The English Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
8-576: The English Defence was rarely seen in master play before the Second World War, but early instances can be found in the games of Henry Bird , Gyula Breyer , Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Reti . In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Leicester player P. N. Wallis investigated the potential of the opening, and in the 1970s it was taken up by several leading English players such as Tony Miles and Raymond Keene . During this period Viktor Korchnoi employed
16-456: A 1.d4 b6 move order, especially at club level where some players adopt 1...b6/2...Bb7 as a universal system. Bibliography Henry Bird (chess player) Henry Edward Bird (14 July 1829 – 11 April 1908) was an English chess player, author and accountant. He wrote the books Chess History and Reminiscences and An Analysis of Railways in the United Kingdom . Although Bird was
24-417: A broad pawn centre with 3.e4, which Black will then attempt to undermine in hypermodern style with moves such as ...Bb7, ...Bb4, and sometimes even ...Qh4 and/or ...f5. Common lines are as follows: 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 f5 6.Qe2 Nf6. 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Ne2 Nb4 6.Nbc3 NxBd3 7.QxNd3 Ne7 8.0-0 d6. 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.f3 (or Bd3, transposing to
32-481: A practising accountant, not a professional chess player, it has been said that he "lived for chess, and would play anybody anywhere, any time, under any conditions." At age 21, Bird was invited to the first international tournament, London 1851 . He also participated in tournaments held in Vienna and New York City . In 1858 he lost a match to Paul Morphy at age 28, yet he played high-level chess for another 50 years. In
40-586: The English Defence successfully in game 6 of his Candidates semi-final match against Lev Polugaevsky at Évian 1977 (see below). The English Defence remains rare in grandmaster play, but has been used (often as a surprise weapon) by players such as Nigel Short , Alexander Morozevich , Hikaru Nakamura , Alexander Grischuk and Richard Rapport . The most frequent high-level practitioners have been Jon Speelman , Edvins Kengis and, more recently, Georg Meier . After 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6, Black allows White to form
48-554: The New York tournament of 1876, Bird received the first brilliancy prize ever awarded, for his game against James Mason . In 1874 Bird proposed a new chess variant , which played on an 8×10 board and contained two new pieces: guard (combining the moves of the rook and knight ) and equerry (combining the bishop and knight). Bird's chess inspired José Raúl Capablanca to create another chess variant, Capablanca Chess , which would ultimately differ from Bird's chess only by
56-422: The first line above) f5. If White decides against playing e4, for example by opting for 3.Nc3, play will likely transpose to a form of b6 Nimzo-Indian Defence, for example via 3...Bb7 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Nf6. White can also transpose to a King's Pawn opening with 2.e4, in which case Black will typically proceed with either 2...d5 ( French Defence ) or 2...b6 ( Owen's Defence ). The English Defence can also arise via
64-593: The starting position. It was Bird who popularised the chess opening now called Bird's Opening (1.f4), as well as Bird's Defence to the Ruy Lopez (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nd4). Bird's Opening is considered sound, though not the best try for an opening advantage. Bird's Defence is regarded as slightly inferior, but " trappy ". Glossary of chess#trap This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess , in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin . For
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