of fashionable super gm openings...and its best to play something you understand.

Quit the forums? Shame, I found your contributions entertaining and valuable, such as only a select few individuals on the forums will attribute to.