Simple Chess, Michael Stean [Faber]
Secrets of Grandmaster Play, Nunn and Griffiths [Batsford]
The Open Game in Practice, Anatoly Karpov [Batsford]
Winning with Bishop's Opening, Gary Lane [Batsford]
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For example, after 2. Nf3 Black might reply 2...Nc6, then after 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 (Giuoco Pianissimo) we can try
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The immediate 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 leads
to release of central tension
and denies White the opportunity of ever achieving a
'perfect' centre with
Pawns on e4 and d4. This is a perfectly reasonable
opening (Scotch
Game), but perhaps we can do better.
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However, 3. c3 (Ponziani's opening) has been thought for a long while to offer White little: it is a well-motivated move but for the moment does not restrict Black at all. Black can make an immediate nuisance by either
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This old-fashioned Italian Game, concentrating on fast development and attacking play, is a great choice for your first chess opening system.
PGN Reader: game 1 (PGN Reader: Chessboard by Don Fong) 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.cxd4 Bb4+ 7.Nc3 Nxe4 8.0-0 Bxc3 9.d5 Bf6 10.Re1 0-0 11.Rxe4 Ne7 12.d6 cxd6 13.Qxd6 Nf5 14.Qd5 d6 15.Bg5 Bxg5 16.Nxg5 Qxg5 17.Qxf7+ 1-0
However, this is not the way most folk play the opening these days.
If there is a problem with 3. Bc4 it is
3...Nf6 (Two Knights'
Defence), which does not allow us to play 4. c3 / 5.
d4.
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4. d3 may be followed by protecting the e-Pawn (with Nbd2, or castling and Re1), and then we can play c2-c3 and d3-d4 as originally planned. This slightly delayed occupation of the centre may be stronger than doing so immediately, because it is more solid.
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Also, after 3...Bc5 4. c3 Nf6 5. d3! we enter similar lines. The main variations of the Giuoco Piano with 5. d4 are well-explored and well-known, so your opponent may equalise without much thought if they know the book lines, whereas these lines with d3 are less familiar and offer more scope for original play.In any event, the system with c3 and d3 may be more interesting than a Four Knights' type of system with Nc3 and d3. The Queen's Knight can play first to d2, which looks a little slow, but, because the centre is solid, it can then plan grand tours like Nd2-c4-e3-d5 or Nd2-f1-g3-f5, or some other combination like Nd2-f1-e3. If a general King's-side push is being considered, once the King's Knight on f3 moves, the Queen's Knight can pop around from d2 to f3.
There has been much Grandmaster interest in this apparently slow style of playing these old openings. What can Black do in response to this plan?
White is going to stick the King's Bishop on c4, while Black has yet to commit it to a square: ...Bc5 is natural, ...Be7 is solid, and some folk have tried it on g7.
This combination of different possible plans by White and by Black is rather interesting. It is this strategic complexity and relatively slow unfolding of plans which has led to a growth of interest in these lines, together with a re-appraisal of some old variations.
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The Bishop's Opening move order obviously avoids this defence, and one or two others besides (like Philidor's Defence and the Latvian Gambit). So, yes, there may be practical advantages in starting out with 2. Bc4.
The growth of interest in Bishop's Opening actually began with Bent Larsen's researches in the 1960s. [He wanted to get into a line of the Vienna Opening: 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. d3 without encouraging the wild 3...Nxe4 4. Qh5, so introduced the line with 2. Bc4.]
He discovered, amongst other things, that after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 d5 Black has no easy time of it.
The other theoretical development, published in a little
Tim Harding book, was a series of correspondence games by
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There are old-fashioned 'Italian' and gambit approaches
to Bishop's
Opening - for example, White can essay the
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To find a parallel system to the Breyer we can try:
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Be7 4. Nf3 d6 5. O-O c6
6. c3 Nbd7. game 6
These parallels help explain the GM interest in the old Bishop's opening. The differences between the parallel lines lie principally in White's more restricted route for the Bishop: Bf1-c4-b3-c2 rather than Bf1-b5-a4-b3-c2 in the Ruy Lopez, chased by Black's a- and b-Pawns. Whether these advances represent Queen's-side counterplay more than Queen's-side weaknesses has yet to be resolved!
The easiest way to think about the plans in different lines is to consider the Pawn formations. If White succeeds in playing d3, c3 and d4 we create a tense pawn formation (a), in which the tension can be resolved in a number of ways. Before White can do this, it is possible for Black to set up such a formation, so we have all the possibilities available to both sides.
The possibilities of a quick shift to another formation will be better handled by the side with the more advanced and more flexible development.
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Black may resolve the tension by playing
...e5xd4 (c3xd4) which results
in an unbalanced position where White has an extra central
Pawn (b).
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White may resolve the tension in the first formation, by playing either
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To play for a win the c-Pawn and maybe b-Pawn should be advanced, to sieze more space and perhaps open lines on that side.
The opponent may consider an
advance of the f-Pawn to undermine the d-Pawn and
counter-attack on the King's-side.
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There are natural posts for Knights on d5 and f5 (d4 and f4 for Black), and if Black's c-Pawn has pushed to c5 earlier, the d5 point is even more attractive. Control of the d-file is a good idea but can usually be countered, resulting in exchanges. Occupation of the mutual outposts f5 and f4 by Knights is less straightforward to counter, and while your opponent is sorting out that threat, it may be that you can get the d-file then.
If Black anticipates the d3-d4 advance with ...d7-d5,
after e4xd5 and
...Nf6xd5 we have a semi-open unbalanced KP centre (e),
typical of the Steinitz
variation of the Ruy Lopez with colours reversed.
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If neither side ventures d4/...d5, then we have a
balanced, closed KP centre
(f).
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on the Queen's-side we may see a pawn rush, but on the King's-side we are more likely to see more modest plans like the occupation of f5 or f4 by a Knight.
The flexibility of the Bishop's Opening is such that you can end up playing any of these Pawn formations, and playing each side of the unbalanced ones [a,b,c and e] as either White or Black!
Interestingly, White often ends up playing against a Black preponderance in the centre. Let's see:
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3
Bd6 [Paulsen's Defence
with ...d5]
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 Bd6 6. Nc3 Be6 7. Bg5 Qa5 8. O-O Nbd7 9. exd5 cxd5 [Nunn-Murey, 1982: game 9]
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 c6 4. Nf3 d5 5. Bb3 Bd6 6. Nc3 d4 [Nunn-Kortchnoi, 1981: game 12]
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d3 Be7 4. Nf3 d6 5. O-O c6 6. h3 Nbd7 7. a4 O-O 8. Re1 Nc5 9. Nc3 h6 10. d4 exd4 11. Nxd4 [Vogt-Tseshkovsky, 1981: game 15]
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4
Black can adopt a variety of systems. The Black King's Knight nearly always goes to f6, so assume 2...Nf6 will be played. White responds 3. d3 to play in the modern style. Now Black has a choice:
We can see a typical interpretation of this line by Karpov below, but the most precise move-order as far as I am aware is seen in the game Torre-Kamsky: game 19, where White avoids having to defend against ...Nf6-g4 by playing h2-h3 (then Nd2-f1-e3) by playing Nd2-c4-e3.
Playing ...d5 immediately seems to leave Black's e-Pawn exposed (Nunn-Garcia: game 20). Although if White prepares d2-d4 with an early c2-c3, Black may show the d-Pawn is weaker after ...d5 (Yudasin-Ivanchuk: game 22).
So White does best to preserve options until Black shows where the d-Pawn will go (Kosten-Cooper: game 13).
Black cannot successfully delay entirely a move of the d-Pawn (Taulbut-Rumens: game 21), nor trick White by playing ...d6 and then ...d5 (Kosten-Conquest: game 25).
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Because of this, Black may prefer to play modestly in the
style of Philidor's
Defence, with ...c6 and ...d6. This is rather playing
White's own game,
thinking about ...d5 in two moves. White has some
prospects of advantage
(Vogt-Chekhov: game 30) in a
slow position.
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This document (bishopop.html) was last modified on 6 Jan 97 by
Dr. Dave