Spassky - Fisher, 1972

As an example game of the Modern defense with 4...Bg4 I just have to use the game between Boris Spassky and Robert James Fischer played during the world championship of 1972 in Reykjavik.

The Fianchetto Variation

The following game between Andrei Sokolov and Jan Hein Timman from 1987 is a nice illustration of the Modern defense without 4...Bg4.

Modern Variation

I'll use the game Nigel Short  - Vlastimil Hort, 1986 as an illustration of the Modern variation of the Alekhine Defense. The Modern Defense starts with the moves 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 and is the most frequenly played variation.

Exchange Variation

In the Exchange Variation of the Alekhine Defense White trades pawns and goes for a more realistic space advantage. In Wikipedia it's described as accepting a more modest spatial advantage than in the Four Pawns Attack. However this immediately forces Black to decide how to recapture the pawn, but only 5...exd6 seems to be solid. I won't even describe 6...Qe6+ and only show a little bit about 5...cxd6, that became impopular due to the Voronezh Variation.

Let's have a look at the game Leko - Ivanchuk, 2007

Two Pawns Attack with 5.Bc4

In Openings for Tactical Players: Alekhine Defense Gregory Serper tries to destroy the Alekhine. It's a nice article that starts by wondering how an opening can be good for Black if it allows White to occupy and control the center while bringing out his pieces as quickly as possible.

The opening he proposes is 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. c4 Nb6 4. c5 Nd5 5. Bc4, a variation known as the Two Pawns Attack with 5.Bc4.
The article gives some examples in which it's easy to win for White, but this was caused by the mistakes made by Black. It clearly shows that Black has to be careful, because the Alkhine is full of landmines, as Gregory calls these mistakes. But this is also the case for White. The Alekhine is an opening for fighting players and loses balance right from the start.
The exercises in the article mentioned above demonstrate this very clearly. I'll advice to have a look at them, but don't let them stop you playing the Alkehine.

Now let's see how to avoid the traps in this variation.

The example game is Angel Angelov - Ruben Popov played in 1972

Chess Game Viewer

For the replayable games on this site I use the Chess Game Viewer from the Chess Publishing blogspot site. It's a free and easy way to publish chess games on a blogspot site without dependence on other sites.

It's possible to change the board color and the chess set, but at the moment I'm still using the default chess set. I have changed the board color in something that fits with the template. Later on I may select something that I like even more.

The Chess Publishing site explains and demonstrates a lot of other possibilities of this chess game viewer. Have a look at their site if you are interested.

The Four Pawns Attack, Korchnoi Variation

Geller - Korchnoi, 1960

In this post I am going to give an example of the Four Pawns Attack. The Four Pawns Attack starts with the moves 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 and the main line continues with 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6. However I'll not start with the main line. An interesting sideline is 5...g6, of which an interesting opening analysis can be found at Jeremy Silman's site.
The example game below continues with 5...Bf5 of which one of the most interesting variations is named after Viktor Korchnoi: the Korchnoi Variation.

Nimzowitsch - Alekhine, 1926

The first game on this blog has to be a game of Alekhine himself. Unfortunately he lost this game, but the opening named after himself went very well.

Alekhine's Defence

From Wikipedia

Alekhine's Defence is a hypermodern chess opening that begins with the moves:

1. e4 Nf6

Black tempts White's pawns forward to form a broad pawn centre, with plans to undermine and attack the White structure later in the spirit of hypermodern defence. White's imposing mass of pawns in the centre often includes pawns on c4, d4, e5, and f4. Grandmaster Nick de Firmian observes of Alekhine's in MCO-15 (2008), "The game immediately loses any sense of symmetry or balance, which makes the opening a good choice for aggressive fighting players."

The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has four codes for Alekhine's Defence, B02 through B05:

• B02: 1.e4 Nf6

• B03: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 (including the Exchange Variation and Four Pawns Attack)

• B04: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 (Modern Variation without 4...Bg4)

• B05: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 (Modern Variation with 4...Bg4)

This blog is dedicated to this interesting chess opening.
We will start in the next posts with an example of each of these main variations.