Anybody notice that USCF Issues forum has over 10 times the number of topics and 42 times the number of posts than he All Things Chess forum?
Well, to start with it’s been around a whole lot longer.
And it hinges on the fact that a lot of people would rather shoot bull about perceived issues than talk about chess (o;
How do feel about online cheating in poker compared to chess.
Bingo! We have a winner. 
As I said several times when the idea of a ‘general chess issues’ forum was brought up prior to September of 2007, there are lots of other places on the web where people can talk about chess, but not many places where they can talk about how to run a chess club or a chess tournament, which were the initial reasons for setting up the USCF Forms.
The USCF issues forum was added later on in the hopes that it would be a place for meaningful and factual discussion of USCF policy between USCF members and USCF officials. Sadly, that has not worked out as well as it was hoped, because some people insist on making every topic about THEIR pet peeves or use the forums to spread disinformation or insult (if not defame) everyone they can. As a result, many of the real policymakers (paid as well as volunteer) tend to stay away from the Forums (or at least not post there.)
As I am about to play in a non-rated city championship tuesday night, and one of the new players is known to play an unusual second move on the whiteside of the Caro- Kann.
1 e4 c6 2. “c4” d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 ( I am looking at) Qxd5 There is not any recent games (within the last year or two) I can find. Older games( 1980s to 90s) follow to a possible = for black. (with perfect play on each side)
I am therefore wondering if this Gentleman, has found a newer line that would lead to a white win?
My question is does anyone know of any games with this line that have been played lately?
Hopefully I can get this Gentlman to play in the Tournament in Stillwater Dec. 27th. He is from a foreign country and not a USCF member. A friend( rated about 1850) has played him, and estimates his strength at about 1900 to 2000.
Hoping that is chess enough for discussion 
Well, I got racked up by Pascal Charbonneau last year in that line (with 4…Qxd5), but that was more because he’s a GM and I’m a patzer than because of any inherent defect in the line. That game can be found at http://www.marshallchessclub.org/MccCh2007/Round1-07.htm.
If you have Schiller’s book on the Caro-Kann (which is not bad), he advocates …Qxd5 and then …Qd8 if I recall rightly. Karpov and Podgaets’ recent book has good coverage of …Qxd5 as well. I think it has to be += --it’s like the Queen’s Gambit Accepted, but White has a little more flexibility–, but it’s an OK line if you like playing against the isolated pawn and are willing to deal with a White initiative.
The usual move is 4…Nf6, which gets pretty theoretical. I can’t resist a plug for my blog:
http://altergoniff.blogspot.com/2008/11/good-draw.html is a game I played against a strong young Master in that line recently.
Hmm, White takes you out of your game with the anti-Caro-Kann defence. But all is not lost.
[Event “World Blitz”]
[Site “Moscow RUS”]
[Date “2007.??.??”]
[White “Carlsen,M”]
[Black “Morozevich,A”]
[Round “15”]
[Result “0-1”]
[WhiteElo “2714”]
[BlackElo “2755”]
[ECO “A11”]
- c4 c6 2. e4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 5. Nc3
Nxd5 6. Nf3 Nxc3 7. bxc3 g6 8. d4 Bg7 9. Bd3
O-O 10. O-O Nc6 11. Re1 b6 12. Bg5 Re8 13. Qd2
Bb7 14. h4 Rc8 15. h5 Na5 16. Re3 Nc4 17. Bxc4
Rxc4 18. Rae1 f6 19. Bf4 g5 20. Bg3 h6 21. Qe2
Bd5 22. Nd2 Ra4 23. c4 Bf7 24. d5 Rxa2 25. Qd3
e5 26. dxe6 Qxd3 27. exf7+ Kxf7 28. Rxe8 Bf8 29. Ne4
Kxe8 0-1
I forget who, perhaps an SOS, but someone recommended 1.e4 c6 2.c4 e5. That would at least take your opponent out of his preparation. If you’re really interested, I can look it up.
Alex Relyea
A friend of mine invented a hybrid line he called the Caro-Khine (Caro-Kann and Alekhine). It goes 1.e4 c6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.c4 Nc7 (or a transposition of that).
Bill Smythe
- e4 c6; 2. c4 d5 can easily transpose to the Exchange variation of the Caro Kann which is 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. ed5 cd5 4. c4 as they can get to similar, or identical, isolated queen pawn positions. I would prefer developing …Nf6 and taking the pawn that way, centralizing the knight which can often remain on d5, rather than taking with the queen, then retreating back and not controlling d5.
Playing 2 …e5 seems somewhat more comfortable for White, to my taste anyway, after say 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 d6 5. d4 . 4…d5 is crazy but cannot work e.g. 5. cxd5 cxd5 6. exd5 and if e4, Qa4+.
I don’t like the Caro-Khine because the N on c7 puts no pressure on White’s center, unlike the N on b6 in the Alekhine which hits c4 where a pawn typically sits, forcing White to commit somehow in the center. When Black plays d5, White can just let the tension remain and see if Black dares to open the center with dxc4 .
Thanks folk, I will be looking at the lines you submitted. Hopefully I can at least make the first round to night ( it is single or one loss elimination G/90) without getting killed. I have been playing a lot with a player rated over 1800, so I am getting some better, a little is coming back to me. He tells me I am playing about 1500 or 1600 consistently which is about where I was 40 years ago 
Thanks again for the ideas and the different looks at the line.
Harry.
kick behind Harry
Harry, I’m curious why a City Championship will be held as a non-rated event? Is the club not a USCF Affliate? May be good time to become one and also encourage your opponent to join USCF.
There is at this time not a club so to speak. We also have no TD in this area. It was thrown together by a friend and I agreed to play in it. The young man( my opponent) is going to join the USCF. He is Lebanese he will be going home in January ( I think that is the correct spelling). He is also going to be in Vegas, and I have encouraged him to play in the NAO. there the 26th-29th. If not he will be back to play in Stillwater the 27th. We have tried here several times to get a Chess Club going but there seems to be little interest. Hard for me to believe in a city with 100,000 population in the immediate area.
Lawton, OK might be 100,000 but it’s a pretty rough town…and Fort Sill is a revolving door as of late since it’s an artillery base. And the drive to Oklahoma City for a decent-sized tournament could make you so bored you’d cry.
That said, an unrated event is better than none at all.
It is amazing to me, Lawton has a bigger gang problem than Oklahoma City.
There has been 6 tries at starting Scholastic Chess in the schools, to date all have failed to produce much activity. We have been trying to get a Chess Club started here for two years. There is very little interest, there are chess players but they would rather play on line. I never dreamed it would be this hard to start a club.
Maybe it is a sign of the times.
Harry, you have most of the elements of a “Chess Club”; you have a venue however small (it could be a home where quads or hexes are played), your friend is an organizer, you have players and at least one of you is a USChess member. You or your friend could become a “Club” TD by agreeing to read the Rulebook. You could become a USCF Affliate and organize rated weekend tournaments and/or just meet weekly and play skittles and Quick . I use and/or because in my observation, players will most likely do only one of these activities, so a “Chess Club” could be either a weekly meeting or a quarterly 1 or 2 day tournament. One of the frustrations of a weekly club organizing a weekend event is that very few of your members come, but players who do not have a weekly club do.
Sorry, Bob, but you landed on a corn of mine.
There’s no reason any tournament needs to be rated. We had a city club here where the venue was terrific, provided by the city at no cost. The city paid staff to organize events and instruction. But the club couldn’t hold rated events, because it was against city ordinances to require membership in a private organization in order to participate in an event subsidized in any way by the city. (Those aware of civil rights history will have no trouble understanding the origin and necessity of such a statute, BTW.) Hence, no way to require USCF membership. We got around it for years by simply not requiring memberships, and using club funds to pay for those who weren’t members, relying on peer pressure to get club members to join, etc. (If this is considered heretical, consider also that the person running this was a FIDE regional VP, an NTD, and even the author of the USCF rulebook lo, these many editions ago, and one of the club regulars invented the rating system.)
But we also ran unrated events. It may sound heretical, but you don’t need a rating system to have competitions, you don’t even need USCF members. Chess competitions existed before the USCF, they will exist after it fades from memory.
So Harry, don’t feel bad about the City Championship not being rated. Just feel good about playing chess and competing for the city title. I’m pulling for you.