Back to Basics: Openings by Carsten Hansen 2010 Russell Enterprises, Inc. Milford, CT USA 1 Back to Basics: Openings Back to Basics: Openings by Carsten Hansen ISBN: 978-1-888690-44-6 © Copyright 2010 Carsten Hansen All Rights Reserved No part of this book may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any manner or form whatsoever or by any means, elec- tronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the express written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Published by: Russell Enterprises, Inc. P.O. Box 3131 Milford, CT 06460 USA http://www.russell-enterprises.com [email protected] Cover design by Janel Lowrance and Zygmunt Nasiolkowski Printed in the United States of America 2 Table of Contents Author’s Dedication; Bibliography 4 Introduction 5 1 My Own Experiences with Openings 8 2 Opening Principles 13 3 How do I Decide which opening to choose? 30 4 An Introduction to Opening Theory 34 5 The Open Games 39 6 The Semi-Open Games 84 7 The Closed Games 141 8 The Semi-Closed Games 167 9 Flank Openings 207 10 Where do I go from here? 231 Index of Names and Variations 236 3 Back to Basics: Openings Author’s Dedication To my mother, who taught me to play chess, and my father, who motivated me to improve. Bibliography Collins, Sam, Understanding the Chess Openings (Gambit Publications, London, 2005) Donaldson, John and Hansen, Carsten, A Strategic Opening Repertoire (2nd edition, Russell Enterprises, Milford, 2008) Emms, John, Play the Open Games as Black (Gambit Publications, London. 2000) Giddins, Steve, How to Build Your Chess Opening Repertoire (Gambit Publications, London, 2003) Hansen, Carsten, Improve Your Positional Chess (Gambit Publications, London, 2004) Larsen, Bent, Åbningsspillet i skak (Samleren, Copenhagen, 1965) Matanovic, Aleksandar, ed., Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings, Vols. A- E, (Sahovski Informator, Belgrade) Nielsen, Peter Heine and Hansen, Carsten, The Sicilian Accelerated Dragon (Batsford, London, 1998) Nimzowitsch, Aron, Mit System (Hernovs Forlag 1977) Seirawan, Yasser, Winning Chess Openings (Everyman Chess, London, 2003) Watson, John, Mastering the Chess Openings, Vol. 1 (Gambit Publications, London, 2006) 4 Introduction Introduction Thanks for getting this book. You give you some direction about how have probably started playing chess to obtain better results from your quite recently and you are looking openings and how to approach a for a quick climb up the ladder to variety of situations relevant to our chess excellence. So, openings may topic of openings. be the place to start because openings come first in the game, and The book is divided into the following therefore should be your first topic chapters: of study, right?! Chapter 1 Well, perhaps not. In fact I would My Own Experiences with recommend you first take a look at Openings some of the other books in this series on tactics and endings, as these will This first chapter will give you a help you better realize the more general introduction to the advantages from the positions this opening, including how I have book will hopefully help you obtain. approached the study of openings, Having noted that, this book will which types of books I have worked certainly assist you gain a solid with and most importantly, the understanding of chess openings. mistakes I have made over the years, and how you can best make Openings in chess are quite the use of my experience, including, of temptress, and many players spend course, how to avoid repeating my year after year studying, yet never mistakes. mastering them. In fact, when it comes to chess, there are on average Chapter 2 1-3 new opening books, CDs or Opening Principles DVDs released in any given week, 52 weeks a year. Therefore keeping In this chapter, we will examine the up with the development of all basic principles pertaining to openings is extremely difficult. development, which squares are important, and how to get yourself However, this book is not out to teach ready for the next phase of the game everything there is to know about after the opening – the middlegame . openings, but it will help you understand and play openings much Chapter 3 better. It will also help instill a sense How do I decide which opening of balance in your study of openings, to choose? 5 Back to Basics: Openings This chapter will cover topics such Chapter 6 as why some openings are played The Semi-Open Games more frequently, why some are played less frequently, which This chapter will cover openings openings are good and which are starting with 1 e4, but where Black not, what you should consider when replies with something other than putting your opening repertoire 1...e5. together, how to work with repertoire books, and much more. w________w The answers are not always as árhb1kgn4] simple as we would like. à0p0p0p0p] ßwdwdwdwd] Chapter 4: Þdwdwdwdw] An Introduction to Opening ÝwdwdPdwd] Theory Üdwdwdwdw] Chapter 4 will give you a good ÛP)P)w)P)] handle on how to deal with the Ú$NGQIBHR] succeeding chapters, which all wÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈw concern themselves with opening theory. It covers terms such “slight advantage,” “with compensation,” Chapter 7 and many other similar terms of art, The Closed Games which you encounter time and again when studying opening theory, but Games that start with 1 d4 d5 are which you may find difficult to get a covered in Chapter 7. feel for when working on your own. w________w árhb1kgn4] Chapter 5 à0p0w0p0p] The Open Games ßwdwdwdwd] This will cover all openings that start Þdwdpdwdw] with 1 e4 e5. Ýwdw)wdwd] w________w Üdwdwdwdw] árhb1kgn4] ÛP)PdP)P)] à0p0pdp0p] Ú$NGQIBHR] ßwdwdwdwd] wÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈw Þdwdw0wdw] ÝwdwdPdwd] Chapter 8 Üdwdwdwdw] The Semi-Closed Games ÛP)P)w)P)] Ú$NGQIBHR] Like its counterpart, Chapter 6, this wÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈw chapter will cover openings starting 6 Introduction with 1 d4, but where Black replies Chapter 10 with something other than 1...d5. Where do I go from here? w________w árhb1kgn4] In this chapter, I will give you à0p0p0p0p] pointers about how to continue your ßwdwdwdwd] studies and how to apply your new- Þdwdwdwdw] found knowledge. Ýwdw)wdwd] Üdwdwdwdw] Remember, chess is supposed to be ÛP)PdP)P)] fun, and while studying openings at length will pay some rewards – a Ú$NGQIBHR] few quick wins and some good wÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈw positions – studying chess openings Chapter 9 constantly may become boring Flank Openings unless you are already one of the world’s best players. Therefore, A wonderful mixture of what take a measured approach, spread remains, such as more mundane out your studies over a period of time, openings like 1 c4 , 1 Nf3, 1 f4, and and follow the advice offered in this 1 b3 as well as more bizarre choices book. You will certainly be on your like 1 b4, 1 g4, 1 Nc3 and several way to better results for a long time others. to come. In many openings where the lines are finely balanced, the player with the better understanding has an excellent chance for winning the game. 7 Back to Basics: Openings Chapter 1 My Own Experiences with Openings Early Lessons spring of 1982, I participated in another scholastic tournament in my home town My first experiences with chess of Søndersø on the Danish island of openings came back in 1978. I was six Funen. My results were unremarkable; years old and participating in one of my I think I scored something like 3 points first scholastic tournaments. I knew of a possible 7, so I didn’t win a prize in little more than how the pieces were my age group. However, my younger moving. My opponent, whose name I brother, Bent, did. What an unmitigated can’t recall, must have sensed my disaster! insecurities. The game went like this: 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nc6 3 Qh5 Nf6 4 Qxf7+ mate. Being a young man of action, I decided w________w that this would be the last time he would árdb1kgw4] win a prize a tournament when I didn’t. In an earlier tournament, I had won a à0p0pdQ0p] book on the 1978 World Championship ßwdndwhwd] match between Karpov and Kortschnoi. Þdwdw0wdw] The story line had grabbed my ÝwdBdPdwd] attention, and moreover my sympathies Üdwdwdwdw] lay with the defeated challenger, ÛP)P)w)P)] Kortschnoi. Now, having to study chess for the first time in my life, I had Ú$NGwIwHR] to decide on what to study, and having wÁÂÃÄÅÆÇÈw noticed that Kortschnoi favored the English Opening, 1 c4, it became a My dad, who was an experienced player natural choice for me. rated just under 1900, and who had taken me and some other children to the That summer, I went through all my tournament, saw this. Acknowledging father’s copies of the Danish chess my terrible defeat, he suggested to my magazine, Skakbladet, to locate games opponent that we play another game with 1 c4, and whenever I came across for practice before the next round. My one, I played through it. In the beginning opponent reluctantly obliged, and I couldn’t understand a great deal, but as mated me in a similar fashion in the the weeks passed, I began to pick up more second game as well! This is the first than just the basic moves. The games tournament experience I remember. were played by many of the greatest players of that era: Botvinnik, Smyslov, The next incident regarding chess Petrosian, Kortschnoi, Uhlmann, Geller, openings came several years later. I Polugaevsky, Ivkov, and of course my remember playing a lot of games in the compatriot Larsen, just to mention some interim, often with decent results, but of the more prominent names guiding the not showing much actual talent.