Exeter Chess Club: The Ideas behind the Modern Defence

References:

  BOTTERILL/KEENE The Modern Defence (Batsford)

  DAVIES The Modern Defence (British Internet Chess Server, Warwick)

  HORT The Modern Defence (RHM)

  NORWOOD Winning with the Modern (Batsford)

  NUNN The Pirc for the Tournament Player (Batsford)

  NUNN The Complete Pirc (Batsford)

  NUNN New Ideas in the Pirc (Batsford)

  SOLTIS Black to play and win with 1...g6 (Chess Digest)

The basic idea behind the Modern Defence:

First Black allows White to set up a Pawn centre.

 

(This is the simplest kind of Pawn centre that White can set up.)

  Then Black hits back at it.

Black's pieces are all on good squares and Black even has a share of the centre. White can try and grab more of the centre than this, but the more White tries to grab, the bigger target you have got!

  This is quite a fun idea and often leads to more unbalanced battles than boring old 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5...

[I must add that there are lots of ways to unbalance the old Italian game (4. c3, 4. b4) and you can always try something else at move 3 (3. Bb5, 3. d4)]

Good points for Black about the Modern Defence:

• It is unusual and White may not have a clue how to behave
• It is difficult and unbalanced and so is a good system to play for a win with.

Good points for White in the Modern Defence:

• White is given a free hand to set up the centre just as they like.
• White holds the centre so it is much easier for White to get pieces from one side to the other.
• White can use the big centre to attack down the middle of the board with e4-e5 or f4-f5
• Black has weakened the King's-side and White has a little start towards a King's-side attack down the h-file.

Bad points about the Modern Defence:

The Modern Defence is one of the most difficult and awklard defences played by Grandmasters, and you can often lose games without ever understanding why you lost.

  Juniors and amateurs may have much more fun, and learn much more about the basics of chess, when playing the familiar open games beginning 1. e4 e5. One more caution:

Non-governmental health warning

One of the first times I ever saw the Modern Defence played was in 1980 at the Cambridge Open. Local expert Erik Teichmann had the Black pieces against an opponent, who, while a strong County player, was graded far below Erik.

Game 1: Charity,A - Teichmann,E [B09] (Cambridge Open), 05.1980

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nf6 5.Nf3 0-0

White plays a direct attacking line against Black's hypermodern opening.

6.Bd3 Nc6

  White breaks in the centre.

7.e5 dxe5 8.dxe5 Nd5 9.Bd2 Nb6 10.0-0 f6

  Black shouldn't open lines on the King's-side, that's just what White wants!

11.exf6 Bxf6 12.Ng5 e6

White plays a temporary sacrifice: White's centralised pieces can attack Black's King while the Black Queen's-side pieces cannot get back to defend.

13.Nxh7! Kxh7 14.Qh5+ (at this point Erik ceremoniously tore up his score sheet) 14...Kg8 15.Qxg6+ Bg7 16.Qh7+ Kf7 17.Bg6+ Ke7 18.Qxg7+ Kd6 19.Ne4+ Kd5 20.Qc3 Qe7 21.Qb3+ Nc4 22.Qb5+ Kd4 23.Bc3+ (Resigns)

  [23.Bc3+ Ke3 24.Rae1#]

1-0

  Rather an abrupt game. Now, most of your opponents can't play as well as Alec Charity, but if Erik can be blown away using this defence so can you. What went wrong here? Well, if you think about it, White's most basic plan in the opening is:

1. Develop quickly and grab as much of the centre as you can

2. Use your development and space advantage to attack the opponent's King

3. Attack by opening up lines for your better pieces.

  Now, in the Modern Defence Black seems to help White do all these things! All right, it isn't quite that simple, but if White is determined to attack Black it is very difficult to stop it happening, and there are several sharp White systems which come very close to delivering mate almost by force. All you need is one little mistake and Black is finished.

  In playing the Modern Defence you are playing a very risky, dangerous system with rules all of its own. To rub this point in, I give below a few master games where strong Black players just get smashed right out of the opening (Hue-Donner, Hessmer-Haefner, Fischer-Udovcic). You must be aware that this can happen to you, and what the do's and don'ts are of these positions.

  Here's Steve Haataja:

 

Good lines, in some sense, are ones that your usual opponents cannot refute. If you are having trouble dealing with early queen sorties, then your opponents are playing "good lines" by bringing out the queen early. If handling this situation gives you trouble, I suggest playing more offhand games against players who do this, and trying it out some yourself. You will learn how to deal with such situations by a combination of observing others handle it and good old trial and error.

Here is a personal example. When I began playing the Modern Defence, things went pretty well at first. But then I ran into a fellow at the club who would quickly castle Queen's-side, play h2-h4, then h5. The h-file would open up and he'd checkmate me in maybe fifteen more moves. These were five-minute games, BTW. He did this to me several times that first night.

It became terribly frustrating. Nobody else attacked as savagely as he did, and I did fine against less violent variations. He went so far as to play 1.e4 g6 2.h4 (a slap in the face) a couple times, with great success. But after about four weeks of beatings, I finally timed the counter-punch in the centre correctly (the general principle: counter a flank attack with play in the centre). His attack lost steam and I won. He soon stopped single-mindedly playing for checkmate down the h-file as I was winning every such game. That was one of the best chess lessons I ever learned. Quickly hitting back in the centre became an instinctive reaction to the dreaded h2-h4. You can read the principle 100 times in books, but until you actually experience it firsthand, it's just somebody else's theory. -- Steve Haataja

 

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