The Element of Time
Submitted by
materialkiller on Mon, 06/30/2008 at 9:27pm.
This is somewhat of a opening survey. 1.e4 c5 2.f4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.e5 Nc6 5.c3 f6 6.Na3 Qb6 7.d4 Nh6 or some version of this move order. The point is in this line is white has invest a great deal of time setting up a pawn wedge which may not proved to be very difficult for black to handle.
Paul Morphy stated that the problem that McDonnell had with these french-siclian setups was he wasted time against a opponent who knows how to exploit this weakness. In all three examples coming from their first match black use the same general plan: 1st open up lines, 2nd gain a edge in developement along these new lines of action , 3rd Transform this temporary positional pressure into a long lasting advantage.