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CONTENTS

Contents

Symbols 8Introduction 9

Section 1: Open Games 11

Italian Game 12Perfect Centre 12

Bishop Exchanges 13Giuoco Piano 14

Mller Attack 14Evans Gambit 16

Two Knights 19Two Knights Main Line 19Max Lange Attack 20

Kings Gambit 22Rare 2nd moves 24Petroff 26Philidor 28Four Knights 30Scotch Game 31Ruy Lopez 34

Kingside Manoeuvres 34Ruy Lopez Part 1 36

Berlin 36Third-Move Alternatives 38

Ruy Lopez Part 2 40Exchange Lopez 40Steinitz Deferred 41

Open Lopez 42Mller 44Ruy Lopez Part 3 46

Marshall Attack 46Anti-Marshall 48Early d4 49Chigorin 49Breyer 51Zaitsev 52Closed Lopez: Other Systems 53

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Section 2: Semi-Open Games 54

Sicilian 55Dragon Set-up 55Scheveningen Set-up 55

Najdorf Set-up 56Maroczy Bind Set-up 56c-File 56Dragon 57Accelerated Dragon 60Classical (and Richter-Rauzer) 61Sozin 62Scheveningen (and Keres Attack) 63Classical Scheveningen 64Taimanov 66Kan 67Najdorf (and English Attack) 68Najdorf g5 71Najdorf c4 74Najdorf e2 (and Other Moves) 76Sveshnikov 77Kalashnikov 79Moscow &Rossolimo 81Grand Prix Attack 82Closed Sicilian 83c3 Sicilian 844 xd4 and Other Sidelines 85

French 87Pawn-Chain 87

Bad Bishop 87Exchange French 88Advance French 88Tarrasch 90Rubinstein 92Winawer 93

Classical 94Caro-Kann 96Open Centre 96Exchange&Panov-Botvinnik 96Advance Caro-Kann 98Main Line: 4...f5 (and Deviations) 99Main Line: 4...d7 (and 4...f6) 101

Alekhine 103Scandinavian 105Nimzowitsch 107

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Pirc/Modern 108

Austrian 108Classical 109150 Attack 110Pibyl Pirc 111Gurgenidze 112Fianchetto 113Anti-Pirc 114

Owens Defence 115

Section 3: Queens Gambit 116

Light-Squared Bishop 116Queens Gambit Accepted 117

3 e4 1173 f3 with 4 e3 119Two Knights (4 c3) 120

Queens Gambit Declined 122Carlsbad Structure 122Orthodox&Lasker 122Tartakower 124Exchange 1255 f4 126Catalan 127Tarrasch&Semi-Tarrasch 128Cambridge Springs 130

Slav 132Main Line with 6...e6 (and Early Deviations) 132Main Line with 6...bd7 134Early e3 135...a6 Slav 135Exchange Slav 137

Semi-Slav 1385 g5 138

5 e3 and the Meran 140Wedge Variation 142Chigorin and Unusual Lines 143Blackmar-Diemer Gambit 145

Section 4: Indian Defences 146

Nimzo-Indian 147

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The Isolated Queens Pawn 148Idea for White No. 1: d4-d5 Advance 148Idea for White No. 2: Central Attack 148Idea for White No. 3: Kingside Attack 149Idea for White No. 4: Queenside Play 149Idea for Black: Simplification 149Working on the Queenside Weaknesses 149Smisch&4 f3 150Rubinstein 151Leningrad 153Kasparov Variation 155Classical (4 c2) &Others 156

Queens Indian 1584 g3 1584 a3 1604 e3&4 f4 161

Bogo-Indian 163Kings Indian 165

Pawn-Storms 165Classical: Introduction 166Classical Main Line 168Smisch 170Four Pawns 172Fianchetto 174Averbakh and Unusual Lines 175

Grnfeld 177Grnfeld Centre 177Exchange: Introduction &Classical 177Modern Exchange 180Russian System 182Fianchetto 183Early Bishop Moves (and Minor Lines) 184

Benoni Systems 186Modern Benoni 186

Benko Gambit 189Dutch 191

Stonewall 191Leningrad 193Classical 194Odds &Ends 195

Trompowsky 196Torre, Barry and Colle 198Veresov 199...d6 System 200Black Knights Tango& Budapest 201

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Section 5: Flank Openings 203

English 204Symmetrical: Queenside Play 204Symmetrical: Central Play 205Symmetrical: Hedgehog 207Four Knights 208Botvinnik System 209Reversed Dragon 210Nimzo-English 211

Rti 213Anti-Grnfelds 215English Defence 216Birds Opening 217Larsens Opening 218Dunst Opening 219Basmans Opening 220

Index of Variations 221

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SCOTCHGAME

Scotch Game

1 e4 e5 2 f3 c6 3 d4 (D)Garry Kasparov has called the Scotch

Game the only serious alternative to the RuyLopez. He tends to be well up on such thingsso his opinion is worth attention. White im-mediately pulls the trigger on d4, liquidatingBlacks central strong-point and opening upfurther lines for his pieces.

This advance cannot be profitably preparedwith 3 c3, the Ponziani Opening, since after3...f6 4 d4 xe4 5 d5 e7 6 xe5 g6 7d4 e7 8 xe4 xe5 9 xe5+ xe5 10f4 d6! the endgame holds no dangers forBlack.

3...exd4Black is really obliged to capture Whites

pawn.

3...d6 gives a bad Philidor, with the knightcommitted to c6.4 xd4 (D)4 c3, the Gring Gambit, is less exciting

than it looks. Black can claim immediateequality with 4...d5, or accept the challengewith 4...dxc3 5 xc3 b4 6 c4 d6 7 b3e7 when White has enough for the pawn,but no more than that.

4...f6

This targets the e4-pawn, and so forcessome sort of concession.

4...c5 5 e3 f6 6 c3 (6 b5 has beenplayed by Ponomariov, but for anyone whohasnt been a world champion recently themove carries a health warning after 6...xe37 fxe3 the doubled e-pawns control a lot ofsquares but are still extremely ugly, and after7...h4+ 8 g3 Black can drop back to d8 orplay 8...xe4 9 xc7+ d8 10 xa8 xh1with an utterly unclear game) 6...ge7 is an-other main line, rapidly developing and pre-paring ...d5. After 7 c4 e5!? (7...b6 8 0-0b7, preparing to castle queenside, is an ex-cellent alternative) 8 e2 g6 White sacri-fices the e4-pawn; for instance, 9 0-0 d6 10 f4xe4 11 f2 xd4 12 cxd4 5g6 13 g3h3 14 f3 f5 15 e1 d5 16 b3 0-0 17

c3 c6 18 xb7 fb8 19 c7 f6 withequality.4...b4+!? 5 c3 c5 is also popular at

top level Black provokes c3 to prevent thewhite knight from developing naturally onthis square, without having to resort to...f6.

4...h4?! is extremely risky. White canplay 5 b5 immediately, but 5 c3 b4 6b5 looks even better, when 6...xe4+ 7

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e2 gives White a truckload of compensa-

tion.5 xc65 c3 b4 transposes to the Scotch Four

Knights.5...bxc6 (D)Not, of course, 5...dxc6? 6 xd8+ xd8,

when Black has no compensation for hiscrippled pawn-majority in the endgame.

Blacks trumps, as will become apparent,are that he can develop all of his piecesquickly to good squares. On the other hand,White holds a structural advantage. ThusBlacks job is to generate some relevantplayin the next few moves, while White needs

just to get out of the opening alive to claim along-term edge.

6 e5Now the knight is threatened without any

stable squares available, so Black must be ac-curate to avoid falling into passivity.

6...e7! (D)7 e2Taking the comment at move 5 into ac-

count, it should be clear that if both sidesfully develop then White will be better. Ac-cordingly, Black undertakes this disruptivemanoeuvre in order to hinder Whites devel-opment. Its true that his own developmentis similarly hindered, but (after ...d5) hisqueen will have a greater range of options

than the white queen, which will be tied tothe e5-pawn. Ive tried to present this as if...e7 conforms to the demands of the posi-tion, but in fact any such statements in thecontext of opening theory are at worst incor-rect and at best post hoc players startedplaying 6...e7 because Black was gettingcreamed after 6...d5 and needed to look foralternatives, found this one and discovered itworked.

7...d5 8 c4 (D)

Kicking the knight immediately makessense and forces a concession Black canmisplace either his knight or his bishop.

8...a68...b6 is the alternative, when Black aims

for play down the a-file (...a5-a4) or rapid

32 UNDERSTANDING THE CHESS OPENINGS

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W

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W

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development (by means of ...a6, ...e6and

...b4).9 b3 (D)White can also play 9 g3, but I think its

more flexible to defend the c-pawn at once.

9...g5!

This is a perfect example of how goodopening moves are found. The reason Blackplays this is because the alternative way todevelop the bishop, 9...g6, runs into 10 f4!when White is prepared to play f2 and a3with unpleasant consequences. AccordinglyBlack realized he needed some more controlover f4, while still facilitating his own devel-opment, and came up with this gem. Playtypically now runs:

10 g3 g7 11 b2 0-0 12 g2 ae8 130-0 xe5!? 14 xe5 xe5 15 xe5 xe516 cxd5 xf1 17 xf1 cxd5

The endgame is dynamically balanced ifWhite can keep the rooks in check he will bemuch better, but if they become active Whitecould be routed.

SCOTCH GAME 33

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