Saragossa Opening

History ( daWiki )

This opening became popular in the Saragossa chess club (Zaragoza, Spain) in 1919. The next year club member José Juncosa analyzed the opening in Revista del Club Argentino. In 1922 a theme tournament requiring the players to open with 1.c3 was arranged in Mannheim with three participants, Siegbert Tarrasch, Paul Leonhardt and Jacques Mieses, which Tarrasch won.

Certamente è una'apertura indicata per i giocatori di rimessa. E' forse possibile rendere interessante tale tratto a patto che si accetti di inserirlo in un contesto di sviluppo coerente ma al tempo stesso più "fantasioso". Altrimenti non rimane, come indicato qui sotto nel testo dedicato all'apertura Saargossa su Wikipedia di giocare delle difese quali la Caro-Kann o la Slava in contromossa, fatto che non va certo considerato irrilevante, sopratutto se si é in piena sintonia con questi impianti. Possibilità non prese in considerazione dalle note su Wiki...  il Bianco potrebbe giocare uno schema g3 - Ca3 - Cc2. In fondo Una Karo-Pirc in contromossa.

Qualche esemplificazione:

1.c3 d5 2.Ca3 e5 3.g3 Cf6
 ( 3...Axa3 4.Da4+ ) 
4.Ag2 Cc6 5.Cc2 Ad6 6.d4 O-O
( 6...e4 7.Ch3 O-O 8.O-O h6 9.f3 ) 
 7.Ch3 

 ( altrimenti 7.dxe5 Cxe5 8.Cf3 Cxf3+ 9.exf3 Te8+ 10.Ce3 ( 10.Ae3 c5 11.O-O Ae6 12.Te1 h6 13.Dd2 Tc8 ) 10...c6 11.O-O ) 

  exd4 8.Cxd4 ( 8.cxd4 Af5 9.Ce3 ( 9.e3 Dd7 ) 9...Ae4 10.f3 Ag6 11.O-O De7 12.Cf2 Tae8 13.f4 h5 14.a3 h4 ( 14...Cxd4 15.Dxd4 Ac5 16.De5 Dxe5 17.fxe5 Txe5 18.Ced1 Txe2 ) ) 

 8...Cxd4 9.Dxd4 

 ( 9.cxd4 Te8 10.O-O c6 11.Dc2 g6 12.Ag5 Af5 13.Dd2 Axh3 14.Axf6 Dxf6 15.Axh3 h5 ) 9...Te8 10.Ag5 Ae5 11.Dd3 h6 12.Ae3

Oppure potrebbe orientarsi verso una Bird con il fianchetto ( un Leningrado con il tratto ) o adottare addirittura un sistema di apertura del finchetto di Re un tantino particolare, dove si tenga in debita considerazione lo sviluppo laterale di entrambi i Cavalli.  

Esistono dei giocatori particolarmente affezionati al Saragozza, peccato che non riescono a dare a tale schema una connotazione particolare. Nguyen Huu Hoang un giocatore di livello magistrale fa sistematicamente seguire a 1.c3 la posizionatura della Donna in c2. Talvolta le sue partite risultano essere interessanti come nell'esempio sottostante solo se l'avversario non gli consente  di giocare con tranquillità il  solito schemino Est-Indiano o il Philidor in contromossa...


Nguyen Huu Hoang (2105) - Simon, Olivier (2397)
Le Touquet op 22nd 2007 - Saragossa Opening A00
  

1.c3 e5 2.Dc2 d5 3.d3 f5 4.Cd2 Cf6 5.b4 c5 6.a3 a5 7.bxa5 Cc6 8.e4 d4 9.Cgf3 Ad6 10.Ae2 O-O 11.O-O Rh8 12.Tb1 f4 13.Cc4 Ac7 14.cxd4 cxd4 15.Ad2 Cd7 16.Tb5 Df6 17.Tfb1 g5 18.h3 Dg6

19.Dd1 h5 20.Ch2 Cf6 21.Txb7 Axb7 22.Txb7 Tfc8 23.f3 Cd7 24.a4 De6 25.Tb5 Ta7 26.De1 Cf6 27.Ad1 De7 28.Rf1 Tca8 29.Cb6 Tb8 30.Cd5 Cxd5 31.exd5 Txb5 32.axb5 Cxa5 33.Ab4 Df6 34.d6 Ab6 35.De4 Rg7 36.Re2 De6 37.Cf1 Td7 38.Cd2 Cb7 39.Ab3 Df6 40.Dc6 Dd8 41.Ce4 Ca5 42.Axa5 Axa5 43.Cc5 Txd6 44.Ce6+ Txe6 45.Dxe6 Df6 1/2-1/2

Presentiamo infine un divertissement sul tema del Saragossa realizzato da due maestri nordici, certamente non privi del senso dell'ironia...

Kiltti, Jyrki (2190) - Keskisarja, Teemu (2290)
Kuopio We KSY op - Kuopio

Saragossa Opening 1998 A00

1.c3 Ch6 2.Da4 Tg8 3.g4 b5 4.Dxb5 f5 5.g5 Cg4 6.Dd3 a6 

Quando scrivevamo che 1.c3 potrebbe essere inserita in un contesto di sviluppo più "fantasioso", nnon intendevamo fino a questo punto!

M.G

Basics ( Wikipedia )

The opening of 1.c3 seems at first to be an unambitious move. It opens a diagonal for the queen, but it makes only a timid claim to the center. It prepares to play d4, but White could simply have played that move immediately. Also, the pawn on c3 has the apparent disadvantage of taking the c3 square away from the knight.

It is not a terrible move, however, because it is likely to transpose to many solid systems, including a reversed Caro-Kann Defence or Slav Defense (but with an extra tempo for white); the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, a fully respectable opening often played by grandmasters, after 1.c3 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.cxd4 d5; to a solid but passive type of Queen's Pawn Game after 1.c3 Nf6 2.d4 or 1.c3 d5 2.d4; or to a reversed Scandinavian Defense after 1.c3 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4!? Nc6 4.Qa4; as well as the Ponzianni and Center Game openings, to name just a few. In the hands of a master-level player with a very deep theoretical knowledge of some of these systems, White can use this opening effectively in order to gain an unexpected advantage from the extra tempo (see the Advanced Analysis section below).^{[citation needed]}

Black has a number of responses, the most common (and effective) being 1...d5, 1...e5, and 1...Nf6. After 1...d5, White can essay the Plano Gambit, 2. e4?!, in effect a weird response to the Scandinavian Defense. After 2...dxe4, 3.Qa4+ recovers the pawn, but Black gets quick development with 3...Nc6 4.Qxe4 Nf6 5.Qc2 e5. Also reasonable is 1...f5, when 2.d4 transposes to a Dutch Defense where White has played the passive move c3.

The reply 1...c5 is also playable, but gives White more opportunity than other moves to transpose to standard openings where he may have a small advantage. The move 1...c5 2.e4 transposes to the Alapin Variation of the Sicilian Defence. The sequence 1...c5 2.d4 is also possible, when 2... cxd4 (2...e6 3.e4 d5, transposing to a French Defence after 4.e5 or 4.exd5, is also possible) 3.cxd4 d5 transposes to a regular Exchange Variation of the Slav Defense (usually reached by 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5), which gives White a slight advantage.

The move 1. ... Nc6 is also possible, as it transposes to the 1. Nc3 system (with colors reversed), where Black embarked on a rather dubious plan with c6-d5. After 2. d4, d5, Black seems to be holding the admittedly unusual position without particular difficulties:

Advanced Analysis

As mentioned earlier, 1. c3 can be a rather "sneaky" system, because a Master can employ it to rather devastating effect in long, reversed variations of "solid" systems such as the Semislav Defense, a favorite of many top Grandmasters, including the current World Champion V. Anand and the Former World Champion V. Kramnik, to name a few. To give a brief example, in positions like:

which is a well-known Semislav setup with colors reversed, there are "surprise" moves like a3!?, that translate into an extra tempo and "unexpectedly" accelerate the advance on the Queenside. White is waiting for Black to play Be7 or Bd6 so that he can capture on c5 and force Black to "waste" a move by having to move the Bishop twice in recapturing the c5 pawn. To this effect, the "sneaky" a3 move actually serves to accelerate the follow-up advances on b4 and c4, and indirectly readies the b2 square for White's Bishop.