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117-446: The Modern Benoni is a chess opening that begins with the moves 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 e6 . It is classified under the ECO codes A60–A79. After the initial moves, Black proceeds to capture on d5, creating a majority of black pawns on the queenside . To support their advance, the king's bishop is usually fianchettoed on g7. These two features differentiate Black's setup from

234-526: A Catalan Opening with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 and Black responds with 3...c5. If White responds with 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5, Black can play 5...d6, which often transposes into the Fianchetto Variation ; but a common alternative is 5...b5, which leads to independent positions. Black can also try to reach the Modern Benoni through a Benoni Defence move order, i.e. 1.d4 c5 2.d5 Nf6, when 3.c4 e6 would complete

351-408: A bishop). The oldest openings in chess follow 1.e4. Bobby Fischer rated 1.e4 as "Best by test." On the downside, 1.e4 places a pawn on an undefended square and weakens d4 and f4. If Black mirrors White's move and replies with 1...e5, the result is an open game. The most popular second move for White is 2.Nf3 attacking Black's king pawn, preparing for a kingside castle, and anticipating the advance of

468-540: A bit, but they only address center control peripherally and are slower than the more popular openings. The eleven remaining possibilities are rarely played at the top levels of chess. Of these, the best are merely slow such as 1.c3, 1.d3, and 1.e3. Worse possibilities either ignore the center and development such as 1.a3, weaken White's position (for instance, 1.f3 and 1.g4), or place the knights on poor squares (1.Na3 and 1.Nh3). Black has twenty complementary responses to White's opening move. Many of these are mirror images of

585-551: A detailed analysis of 9...Nh5 , which stops White from playing Bc1-f4 and allows Black to follow up with ...Nd7-e5. While it is also unclear whether this move ultimately equalizes, at least Black retains significant counterplay. White's success with the Modern Main Line has spurred Black to search for ways to get in ...Bg4 before White stops it with h2-h3. After 7.Nf3 , the immediate 7...Bg4? runs into 8.Qa4+!, when 8...Bd7 9.Qb3 or 8...Nbd7? 9.Nd2! threatening 10.f3 both give White

702-451: A few times before Tartakower's usage in the tournament, however: for instance, Réti – Leonhardt , Berlin 1928 transposed into an Open Catalan. The opening cemented itself in the repertoire of leading players of the 1930s and 1940s, such as world champions Jose Raul Capablanca , Alexander Alekhine and Mikhail Botvinnik , as well as top grandmasters such as Salo Flohr , Paul Keres and Samuel Reshevsky . The Catalan came to prominence at

819-562: A game begins to deviate from known opening theory , the players are said to be "out of book". In some openings, book lines have been worked out for over 30 moves, such as some lines in the classical King's Indian Defense and in the Najdorf Variation of the Sicilian Defense. Professional chess players spend years studying openings, and they continue doing so throughout their careers as opening theory continues to evolve. Players at

936-399: A large center with the goal of attacking it with pieces. Other semi-open games have been studied but are less common; see Semi-Open Game for details. The openings classified as closed games begin 1.d4 d5. The move 1.d4 offers the same benefits to development and center control as does 1.e4, but unlike with King Pawn openings where the e4-pawn is undefended after the first move, the d4-pawn

1053-404: A passed d-pawn if Black answers with ...dxe5. A famous example of the e4-e5 break leading to a kingside attack occurred in the game Penrose –Tal from the 1960 Leipzig Olympiad . With 19.e5! dxe5 20.f5! Bb7 21.Rad1 Ba8 22.Nce4 White installed a powerful knight on e4, while Black's pieces were hemmed in by the pawn on e5. Penrose soon crashed through on the f-file and scored a stunning upset over

1170-588: A player has specialized in is called an opening repertoire. The main elements a player needs to consider in a repertoire are: A very narrow repertoire allows for deeper specialization but also makes a player less flexible to vary against different opponents. In addition, opponents may find it easier to prepare against a player with a narrow repertoire. The main openings in a repertoire are usually reasonably sound; that is, they should lead to playable positions even against optimal counterplay. Unsound gambits are sometimes used as surprise weapons, but are unreliable for

1287-467: A queenside pawn majority. Thus players who are seeking the typical imbalance in pawn structure associated with the Modern Benoni tend to prefer the immediate 3...e6 followed by 4...exd5. It is possible, indeed common, for Black's second and third moves to be reversed: thus 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 and 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 will both transpose into the Modern Benoni if White allows it with 4.d5. The latter move order has been especially popular since

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1404-499: A recommendation by the influential theorist Boris Avrukh in 2010, the line has become more topical. Play typically proceeds 7.g3 Bg7 8.Bg2 0-0 9.0-0 , and now the most common continuation sees Black developing in standard Benoni fashion while White manoeuvres the king's knight to c4, i.e. 9...a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.Nd2 Re8 12.h3 Rb8 13.Nc4 . Here Black can challenge White's knight with either 13...Ne5 or 13...Nb6. White may also try to develop more quickly with 11.Bf4 in order to strengthen

1521-535: A result, it lay virtually abandoned for decades. However, Karel Hromádka 's experiments with the Benoni Defence in the 1930s occasionally featured the moves ...e7-e6 and ...exd5, resulting in a transposition to the Modern Benoni. Only in the 1950s was interest in the system revived, when the King's Indian Defence gained in popularity among Soviet players and their investigations branched into related opening systems such as

1638-522: A simple task. The fact that one must know a lot of theory just to secure a draw has rendered the entire variation beginning with 9...b5 rather unattractive from Black's point of view, even though it appears to be objectively the best move. Thus Black has sought other methods of combating the Modern Main Line. The sharp variation 9...Re8 10.0-0 c4 received significant attention in the mid-1990s, but after 11.Bxc4 Nxe4 12.Nxe4 Rxe4 13.Bg5 Black has yet to demonstrate clear equality. In 2001 John Watson published

1755-517: A stable repertoire. Repertoires often change as a player develops, and a player's advancement may be stifled if the opening repertoire does not evolve. Some openings that are effective against amateur players are less effective at the master level. For example, Black obtains active play in return for a pawn in the Benko Gambit ; amateur players may have trouble defending against Black's activity, while masters are more skilled at defending and making use of

1872-597: A well-prepared opponent playing Black can equalize fairly easily. The Stonewall is characterized by the White pawn formation on c3, d4, e3, and f4, and can be achieved by several move orders and against many different Black setups. The diagram positions and the move sequences given below are typical. Other closed openings have been studied but are less common; see Closed Game for details. The Indian systems are asymmetrical defenses to 1.d4 that employ hypermodern chess strategy. Fianchettos are common in many of these openings. As with

1989-405: A win with Black against Peter Leko , played it in the second to last game of the 2004 World Championship. While he did achieve a winning position at one point, the game ended in a draw. Nevertheless, Étienne Bacrot , Boris Gelfand and Vassily Ivanchuk have all since used the Modern Benoni at the highest levels of competition, while Vugar Gashimov became the opening's most notable proponent. He

2106-636: A win with Black in the penultimate game of the 2004 World Championship , though that particular game resulted in a draw. The standard move order for Black to enter the Modern Benoni is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 . Here it is possible for White to avoid 3.d5: respectable alternatives include 3.Nf3, typically transposing to a line of the English Opening , as well as 3.e3. Taking the pawn with 3.dxc5 is hardly ever seen, because Black easily recovers it after 3...e6 followed by ...Bxc5. Still, 3.d5 has long been considered White's most challenging move, as it gains space in

2223-563: Is 2.c4, grabbing a larger share of the center and allowing the move Nc3, to prepare for moving the e-pawn to e4 without blocking the c-pawn. Black's most popular replies are: Advocated by Nimzowitsch as early as 1913, the Nimzo-Indian Defense was the first of the Indian systems to gain full acceptance. It remains one of the most popular and well-respected defenses to 1.d4 and White often adopts move orders designed to avoid it. Black attacks

2340-451: Is a chess opening where White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3, although various other openings can transpose into the Catalan. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings ( ECO ) lists codes E01–E09 for lines with 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2; other lines are part of E00. In the Catalan, White adopts a combination of

2457-433: Is a better way of recovering the pawn, with a complicated game in the offing. The other capture 10.Bxb5 has been subjected to extensive analysis and testing, which has led to the conclusion that the sequence 10...Nxe4 11.Nxe4 Qa5+ 12.Nfd2 Qxb5 13.Nxd6 Qa6 14.N2c4 Nd7 15.0-0 is more or less forced. In the resulting positions Black has found it difficult to generate any winning chances, and even finding equality has not been

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2574-455: Is also ineffective, since Black gains a half-open f-file and the chance to take over the centre with ...d7-d5. Instead White's most popular move is 4.Nc3 , preparing to support the d-pawn with 5.e4. As mentioned above , were Black to delay the capture on d5, White would then gain the option of recapturing with the e-pawn. Thus Black generally plays 4...exd5 immediately. Following the recapture 5.cxd5 , Black has an eccentric option in 5...Bd6,

2691-448: Is characterized by White playing 1.Nf3, fianchettoing one or both bishops, and not playing an early d4 (which would generally transpose into one of the 1.d4 openings). The King's Indian Attack (KIA) is a system of development that White may use in reply to almost any Black opening moves. The characteristic KIA setup is 1.Nf3, 2.g3, 3.Bg2, 4.0-0, 5.d3, 6.Nbd2, and 7.e4, although these moves may be played in many different orders. In fact,

2808-485: Is common to divide each of them further. One reasonable way to group the openings is: The Indian systems (1.d4 Nf6) are the most important of the Semi-Closed Games, and warrant separate treatment. White starts by playing 1.e4 (moving their king pawn two spaces). This is the most popular opening move and it has many strengths—it immediately works on controlling the center, and it activates two pieces (the queen and

2925-529: Is considered solid, safe, and perhaps somewhat drawish . Black often chooses the Queen's Indian when White avoids the Nimzo-Indian by playing 3.Nf3 instead of 3.Nc3. Black constructs a sound position that makes no positional concessions, although sometimes it is difficult for Black to obtain good winning chances. Karpov was a leading expert in this opening. The Modern Benoni is a risky attempt by Black to unbalance

3042-603: Is named after the Catalonia region. Chess players' names are the most common sources of opening names. The name given to an opening is not always that of the first player to adopt it; often an opening is named for the player who was the first to popularize it or to publish analysis of it. Eponymic openings include the Ruy Lopez , Alekhine's Defense , Morphy Defense , and the Réti Opening . Some opening names honor two people, such as

3159-488: Is often known as a prepared variation , a powerful weapon in top-class competition. Whether they are trying to gain the upper hand as White, or to equalize as Black or to create dynamic imbalances, players generally devote a lot of attention in the opening stages to the following strategies: Apart from these ideas, other strategies used in the middlegame may also be carried out in the opening. These include preparing pawn breaks to create counterplay, creating weaknesses in

3276-574: Is protected by White's queen. This slight difference has a tremendous effect on the opening. For instance, whereas the King's Gambit is rarely played today at the highest levels of chess, the Queen's Gambit remains a popular weapon at all levels of play. Also, compared with the King Pawn openings, transpositions among variations are more common and critical in the closed games. The most important closed openings are in

3393-457: Is riskier than the alternatives, it remains Black's best option to complicate the game. Alternatively, Black can try the older move 10...Na6 , intending to bring the knight to c7 to prepare the ...b7-b5 break. White most commonly responds with Gligorić's 11.f3 Nc7 12.a4 , which clamps down on b5 and overprotects e4 so that White can follow up with Nc4. Black's position remains solid but offers fewer active possibilities than after 10...Nbd7. At

3510-429: Is somewhat inflexible because it blocks White's c-pawn; also, after 1...d5 the knight is liable to be driven to an inferior square by ...d4. (Note that after 1.Nf3 the analogous 1...e5? loses a pawn.) Bird's Opening , 1.f4, addresses center control but not development and weakens the king position slightly. The Sokolsky Opening 1.b4 and the King's and Queen's fianchettos : Larsen's Opening 1.b3 and 1.g3 aid development

3627-592: Is still played occasionally at the top level by Short and others. Another fairly common opening is the Benoni Defense , which may become very wild if it develops into the Modern Benoni , though other variations are more solid. Several other uncommon semi-closed openings have been named and studied, see Semi-Closed Game for details. The flank openings are the group of White openings typified by play on one or both flanks. White plays in hypermodern style, attacking

Modern Benoni - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-407: Is that playing first gives White a slight initial advantage ; for example, White will be the first to attack if the game opens symmetrically (Black mirrors White's moves). Since about the 1950s another objective has gradually become more dominant. According to IM Jeremy Silman , the purpose of the opening is to create dynamic imbalances between the two sides, which will determine the character of

3861-462: Is usually done by transpositions , in which a game that apparently starts with one opening can reach a position that is normally produced by a different opening. Most players realize after a while that they play certain types of positions better than others, and that the amount of theory they can learn is limited. Therefore, most players specialize in certain openings where they know the theory and that lead to positions they favor. The set of openings

3978-500: The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings . Although these codes are invaluable for the serious study of the chess opening, they are not very practical for a broad survey of the chess opening as the codes obscure common structural features between related openings. A simple descriptive categorization of the chess opening is King's Pawn Openings , Queen's Pawn Openings , and Others. Since these categories are still individually very large, it

4095-422: The 1982 Lucerne Olympiad was considered the highlight of the tournament and remains one of the most famous games ever played in the opening. It became a favoured weapon for players needing to win against 1.d4: for example, Psakhis used it to defeat Yuri Razuvaev in the penultimate round of the 1980 USSR Championship , catching Alexander Beliavsky in the lead and ultimately sharing first place with him. But in

4212-716: The Alekhine and the Scandinavian have made occasional appearances in World Chess Championship games. The Sicilian and French Defenses lead to unbalanced positions that can offer exciting play with both sides having chances to win. The Caro–Kann Defense is solid as Black intends to use their c-pawn to support their center (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5). Alekhine's, the Pirc and the Modern are hypermodern openings in which Black tempts White to build

4329-597: The Caro–Kann and the Smith–Morra . A few opening names are purely descriptive, such as Giuoco Piano ( Italian : quiet game ), Two Knights Defense , Four Knights Game and Bishop's Opening . Some openings have been given fanciful names, often names of animals. This practice became more common in the 20th century. By then, most of the more common and traditional sequences of opening moves had already been named, so these tend to be unusual or recently developed openings like

4446-677: The Orangutan , Hippopotamus, Elephant, Hedgehog, and, most recently, the Cow. A few are given humorous names, such as the Monkey's Bum and the Toilet Variation . Opening names usually include one of the terms "opening", "variation", "defense", "gambit" etc, however the terminology is inconsistent and imprecise, and is not a useful basis for classification. Broadly, these terms are used as follows: Chess openings are primarily categorized by move sequences. In

4563-578: The Queen's Gambit and Réti Opening . White combines the space-gaining moves d4 and c4 with g3, preparing to fianchetto the king's bishop. This places pressure mainly on the queenside while hoping to keep the white king safe in the long-term. The c4-pawn can become vulnerable, however, and White might have to sacrifice a pawn. Black has two main approaches to play against the Catalan: in the Open Catalan Black plays ...dxc4 and can either try to hold on to

4680-419: The Ruy Lopez or Spanish Opening . Opening theory was studied more scientifically from the 1840s on, and many opening variations were discovered and named in this period and later. Opening nomenclature developed haphazardly, and most names are historical accidents not based on systematic principles. In the early 1930s, the nascent FIDE embarked on a project to standardize opening nomenclature, culminating in

4797-477: The Snake Benoni . But most players prefer 5...d6 , which stops White's d-pawn from advancing to d6. Black's control over the central dark squares d4 and e5 will then be augmented by fianchettoing the bishop on g7. Meanwhile, White must decide whether or not to play 6.e4. Although this move gains space in the centre, it also gives Black a target of attack on the half-open e-file. White can deny Black this target for

Modern Benoni - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-643: The Vienna Game (2.Nc3), the Bishop's Opening (2.Bc4), and the King's Gambit (2.f4). These openings have some similarities with each other, in particular the Bishop's Opening frequently transposes to variations of the Vienna Game. The King's Gambit was extremely popular in the 19th century. White sacrifices a pawn for quick development and to divert a black pawn from the center. The Vienna Game also frequently features attacks on

5031-427: The centre . While it is possible for Black to avoid ...e7-e6 for the time being and play other moves such as 3...d6 or 3...g6, delaying this move until after White plays e2-e4 gives White the extra option of recapturing on d5 with the e-pawn. While recapturing in this fashion does not give White a central pawn majority, it maintains White's spatial advantage and denies Black the counterplay associated with possession of

5148-432: The kingside and in the centre, while Black will seek counterplay on the queenside. However, this simplistic generalization does not hold in many cases—depending on how the pieces are arranged, either side may be able to fight back on the flank where they are theoretically weaker. The creation of such a pronounced structural imbalance so early on in the game implies that Black aims to counterattack rather than equalize. Thus

5265-588: The main line of the Four Pawns Attack in the King's Indian Defence with 8.Nf3 0-0 9.Be2 . A rarer option is 8.e5 , the Mikenas Attack, against which Black can equalize with either 8...Nfd7 or the rarer 8...dxe5 9.fxe5 Nfd7. By far the most popular continuation for White is 8.Bb5+ , the Taimanov Attack. Analyzed by Mark Taimanov in 1956, the strength of this variation was not fully appreciated until

5382-492: The ...b7-b5 pawn break with ...a6, White usually tries to hinder it by playing a2-a4, even though this advance weakens the b4-square. As a further deterrent to Black's queenside expansion, White often moves the knight on f3 to c4 via d2. With the knight on c4, Black's ...b7-b5 break may be met by axb5 followed by Na5, when the arrival of a white knight on c6 could severely disrupt Black's position. The knight on c4 also attacks Black's backward pawn on d6, and White can often increase

5499-415: The 1973 Madrid international tournament Ljubojević demonstrated what is now considered to be Black's most reliable path to equality. Against Silvino García Martínez he played 9...a6 10.a4 Bg4 11.Bf4 Bxf3 12.Bxf3 and now the innovation 12...Qe7! which prepares ...Nbd7 while keeping the pawn on d6 defended. The exchange of Black's bishop for White's knight eases Black's slightly cramped position and weakens

5616-572: The 1980s, as it allows Black to reach the Modern Benoni while sidestepping the Taimanov Attack . It also gives Black the additional option of meeting 4.d5 with 4...b5, the Blumenfeld Gambit . Players who use this move order will often choose a different defence against 3.Nc3, such as the Nimzo-Indian with 3...Bb4. Another frequent transposition into the Modern Benoni occurs when White invites

5733-547: The 1982 Olympiad in Lucerne) Kasparov showed that 9.a4 was more dangerous for Black, it having the advantage of not determining the bishop's retreat square for the time being. White's success with this idea led some to question the soundness of the Modern Benoni, at least in its original move order. In 1982, Nunn concluded his analysis of the Taimanov with the words, "Black badly needs a new idea against 8.Bb5+ and 9.a4 to keep

5850-438: The 21st century did players and analysts begin to revive Black's chances in this line. First, Watson showed that the disruptive check 9...Qh4+ was playable, the point being that after 10.g3 White is no longer able to bring the bishop on c1 to the squares g3 or h4, where it can assist in White's kingside attack. Later players such as Gashimov showed that the queen check is not mandatory, and that Black also retains good chances in

5967-470: The Benoni in business"; two years later, he had given up the opening altogether. Other players such as Psakhis resorted to using the move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6, only playing 3...c5 in response to 3.Nf3 to avoid the Taimanov, while choosing an entirely different opening against 3.Nc3. The damage this variation did to the opening's reputation led David Norwood to rechristen it the " Flick-Knife Attack." Not until

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6084-448: The Benoni through the standard move order (4.Nc3 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.e4 g6), White can dodge such sidelines by avoiding the immediate 7.Nf3 and starting with 7.Bd3 or 7.h3 instead: the latter two moves leave Black little choice but to enter the Modern Main Line after 7...Bg7 and 8...0-0. With 7.f4 White stakes out even more space in the centre and threatens to overrun Black's position with a quick e4-e5. After 7...Bg7 White can transpose to

6201-575: The Black center by means of a f2–f4 pawn advance. In the Center Game (2.d4) White immediately opens the center but if the pawn is to be recovered after 2...exd4, White must contend with a slightly premature queen development after 3.Qxd4. An alternative is to sacrifice one or two pawns, for example in the Danish Gambit . Many other variations after 1.e4 e5 have been studied; see Open Game for details. In

6318-595: The Catalan System. The most important Indian Defenses are listed below, but many others have been studied and played; see Indian Defense for details. Of the defenses to 1.d4 other than 1...d5 and 1...Nf6, the most important are the Dutch Defense and the Benoni Defense . The Dutch, an aggressive defense adopted for a time by World Champions Alekhine and Botvinnik , and played by both Botvinnik and challenger David Bronstein in their 1951 world championship match ,

6435-680: The Catalan via 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Bg2 Bg7 8.Nf3 0-0 9.0-0. The Knight's Tour Variation 7.Nd2 immediately sends the knight towards c4, where it attacks the d-pawn; the pressure on it can be increased with moves like Bf4. Black can counter this plan with 7...Nbd7 intending 8.Nc4 Nb6, while 8.e4 Bg7 9.Be2 0-0 10.0-0 would lead to a major variation of the Classical Main Line after 10...Re8 , with White having avoided Ljubojević's plan of ...Bg4. Chess opening Opening moves that are considered standard are referred to as "book moves", or simply "book". When

6552-584: The KIA is probably most often reached after 1.e4 when White uses it to respond to a Black attempt to play one of the semi-open games such as the Caro–Kann, French, or Sicilian, or even the open games which usually come after 1.e4 e5. Its greatest appeal may be that by adopting a set pattern of development, White can avoid the large amount of opening study required to prepare to meet the many different possible Black replies to 1.e4. Catalan Opening The Catalan Opening

6669-479: The Modern Benoni in Game 3 and scored a momentum-changing victory. The successes of Tal and Fischer inspired a new generation of players to take up the Modern Benoni in the 1970s and 1980s, including Walter Browne , Ljubomir Ljubojević , John Nunn , Dragoljub Velimirović , Lev Psakhis , Mihai Suba and Nick de Firmian . The young Garry Kasparov also had the defence in his arsenal—his win against Viktor Korchnoi at

6786-469: The Modern Benoni. The imbalance inherent in its pawn structure and the counter-chances this implied for Black appealed to aggressive players such as Rashid Nezhmetdinov and Alexander Tolush ; the Israeli master Moshe Czerniak also employed it frequently. Lev Polugaevsky , Boris Spassky and Alexey Suetin were among the younger generation of Soviet players who used it regularly in the 1950s and 1960s. But

6903-426: The Modern Main Line, the sequence 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Be2 0-0 9.0-0 was the most frequently contested line in the Modern Benoni. Here Black has a choice between three main plans. Two of them begin with 9...Re8 , attacking the e-pawn. After 10.Nd2 , Black's most dynamic plan is to prepare kingside play with 10...Nbd7 followed by ...Ne5 and ...g6-g5. This plan became popular in the 1970s after Fischer used it, and although it

7020-439: The Queen's Gambit family (White plays 2.c4). The Queen's Gambit is somewhat misnamed, since White can always regain the offered pawn if desired. In the Queen's Gambit Accepted , Black plays ...dxc4, giving up the center for free development and the chance to try to give White an isolated queen pawn with a subsequent ...c5 and ...cxd4. White will get active pieces and possibilities for the attack. Black has two popular ways to decline

7137-493: The Queen's Gambit other than 2...dxc4, 2...c6, and 2...e6 are uncommon. The Colle System and Stonewall Attack are classified as Queen's Pawn Games because White plays d4 but not c4. They are also examples of Systems , rather than specific opening variations. White develops aiming for a particular formation without great concern over how Black chooses to defend. Both systems are popular with club players because they are easy to learn, but are rarely used by professionals because

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7254-476: The Soviet Union: the name "Modern Benoni" had appeared in print by 1955. In the 1960s Larry Evans began employing the system frequently, and from 1966 onwards, Bobby Fischer also included it in his repertoire, albeit as a secondary weapon. Even so, Fischer was responsible for one of the most famous games ever played with the opening: down 2–0 in the 1972 World Championship match , he answered Spassky's 1.d4 with

7371-638: The advantage. So Black first plays 7...a6 threatening 8...b5. Only after 8.a4 does Black play 8...Bg4 , when a transposition to the Classical Main Line is likely: 9.Be2 Bxf3 10.Bxf3 Bg7 11.0-0 0-0 12.Bf4 Qe7 is Ljubojević's line, for example. Instead White may try to exploit Black's early ...Bg4 with 9.Qb3 , but after 9...Bxf3 10.Qxb7 Black can either maintain material and positional equality with 10...Bxg2 or try for more with 10...Nbd7!?. To cut across Black's idea of ...Bg4, White has even resorted to 8.h3 allowing 8...b5 , but after 9.Bd3 Bg7 10.0-0 0-0 Black obtains an acceptable position. If White has entered

7488-417: The beginning of the new millennium, the theoretician John Watson published a well-regarded survey of the opening that may have contributed to the opening's revival. Many of the ideas he recommended, such as 9...Qh4+ versus the Taimanov Attack and 9...Nh5 in the Modern Main Line, grew in popularity after its publication. The opening regained some more of its former respectability when Vladimir Kramnik , needing

7605-502: The center from the flanks with pieces rather than occupying it with pawns. These openings are played often, and 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 trail only 1.e4 and 1.d4 in popularity as opening moves. If White opens with 1.Nf3, the game often becomes one of the d4 openings (closed games or semi-closed games) by a different move order (this is called transposition ), but unique openings such as the Réti and King's Indian Attack are also common. The Réti itself

7722-524: The center with pieces and is prepared to trade a bishop for a knight to weaken White's queenside with doubled pawns . The King's Indian Defense is aggressive, somewhat risky, and generally indicates that Black will not be satisfied with a draw. Although it was played occasionally as early as the late 19th century, the King's Indian was considered inferior until the 1940s, when it was taken up by Bronstein , Boleslavsky , and Reshevsky . Despite being Fischer 's favored defense to 1.d4, its popularity faded in

7839-508: The closed games, transpositions are important and many of the Indian defenses can be reached by several different move orders. Although Indian defenses were championed in the 1920s by players in the hypermodern school, they were not fully accepted until Soviet players showed in the late 1940s that these systems are sound for Black. Since then, Indian defenses have been the most popular Black replies to 1.d4 because they offer an unbalanced game with chances for both sides. The usual White second move

7956-413: The club level also study openings, but the importance of the opening phase is less there since games are rarely decided in the opening. The study of openings can become unbalanced if it is to the exclusion of tactical training and middlegame and endgame strategy. A new sequence of moves in the opening is referred to as a theoretical novelty . When kept secret until used in a competitive game, it

8073-442: The double sacrifice 14...Nxf2!! 15.Kxf2 Qh4+ 16.Kf1 (16.g3? Bd4+ 17.Kg2 Qxh3+ 18.Kf3 Bg4+ 19.Kf4 g5+ 20.Kxg5 Be3+ 21.Kf6 Qh6 mate) Bd4 17.Nd1 Qxh3! with the point that 18.gxh3 Bxh3 is mate. After 18.Bf3 Qh2 19.Ne3 f5! 20.Ndc4 fxe4 21.Bxe4 Ba6! White was unable to defend against Black's threats of 22...Rxe4 23.Qxe4 Re8 24.Qc2 Nxd5 and 22...Bxc4+ 23.Nxc4 Rf8+ 24. Bf3 Rxf3+, and Gurgenidze resigned after move 27. When Black prepares

8190-556: The early 1980s, White scored several crushing victories at high-profile tournaments using the aggressive Taimanov Attack , which caused players to question the fundamental soundness of Black's opening. By the end of the decade, the Modern Main Line had also emerged as a dangerous weapon for White, which only compounded Black's troubles. As a result, the opening declined in popularity and a number of grandmasters gave it up altogether. Those who continued to play it often chose to do so via

8307-494: The early 1980s. The point of the check is that both 8...Bd7 and 8...Nbd7 allow 9.e5 with advantage to White, since the knight on f6 can no longer retreat to d7. After the strongest move 8...Nfd7 the most popular move used to be 9.Bd3, preparing to meet 9...a6 with 10.a4. But in two crushing and high-profile victories with White (against Frans Andre Cuijpers at the 1980 World Junior Chess Championship in Dortmund, and against Nunn at

8424-522: The extra pawn. Some openings played between grandmasters are so complex and theoretical that amateur players will have trouble understanding them. An example is the Perenyi Attack of the Sicilian Defense (see diagram), which yields an immensely complicated and tactical position that even strong players have difficulty handling, and that is beyond the comprehension of most amateurs. Major changes in

8541-497: The force of White's e4-e5 break. By the late 1980s Ljubojević's plan of exchanging the light-squared bishop had been proven so reliable it was deterring White from entering the Classical Main Line altogether. The desire to prevent ...Bg4 led to the development of the Modern Main Line, 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.h3 0-0 9.Bd3 . If Black continues in the same manner as in the Classical Main Line, e.g. 9...a6 10.a4 Nbd7 11.0-0 Re8 , then White appears to maintain an advantage with 12.Bf4 . Originally it

8658-399: The gambit pawn or return it. The Catalan Opening is characterized by White forming a pawn center at d4 and c4 and fianchettoing their king's bishop. It resembles a combination of the Queen's Gambit and Réti Opening . Since the Catalan can be reached from many different move orders, (one Queen's Gambit Declined -like move sequence is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3), it is sometimes called

8775-403: The game, Tal used only fifteen minutes. The central pawn majority is White's main positional trump in the Modern Benoni. By staking out an advantage in space on the kingside, it allows White to develop an initiative on that side of the board. The most important tool in White's arsenal is the e4-e5 pawn advance, which can open up lines and squares for the white pieces, and result in the creation of

8892-399: The initial position, White has twenty legal moves. Of these, 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3, and 1.c4 are by far the most popular as these moves do the most to promote rapid development and control of the center. A few other opening moves are considered reasonable but less consistent with opening principles than the four most popular moves. The Dunst Opening , 1.Nc3, develops a knight to a good square, but

9009-454: The knight with f2-f4, and sets up the possibility of Black bringing a knight on f4 via g6 or h5. Further space-gaining pawn advances such as ...g5-g4 and ...f7-f5 may even be possible. En route to winning his first USSR championship, Tal provided a brilliant example of how Black's dark-square control could lead to a kingside attack. Against Gurgenidze at the 1957 championship in Moscow, he unleashed

9126-497: The line 9...0-0 10.Nf3 Na6 11.0-0 Nb4 , taking advantage of the outpost on b4. The move 7.Bd3 is sometimes used by White to enter the Modern Main Line after 7...Bg7 8.h3 without allowing Black's attempts to play an early ...Bg4. It is also the prelude to a variation championed by Rainer Knaak , 7...Bg7 8.Nge2 0-0 9.0-0 . White's plan is to play for a kingside attack beginning with the moves Ng3, f2-f4, and then either e4-e5 or f4-f5. A famous demonstration of White's kingside attack

9243-494: The mid-1970s. Kasparov 's successes with the defense restored the King's Indian to prominence in the 1980s. Ernst Grünfeld debuted the Grünfeld Defense in 1922. Distinguished by the move 3...d5, Grünfeld intended it as an improvement to the King's Indian which was not considered entirely satisfactory at that time. The Grünfeld has been adopted by World Champions Smyslov , Fischer, and Kasparov. The Queen's Indian Defense

9360-583: The middlegame and the strategic plans chosen by both sides. For example, in the main line of the Winawer Variation of the French Defense (1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.a3 Bxc3+ 6.bxc3), White will try to use their bishop pair and space advantage to mount an attack on Black's kingside , while Black will seek simplifying exchanges (in particular, trading off one of White's bishops to blunt this advantage) and counterattack against

9477-405: The most popular first moves for White, but with one less tempo . Defenses beginning with 1...c6 and 1...e6, often followed by the center thrust 2...d5, are also popular. Defenses with an early ...d6 coupled with a kingside fianchetto are also commonly played. The most important scheme of classifying chess openings for serious players is by ECO code , a series of 500 opening codes assigned by

9594-465: The move order 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5, when White's early development of the knight to f3 rules out the Taimanov Attack and gives Black opportunities to avoid the Modern Main Line . Mired in this theoretical crisis, the Modern Benoni remained unpopular in the 1990s. Veselin Topalov was the only top-level player to play it regularly, and he too generally preferred the 2...e6 3.Nf3 c5 move order. At

9711-438: The moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 d5 4.Bg2 dxc4 5.Nf3 Be7. White sacrifices the pawn for a lead in development . Without a black pawn on d5, White's kingside bishop hinders Black's queenside development. The Open Catalan line has been a favorite of Anatoly Karpov and Efim Geller as Black and of Oleg Romanishin as White. Usually, White will recover the pawn with Qc2 and then a4, Ne5, or Qa4+. In order to hold

9828-404: The opening has acquired a reputation for being risky: as Psakhis once wrote, the Modern Benoni "is definitely not an opening for cowards." Since White's central superiority typically constitutes a positional advantage, Black must frequently resort to tactical play and material sacrifices in order not to be forced into passivity. The game Donner –Tal, Zurich 1959, was a classic demonstration of

9945-427: The opening in their World Chess Championship title games. A number of other grandmasters have successfully played the Catalan, including Fabiano Caruana , Daniil Dubov , Anish Giri and Ding Liren . The Catalan derives its name from Catalonia , after tournament organisers at the 1929 Barcelona tournament asked Savielly Tartakower to create a new variation in homage to the area's chess history. It had been played

10062-429: The opening's reputation as one of Black's most dynamic responses to 1.d4 . The Modern Benoni suffered a serious theoretical crisis in the 1980s and 1990s, when players as Black encountered great difficulties in meeting the Taimanov Attack and the Modern Main Line . Only in the 21st century has the opening's reputation and theoretical standing made a recovery. Notably, it was Vladimir Kramnik 's choice when he needed

10179-494: The opponent was Veselin Topalov , and in each instance, White scored two more points than Black. Magnus Carlsen began to employ the Catalan as his main opening in the late 2010s, most notably using it in the second game of the 2021 World Chess Championship against Ian Nepomniachtchi , and used it extensively at the Tata Steel Chess Tournament 2022 . The Open Catalan, Classical Line ( ECO code E05) consists of

10296-408: The opponent's pawn structure, seizing control of key squares, making favorable exchanges of minor pieces (e.g. gaining the bishop pair), or gaining a space advantage, whether in the center or on the flanks. At higher levels of competition, for many years the main objectives of opening play were to obtain a better position when playing as White and to equalize when playing as Black. The idea behind this

10413-555: The other Benoni defences and the King's Indian Defence , although transpositions between these openings are common. Frank Marshall invented the Modern Benoni in 1927, but his experiments with the opening went largely ignored for over 20 years. In the 1950s the system was revitalized by players in the Soviet Union, chief among them Mikhail Tal . Its subsequent adoption by players of a similarly aggressive and uncompromising style such as Bobby Fischer and Garry Kasparov established

10530-459: The pawn with ...b5 or give it back for extra time to free their game. In the Closed Catalan, Black does not capture on c4; their game can be somewhat cramped for a while, but is quite solid . Additionally, Black has ways to avoid the Catalan. The Catalan has had proponents at the highest level in chess, with Vladimir Kramnik , Viswanathan Anand and Magnus Carlsen all employing

10647-705: The pawn, the Slav (2...c6) and the Queen's Gambit Declined (2...e6). Both of these moves lead to an immense forest of variations that can require a great deal of opening study to play well. Among the many possibilities in the Queen's Gambit Declined are the Orthodox Defense, Lasker's Defense, the Cambridge Springs Defense , the Tartakower Variation, and the Tarrasch and Semi-Tarrasch Defenses. Black replies to

10764-473: The player primarily responsible for elevating the Modern Benoni to the status of a major opening was Mikhail Tal , who took up the opening in 1953 after seeing one of Nezhmetdinov's games. The tactical positions it led to were a perfect fit for Tal's combinatorial gifts and he crushed many opponents in brilliant style. Famous examples include his game against Bukhuti Gurgenidze at the 1957 USSR championship, excerpted below , and his win against Yuri Averbakh at

10881-436: The position and gain active piece play at the cost of allowing White a pawn wedge at d5 and a central majority. Tal popularized the defense in the 1960s by winning several brilliant games with it, and Fischer occasionally adopted it, with good results, including a win in his 1972 world championship match against Boris Spassky . Often Black adopts a slightly different move order, playing 2...e6 before 3...c5 in order to avoid

10998-518: The positions it leads to are often reached via transposition from the Sämisch Variation of the King's Indian Defence. The pawn on f3 overprotects e4 and prevents ...Ng4, so that White can continue 7...Bg7 8.Bg5 and retreat the bishop to e3 after ...h7-h6 without it being further harassed by Black's knight. Notable past practitioners of this line have included Viktor Korchnoi and Murray Chandler . This position arises particularly frequently through

11115-614: The power of Black's queenside pawn advance, backed up by the bishop on g7. After Black's 20...Qb4! White was unable to exchange queens, as 21.Qxb4 cxb4 22.Nd1 Nc5 would fork the pawns on a4 and e4. However, the actual game did not last long after Donner's 21.Qf1 : Tal set his pawns in motion with 21...c4 22.Re2 b5 23.axb5 axb5 24.Kh1 , created a passed c-pawn with 24...Bxc3! 25.bxc3 Qxc3 26.Rxb5 Qd3 27.Qe1 c3 28.Rb1 , and forced Donner's resignation with 28...Nc5! when White could neither save his e-pawn nor stop Black's c-pawn from queening . According to Donner, while he spent over two hours on

11232-440: The pressure on this pawn by playing Bf4 or Nb5. The strength of White's knight on c4 often induces Black to exchange it off: typical ways of doing so are ...Nb6, ...Ne5, or ...b7-b6 followed by ...Ba6. Even if Black should succeed in enforcing the ...b7-b5 break, White may halt the b-pawn's further advance by simply playing b2-b4. Even though this would give Black the opportunity to establish a passed c-pawn with ...c5-c4, blockading

11349-459: The publication of a short booklet in 1933, but this had little impact. The oldest openings tend to be named for geographic places and people. Many openings are named after nationalities of players who advocated them, for example Indian, English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Scotch, Russian, Italian, Scandinavian and Sicilian, or places where important games featuring the opening were played such as Vienna, Berlin, and Wilkes-Barre . The Catalan System

11466-602: The queen pawn to d4. Black's most common reply is 2...Nc6, which usually leads to the Ruy Lopez (3.Bb5), Scotch Game (3.d4), or Italian Game (3.Bc4). If Black instead maintains symmetry and counterattacks White's center with 2...Nf6 then the Petrov's Defense results. The Philidor Defense (2...d6) is not popular in modern chess because it allows White an easy space advantage while Black's position remains cramped and passive, although solid. Other responses to 2.Nf3 are not seen in master play. The most popular alternatives to 2.Nf3 are

11583-427: The queenside in this manner may allow White to pursue play in the centre and on the kingside undisturbed. The ...c5-c4 advance would also relinquish Black's control over the d4-square, which may be occupied to good effect by a white knight or bishop. A successful demonstration of this last idea occurred in the game Pintér – Brynell at the 1998 Elista Olympiad . White answered Black's 21...b5 with 22.b4! , and Black

11700-672: The reigning world champion. Other classic examples of this central breakthrough include Ojanen – Keres , Estonia–Finland match, Helsinki 1960 and Korchnoi–Tal, USSR championship, Yerevan 1962. The half-open e-file gives Black a certain degree of influence over the kingside. A rook on e8 puts pressure on White's e-pawn and restrains it from advancing. Tactics involving ...Nxe4 are not uncommon—the games Averbakh–Tal, USSR championship, Riga 1958, and Uhlmann–Fischer, Interzonal, Palma de Mallorca 1970, are well-known examples. Black can initiate further kingside activity by playing ...Nd7-e5 followed by ...g7-g5. The pawn move prevents White from driving away

11817-436: The rules of chess in the late fifteenth century increased the speed of the game, consequently emphasizing the importance of opening study. Thus, early chess books, such as the 1497 text of Luis Ramirez de Lucena , present opening analysis, as do Pedro Damiano (1512) and Ruy López de Segura (1561). Ruy López's disagreement with Damiano regarding the merits of 2...Nc6 led to 3.Bb5 (after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6) being named for him as

11934-476: The same bishop no longer covers the a6-f1 diagonal, White typically plays Nf3-d2-c4 to help defend against Black's queenside expansion. After further preparatory moves such as Bf4 and Re1, White may be able to push forward in the centre with e2-e4-e5. Noted proponents of the Fianchetto Variation have included strong positional players such as Viktor Korchnoi, Gennadi Sosonko and Predrag Nikolić , and after

12051-399: The same tournament the following year. He also became the first player to use the Modern Benoni in a world championship match, playing it twice against Mikhail Botvinnik in 1960 . Former World Champion and opening authority Max Euwe acknowledged Tal's contribution to the opening by naming it the "Tal-System" in his 1965 opening encyclopedia. These developments did not go unnoticed outside

12168-557: The semi-open games White plays 1.e4 and Black breaks symmetry immediately by replying with a move other than 1...e5. The most popular Black defense to 1.e4 is the Sicilian (1...c5), but the French (1...e6, normally followed by 2.d4 d5) and the Caro–Kann (1...c6, normally followed by 2.d4 d5) are also very popular. The Pirc and the Modern are closely related openings that are also often seen, while

12285-442: The sharpest lines for White. The Benko Gambit is often played by strong players, and is very popular at lower levels. Black plays to open lines on the queenside where White will be subject to considerable pressure. If White accepts the gambit, Black's compensation is positional rather than tactical, and their initiative can last even after many piece exchanges and well into the endgame . White often chooses instead either to decline

12402-484: The threat of e2-e4-e5. The idea of an early Bf4 is also effective in other variations such as 9...Re8 10.Bf4. Black too can deviate: for example, the idea of playing for ...b7-b5 after 9...Na6 10.Nd2 Nc7 is frequently seen. The Fianchetto Variation is often reached via transposition from other openings. For instance, the position in the diagram can be reached from the King's Indian via 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.g3 Bg7 4.Bg2 c5 5.d5 d6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Nf3 e6 8.0-0 exd5 9.cxd5, or from

12519-408: The time being by playing 6.Nf3 first . The most critical lines in the Modern Benoni occur after 6.e4 g6 . At this point 7.Nf3 has historically been White's most popular move, intending to complete kingside development and castle. Here theory divides into three major branches: Apart from 7.Nf3, White also has several important alternatives, including: Before the advent of the Taimanov Attack and

12636-578: The top level when both Garry Kasparov and Viktor Korchnoi played it in their Candidates Semifinal match in London in 1983: five games of the eleven-game match featured the Catalan. In 2004, Ruben Felgaer won a tournament celebrating the 75th anniversary of Barcelona 1929 and the birth of the Catalan Opening, ahead of Grandmasters (GMs) Viktor Korchnoi, Mihail Marin , Lluis Comas and Viktor Moskalenko and International Master Manel Granados. Each game in

12753-463: The tournament, which was also held in Barcelona, began with the moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Nf6. With its use by Vladimir Kramnik , the Catalan gained a good deal of attention by high-level GMs in the 2010s. Kramnik played the opening three times in the World Chess Championship 2006 . The Catalan was also played four times by Viswanathan Anand in the World Chess Championship 2010 ; in both instances,

12870-602: The transposition 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 exd5 5.cxd5 d6 6.Nc3 g6. At this point White can still transpose to the Classical or Modern Main Lines after 7.e4. Other common alternatives are: The Fianchetto Variation has never been considered particularly dangerous for Black to meet, since White's setup does not put Black's position under immediate pressure. However, it also offers Black no obvious target to attack—the fianchettoed bishop covers e4 and d5 and also protects White's king. Since

12987-541: The transposition. However, White often prefers not to play 3.c4, since it takes away a useful square from a white knight. Several lines of the King's Indian Defence , such as the Four Pawns Attack , the Sämisch Variation and the Fianchetto Variation , can also transpose into variations of the Modern Benoni if Black plays ...c5 followed by ...e6 and ...exd5 and White recaptures with the c-pawn. The Modern Benoni

13104-457: The weakened pawns on White's queenside ; both players accept different combinations of advantages and disadvantages. This idea was a doctrine of the Soviet school of chess . A third objective, which is complementary to the previous ones and has been common since the 19th century, is to lure the opponent into positions with which the player is more familiar and comfortable than the opponent. This

13221-504: Was invented by Frank Marshall at the New York 1927 chess tournament . He played it twice, gaining a draw against José Raúl Capablanca in the Fianchetto Variation , but losing soundly to Aron Nimzowitsch , who played the Knight's Tour . Nimzowitsch received the third special prize of the tournament for this game and labelled Marshall's opening an "unfortunate" "extravagance" in his annotations; as

13338-452: Was the game Penrose–Tal, Leipzig ol 1960 . However, the development of the knight to e2 rules out the Nf3-d2-c4 manoeuvre, so Black is able to get quick counterplay on the queenside with ideas like ...c5-c4 followed by ...Nd7-c5. In 1996 Albert Kapengut published a dense analysis of the move 7.f3 , which now bears his name. Kapengut himself gave it the name "Half-Sämisch Variation", because

13455-447: Was the strongest player willing to use the original 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 move order and defend Black's cause in both the Taimanov Attack and the Modern Main Line. The Modern Benoni is one of Black's sharpest and most active defences against 1.d4. The exchange of White's c-pawn for Black's e-pawn leaves White with a pawn majority in the centre and Black with one on the queenside. This asymmetry suggests that White will try to play on

13572-516: Was thought that the temporary pawn sacrifice 9...b5 was an easy equalizer: after 10.Nxb5 Nxe4?! 11.Bxe4 Re8 Black seemingly regains the sacrificed piece without trouble. But in Alburt –de Firmian, USA ch 1990, White uncorked 12.Ng5! and went on to win: this move was judged the most important theoretical novelty in Volume 50 of Chess Informant . Only later was it discovered that the immediate 10...Re8

13689-427: Was unable to keep the queenside open with 22...bxa4? because 23.bxc5 Rxb1 24.Rxb1 dxc5 25.Bxc5 would have left White's central pawns unstoppable. After the game's 22...c4 23.a5! Qe7 24.Bd4 Black's queenside play had ground to a halt; Pintér later won with a pawn advance on the kingside. After the initial moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 e6 , the moves 4.Nf3 and 4.g3 reach positions discussed previously , while 4.dxe6 fxe6

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