Exeter Chess Club: Playing Black in e - pawn games
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An Exeter Junior Chess Club booklet
Edition 2., December, 99
Bibliography:
Kasparov/Keene, Batsford Chess Openings
Levy/Keene, An Opening Repertoire for the Attacking Club Player
Walker, Chess Openings for Juniors
Various magazines and other books
III. Less usual tries for White
III.A. The Vienna Opening, 2. Nc3
III.A.2. Vienna Game with 3. g3
III.A.3. Vienna Game with 3. Bc4
III.B. Bishop's opening, 2. Bc4
III.C. The King's Gambit, 2. f4
III.C.1. King's Bishop's Gambit, 3. Bc4
III.C.2. King's Knight's Gambit, 3. Nf3
III.D. Centre Game & Danish Gambit, 2. d4
IV.B.1. The Exchange variation 4. Bxc6
IV.B.1.b) Barendregt line 5. O-O
IV.B.2. Lopez Four Knights' Variation, 5. Nc3
IV.B.3. The Andersson-Steinitz line, 5. d3
IV.B.4. Open Morphy Variation with 5... Nxe4
IV.B.5. Cordel Defence 3...Bc5
IV.B.6. An alternative to the Open Morphy: Archangel Variation with 5...b5
IV.B.6.a) Archangel with 7. d4
IV.B.6.b) Archangel with 7. c3
IV.B.6.c) Main line Archangel with 7. Re1
IV.C. 3. d4 Scotch Game and gambits
IV.C.1. Scotch Game with 5. Be3
IV.C.2. Scotch Game with 5. Nb3
IV.C.3. Scotch And Goring Gambits
IV.E. Two Knight's Defence, 3... Nf6
IV.E.1. The Max Lange Attack 4. d4
IV.E.1.a) Max Lange with 5... Nxe4
IV.E.1.a)(1) Sacrificial 7. Nc3
IV.E.1.b) Max Lange with 5... Bc5
IV.E.2. Main line Two Knights' with 4. Ng5
IV.E.3. Closed variation with 4. d3
IV.E.4. Two Knights' with 4. Nc3
V.A.1. Euwe - Reti (Amsterdam) 1920
V.A.2. Estrin - Riskin (Moscow) 1963
V.B. Main Line Two Knights' Defence
V.B.1. Bibikov - Neishtadt (USSR) 1946
V.C.1. Neikirch - Halir (Corr) 1969
V.C.4. Kunz-Hentzgen, Corr.1973
V.C.5. Wirtz - Fahnenschmidt (Marburg) 1955
The two general opening rules are:
Rule 1: Develop as fast and as actively as you can
Rule 2: Get a stake in the centre, and try to stop your opponent
What does this mean in the e-pawn openings?
Plan A for White:
try and build a big centre with c3,d4 etc.
try and destroy Black's hold in the centre with f4 or d4
You can see that the move d4 may do both: after ...exd4, cxd4 Black's centre pawn has disappeared and White has the perfect pawn centre. This is the worst case for Black
| White's pawn centre plan | White's perfect centre |
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Plan A for Black:
Rule 1: develop as fast as you can
Rule 2: try to hang on to your own stake in the centre, or at least make sure you destroy White's as well.
Both sides may be able to maintain the e-pawn centre with pawns on e4/e5, or these may disappear and both sides have a central d-pawn (d4/d5). Lastly, all four central pawns may vanish. In each case Black should have equal play.
if White doesn't do much, grab as much of the centre as you can
Again, the move ...d5 often forms part of Black's plans. If Black can play this in safety, you will usually have equalised at least.
| e-pawn centre | d-pawn centre | vanished centre |
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With or without the d-pawns the natural break is f4/...f5, and either side can hope to plant a Knight on f4/f5. |
The open e-file usually means exchanges of the heavy pieces, as neither side can afford to abandon control of the file. The right square to plonk a Knight is e4/e5 |
With both files open exchanges are likely, and unless one side can seize the centre by force, or has the two bishops, play is drawish. |
So, let's have a look at some variations.
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
The commonest and probably the best move here, but there are alternatives. We divide this booklet into:
White plays 2. Nf3
Less usual tries for White
III. Less usual tries for White
III.A. The Vienna Opening, 2. Nc3
This old move is not bad: it threatens nothing but holds up Black's ...d5, and leaves open the possibility of 3. f4. How should Black reply?
2... Nf6
This is Rule 1: develop as fast and as actively as you can
White has several choices here: 3. f4, 3. Bc4 and 3. g3 are common
3... d5
And this is Rule 2: keep hold of your share of the centre, or hit back with ...d5. [The move 3...d6 looks half-right, but blocks in the Bf8 and gives up on playing ...d5. 3...d5 is all right.]
Now you should get an equal game, although, as always, you must be careful.
4. fxe5
[4. exd5 exf4 5. d4 Bd6 6. Qe2+ Kf8! Inkiov-Pinter, 1982. BCO2 give this as a slight edge to Black]
4... Nxe4
5. d3
[Natural development by 5. Nf3 Be7 6. d4 O-O 7. Bd3 f5 8.
exf6 Bxf6 9. O-O Nc6 10. Ne2 Bf5 11. c3 Qd7 12. Bf4 Rae8 leads to a
level d-pawn type of centre
Now after 5. d3 Black can simplify carefully and gain equality:
5... Nxc3 6. bxc3 d4
6...Be7 is more solid-looking, perhaps
7. Nf3 Nc6 8. cxd4 Nxd4
[Instead 8... Bb4+ 9. Bd2 Bxd2+ 10. Qxd2 Nxd4 11. c3 Nxf3+ 12. gxf3 Qh4+ 13. Qf2 Qxf2+ 14. Kxf2 f6 is level:
]
9. c3 Nxf3+ 10. Qxf3 c6 11. d4 Qh4+ 12. g3 Qg4 13. Bg2 Qxf3 14. Bxf3 Be6
with a level endgame; not much chance for Black to win in this line I'm afraid.
Vienna Game with 3. g3
This line was fashionable amongst masters a few years ago. White isn't doing much, so just follow rules one and two: first develop:
3... Bc5 4. Bg2 O-O 5. d3 Re8
Then hit back with ...d5.
6. Nge2 c6 7. O-O d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Kh1 Bg4 =
with a level game, as in Portisch-Toran 1961.
III.A.3. Vienna Game with 3. Bc4
If White plays this I recommend you reply
3... Nc6
[There is an exciting line 3... Nxe4 4. Qh5 Nd6 5. Bb3
when Black can survive with ... Be7, but I don't think you should let White get into this line]
4. d3 Bb4 5. Nf3 d6 6. O-O Bxc3 7. bxc3 Na5
[Fritz reckons you should play 7... h6]
8. Bb3 Nxb3 9. cxb3
When play is level.
III.B. Bishop's opening, 2. Bc4
This became fashionable as a way of avoiding the Petroff. The right move is:
2... Nf6
Now White's most common move is:
3. d3
[The line 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3 is the dangerous Urusoff Gambit 4...Nxe4 when 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5 Be7 7. Nc3 c6 8. O-O-O d5 9. Rhe1 Be6 leads to a strong attacking game for White
Simply 4... Nc6 5. O-O transposes to the Two Knights' lines below]
3... Nc6 4. Nf3
This transposes to a quiet line of the Italian ( Giuoco Piano/Two Knights' ) group of openings
[4. f4 is the only attempt to be original, but is a poor version of the King's Gambit where White has been committed to d2-d3. One line might go:
4...exf4 5. e5 d5 6. exf6 dxc4 7. fxg7 Bxg7 8. Bxf4 cxd3 9. cxd3 Qe7+ 10. Ne2 Bxb2, when White is in all sorts of trouble]
4... Be7 5. O-O O-O 6. Bb3
Having developed quickly, you are now ready for:
6...d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Re1 Bg4 9. h3
Now, the book line goes:
9... Bh5 10. g4 Bg6 11. Nxe5 Nxe5 12. Rxe5,
when BCO2 gives:
12...Nb6!=
Dolmatov-Chekhov, 1981.
This is a move Gary Lane ignores in his popular book.
But Lane does suggest the magnificent mess starting:
9... Bxf3
e.g.
10. Qxf3 Nd4 11. Qxd5
Qxd5 12. Bxd5 Nxc2
If you prefer this sort of game, this is a nice try.
III.C. The King's Gambit, 2. f4
Emanuel Lasker, world champion after Steinitz, said that gambit pawns should always be taken if you haven't broken any opening rules. He adds, you take them, not to hang on to them, but to make your opponent waste time and energy getting the pawn back. Meanwhile, you can develop and prepare to hit back.
This is good advice, but just as in the Vienna Gambit, we will also look quickly at a line with ...d5.
2... d5 3. exd5
Now you can try the relatively unanalysed 3...c6
3...c6
The Nimzovitch counter-gambit; 3...e4 is the old Falkbeer counter-gambit. Either way you get a good gambit line of your own against the King's Gambit. But Lasker would undoubtedly play:
2... exf4
Now White has two main ways of continuing:
(a) King's Bishop's Gambit, 3. Bc4
(b) King's Knight's Gambit, 3. Nf3
III.C.1. King's Bishop's Gambit, 3. Bc4
Black can play simply
3... Nf6 (Rule 1)
4. Nc3 c6 (Rule 2)
with good chances.
III.C.2. King's Knight's Gambit, 3. Nf3
I have always liked
3... Be7
This Cunningham Variation reinforces the ancient weakness on the e1-h4 diagonal, and covers the e-file.
4. Bc4
Now 4...Bh4+ is a fair try, but it's easier to go
4...Nf6 5. e5
Alternatives include
[5. Nc3 c6]
[5. O-O d5]
but these should cause you no trouble. After 5. e5
5... Ng4 6. O-O d6
Black has an equal game.
III.D. Centre Game & Danish Gambit, 2.
d4
Don't mess around, just play
2... exd4
Now White has a choice:
(a) Centre Game, 3. Qxd4
(b) Danish Gambit, 3. c3
or White can try to transpose into the Scotch with 3. Nf3.
This exposes the Q to attack, when it is hard to find a good retreat.
3... Nc6 4. Qe3 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7
[or 5... Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O-O Re8 8. Bc4 d6 9. f3 Na5 10. Bb3 Be6 =+
with slight advantage to Black, according to BCO2]
6. Bd2 d5 7. exd5 Nxd5 8. Nxd5 Qxd5
Black is ahead in development, which makes the opposite-side castling difficult to play for White. The game is equal.
3... dxc3 (Lasker!)
[Although 3... Qe7 is an interesting way of declining]
Now 4. Nxc3 is a sort of 'half-Danish', and is likely to transpose to the Goring Gambit, dealt with under the Scotch Game section below. The Danish proper is:
4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2
When White has a genuinely dangerous lead in development. Correct technique here is to return some of the material to get your own development back on track.
5... d5 6. Bxd5 Bb4+
[or 6... Nf6 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qxd8 Bb4+ 9. Qd2 Bxd2+ 10. Nxd2
is a level ending with rival majorities, and is as good try to win as any for Black.]
7. Nc3 Nf6
when Black has good chances of an advantage - either securing the two bishops in an open position, or developing quickly and then keeping the pawn. If you find yourself as Black thinking about odd or cramped moves just to try and hang on to the pawn, my advice is: let it go.
The best reply, is, of course:
White has a few different tries here, the main ones being
3. Bb5, the Ruy Lopez
3. d4, the Scotch Game
3. Bc4, the Italian game which can lead to the Giuoco Piano. Here I recommend the Two Knights' Defence.
This is the most important move at master level. The 'Spanish torture' (Ruy Lopez was a Spanish priest) is the main winning weapon for White and has held centre stage for hundreds of years. At junior level, though, there are a few ways to play it, depending on how much you trust your opponent to play lines you like. John Walker recommends the exciting Open Morphy Defence with 5...Nxe4, but White can veer off into some really dull lines on moves 4 and 5, and if anything your two moves tempt White to play a dull line. The Open Morphy is very well known and hard to play for both sides, so I'll throw in one more alternative: the Archangel Variation. See what you think for yourself.
My own recommendation is the old Cordel Defence with
3... Bc5
Bobby Fischer played this a few times in the 'sixties, and never had any trouble reaching a level game. It avoids any trouble you may have with the Exchange Variation and Lopez Four Knights' lines below. Let's look at how you can try and get into the Open Morphy lines, and perhaps then you can will see why I started looking at the Cordel line.
To get into the Open Morphy line you play
3... a6
hoping for
4. Ba4
White has an important alternative here, which might be played just out of nerves.
IV.B.1. The Exchange variation 4. Bxc6
After
4. Bxc6 dxc6
White can play either the old main line
(a) 5. d4
or the Barendregt line
(b) 5. O-O
The move 5.Nxe5 is met by 5...Qd4, regaining the pawn.
White is going for the better ending with this move; the hope is that all the pieces will come off, when White can create a passed pawn on the K-side with f4-f5 and e4-e5-e6 while your Q-side majority is crippled. So Black should avoid too many exchanges and play very actively, using the two bishops and open lines.
5... exd4 6. Qxd4 Qxd4 7. Nxd4 c5 8. Nf3 Bg4
with equal chances.
IV.B.1.b) Barendregt line 5. O-O
Bobby Fischer revived this in the 'seventies, and it is still being tried.
What should you do? The book line is roughly equal after
5... f6 6. d4 exd4 7. Nxd4 c5 8. Nb3 Qxd1 9. Rxd1 Bg4 10. f3
Be6 11. Bf4 c4 12. Nd4 O-O-O 13. Nc3 Bf7 14. Nf5 Rxd1+ 15. Rxd1 Ne7
16. Ne3 Ng6 17. Bg3 Bc5 18. Kf2 Rd8 =/+=
(Vitolins-Romanishin 84) with at most a small advantage for White.
But I reckon at junior level the line
5...Bg4
is worth a punt:
6. h3 h5!
Now
7. hxg4 hxg4 8. Nxe5 Qh4 9. f4 g3
leads to mate.
So White should play either
7. c3
with a probable draw after
7...Qd3 8. Re1
[8. hxg4 hxg4 9. Nxe5 Bd6 10. Nxd3 Bh2+ 11. Kh1 Bg3+ 12. Kg1 Bh2+ drawn
8... Bxf3 9. Qxf3 Qxf3 10. gxf3 O-O-O 11. Kf1 Be7 12. Ke2 Bg5 13. Na3 Ne7 14. Rg1 Bh6 15. Nc4 f6 16. h4 c5 17. d3
Or, the best line,
7. d3
White can get a small advantage here I think, but has to play lots of good moves.
7... Qf6 8. Nbd2 Ne7 9. Re1 Ng6 10. d4 Bd6 11. hxg4 hxg4 12. Nh2 Rxh2 13. Qxg4 Qh4 14. Qxh4 Rxh4 15. Nf3 Rh5 16. dxe5
[16. c3 f6 17. Be3 += bco2]
16... Nxe5 17. Nxe5 Bxe5 18. c3 g5 19. Be3 g4
]
If White plays the main line with 4. Ba4,
we continue to steer for the Open Morphy with
4... Nf6
hoping for
5. O-O
Sadly, White has several alternatives here, and if all your opponent knows about the Ruy Lopez ends after the third move, you may well startle White into playing one of these lines:
5. Nc3 Lopez Four Knights
5. d3 Andersson-Steinitz
There is also
[5. Qe2
which is no problem, but it does stop you playing your intended 5...Nxe4. Instead 5...Be7 6. Bxc6 dxc6 7. b3 Bd6 8. Bb2 Qe7 9. d3 =
9... Bg4 10. Nbd2 O-O-O is simply level]
IV.B.2. Lopez Four Knights' Variation, 5. Nc3
5. Nc3
Now ...d5 is difficult, but White has little chance of advantage.
5...b5 6. Bb3 Be7 7. d3
[7. a4 is more risky: 7...b4 8. Nd5 Nxe4
when Black may have the edge.]
7... d6 8. Nd5 Na5 =
with equality: BCO2.
IV.B.3. The Andersson-Steinitz line, 5.
d3
White intend to play slowly. There's not much you can do but trot out the usual recipe: develop and play ...d5. This should lead to level play.
5. d3 d6 6. c3 Be7 7. Nbd2 O-O 8. Nf1 b5 9. Bc2
[9. Bb3 d5 10. Qe2 Be6]
9... d5 10. Qe2 Re8
with equality.
After 5. O-O we can at last enter the
IV.B.4. Open Morphy Variation with 5... Nxe4
The main line of the Open Morphy variation goes:
6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. dxe5 Be6 9. c3 Bc5
When Black has superb development, although may look a little loose. The Open variation has been a great favourite of fighting players like Euwe and Korchnoi.
10. Nbd2 O-O 11. Bc2
Now you might even consider the Dilworth line:
11... Nxf2 12. Rxf2 f6 13. exf6 Bxf2+ 14. Kxf2 Qxf6
Botvinnik has tried this, although it is clearly risky to give up a piece in such an apparently equal position.
There are many alternatives in the Open Morphy at each point for both players, so I have only indicated some of the outlines above. Look in books like BCO2 for more information. Or, if the number of variations you see in the books frightens you, please consider the Archangel Variation
5... b5 6. Bb3 Bb7
which I discuss below.
But I have a feeling that most White junior players won't let you play these lines, and instead will veer off with the natural-looking Exchange or Four Knights' lines.
IV.B.5. Cordel Defence 3...Bc5
Having seen the number of ways White can shoot off into odd lines, you can see why I would like to recommend the Cordel variation. After
3...Bc5
White's best try is
4. c3
[or 4. O-O Nge7 5. c3 Bb6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Re1+ Be6 = Evans-Fischer 1960]