Lessons From Mariánské Lázně VIII

IN round eight I had black against Germany's Guido Schott (2016).

By coincidence, the players to either side of GS were also Germans, although I did not pay much attention to this before the start of the round.

My game began 1.Nf3 d5 2.e3!? Nf6 3.c4, a somewhat unusual variation of the Réti.

But it is not exactly rare - this position occurs 9,956 times in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database

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I continued 3...e6, and, at about this time, or maybe a couple of moves later, I glanced at the adjacent boards to see what was happening there.

Imagine my surprise when I noticed that all three boards were showing the moves Nf3, e3 and c4, although in one case in a slightly different order.

Naturally, since White's system is not forcing, all three games diverged quite considerably quite quickly.

It reminded me of a famous variation in the Sicilian prepared by three Argentinian players when they faced three Soviets in the 14th round of the 1955 Interzonal in Gothenburg, Sweden.

The preparation backfired when Efim Geller found a piece sacrifice, whose follow-up the Argentineans had not properly analysed, and all three Soviet players, using the sacrifice, went on to win, with the games visible for all to see on giant display boards.

Such 'triple games' are rare, but when I asked one of the Germans the next day whether they had indeed prepared Nf3, e3 and c4 together, he agreed they had.

Their preparation worked out slightly better than the Argentineans', although the Germans' score on the three boards of +0=2-1 would not have matched their hopes.

LESSON: team preparation can be fun, but there is a danger of ending up playing something you do not properly understand, and that may not suit your style.