Berlin Defense
| Berlin Defense | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Trains | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ECO key | C65 to C67 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Named after | Berlin chess school | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Oldest source | Paul Rudolph von Bilguer : The two-knight game in follow-up , 1839 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Berlin Defense is a variant in the Spanish game , an opening in chess . It arises after the moves (see also: chess notation ):
- 1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Ng1 – f3 Nb8 – c6 3. Bf1 – b5 (the “Spanish game”) 3.… Ng8 – f6
history
Defense was theoretically investigated in the Berlin chess school as early as the first half of the 19th century and got its name from there. The Handbuch des Schachspiels , published in Berlin in 1843, notes on move 3.… Ng8 – f6 (p. 166): “This is the most correct defensive move. The necessity, which is thereby imposed on White to defend his e4 pawn, allows Black to win a move, and this is enough to put the game on an equal footing, while all other variants (...), if White continues to play correctly, lead to a loss of blacks lead, or at least only got the draw with the greatest effort. ”The second edition of 1852 writes (p. 158):“ We recommend (...) especially 3.… Ng8 – f6, ”after which“ the Train of Ruy Lopez [3. Bf1 – b5] (...) is by no means dangerous, but the game usually takes on the decided character of a draw game towards the middle. ”(P. 157) It became particularly popular in the second half of the 19th century when it was used by players like Adolf Anderssen , Johannes Hermann Zukertort or Emanuel Lasker ; in the 20th century it lost a lot of its importance.
In the 21st century it flourished again after Vladimir Kramnik was able to reliably equalize several times against Garry Kasparov at the 2000 World Chess Championship . This was one of the decisive factors for Kramnik's victory in the world championship. Since then, the corresponding variant of the defense has often been nicknamed the “ Berlin Wall ”, which White finds difficult to “tear down”. Today it is one of the most solid defenses in chess.
variants
After the passive cover 4. d2 – d3 the knight hike Nc6 – e7 !? a trap. The intent is Ne7 – g6 along with c7 – c6, d7 – d6, Qd8 – c7, Bf8 – e7, 0–0. 5. Nf3xe5? fails on 5.… c7 – c6 6. Ne5 – c4! (6. Bb5 – c4 Qd8 – a5 + loses the Ne5) d7 – d6! (6.… c6xb5 ?? 7. Nc4 – d6 mate) 7. Bb5 – a4 b7 – b5 .
The continuation 4. 0–0 Nf6xe4 5. d2 – d4 Bf8 – e7 6. Qd1 – e2 Ne4 – d6 7. Bb5xc6 b7xc6 8. d4xe5 Nd6 – b7 is called the Rio de Janeiro variant. The knight on b7 can often get to e6 via c5.
4. 0–0 d7 – d6 leads to the Steinitz defense , whereby the variants there with white 0–0–0 are avoided. This sequence of turns is therefore called "Improved Steinitz Defense". An example game is Capablanca - Bernstein, San Sebastián 1911 . 4. 0–0 Bf8 – c5 leads to Cordel's defense .
A popular sequence of moves since the 2000 World Chess Championship is:
4. 0–0 Nf6xe4 5. d2 – d4 Ne4 – d6 6. Bb5xc6 d7xc6 7. d4xe5 Nd6 – f5 8. Qd1xd8 + Ke8xd8 .
This is the "Berlin Wall".
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Berlin wall
Black lost the castling right because he had to move his king. Because of this and because of its constriction, it is difficult for Black to connect his towers. On the other hand, the queens are swapped, which offers relief to the black defense. The unroched rook on h8 can immediately support its h-pawn's pawn leverage. The poorer pawn structure on the queenside ( double pawn ) and the white pawn majority on the kingside is compensated for by the black pair of bishops . The e5 pawn also offers an attack marker and at the same time limits the effect of the white black-squared bishop. The black, white-squared bishop, on the other hand, has a free path on the blockade squares e6 and f5. In the Spanish exchange variant, instead of e4 – e5, f4 – f5 was successfully played with a narrowing of Bc8 ( Lasker - Capablanca, St.Petersburg 1914 ).
4. Nb1 – c3 creates the Spanish four knights game .
Use in world championships and top tournaments
As expected, the defense was chosen relatively often in the world championship fights of the 19th century: Johannes Hermann Zukertort used it six times as a black player in his World Cup fight against Wilhelm Steinitz (in games 4, 6, 8, 10, 12 and 14). where he won once, lost twice and drew three times. Michail Tschigorin tried it three times in the 1892 world championship match against Steinitz, although he was less lucky: he drew the second game with it, but lost games 4 and 14. Emanuel Lasker also tried it once against Steinitz in the 1894 World Cup match. He lost the second game with her.
Lasker used it again in 1908 in his competition for the chess crown against Siegbert Tarrasch , when it was already considered somewhat antiquated. Games 8 and 14 ended in a draw, while Tarrasch won the tenth game as white player. As a result, the Berlin defense practically disappeared from the practice of the world's best.
It was not until the World Cup in 2000 that it found the favor of the elite players again. Kramnik used them in the 1st, 3rd, 9th and 13th game against Kasparov. All of these games ended in a draw . The fact that Kramnik was able to neutralize the draw advantage in Kasparov's white games in this way was a major factor in his victory in this world championship. Kasparov managed a certain revenge for this in the last game of the tournament in Astana 2001, when he was able to "tear down the wall" with a victim of his e-pawn on move 16 and thereby wrested the tournament victory from Kramnik, who was leading at the time.
At the 2013 World Chess Championship , the challenger Magnus Carlsen chose the Berlin defense in the 4th, 6th and 7th game, defending champion Viswanathan Anand in the 8th game. The 6th game was won by Black (Carlsen), the other games ended in a draw. In the 2014 World Chess Championship between the same opponents, Anand, now as a challenger, played the Berlin Defense in the 2nd, 7th, 9th and 11th game. In the latter, Anand got off to a good start with the Berlin Wall, but later lost as a result of a risky game including a controversial sacrifice . The opening was also played in five games in the run-up to the 2014 candidates' tournament.
Kramnik managed a surprise in the third round of the candidates' tournament in Berlin for the 2018 World Cup in a game against Aronian when he played with Black after 4. d2 – d3 (anti-Berlin Wall move) Bf8 – c5 5. Bb5xc6 d7xc6 6. 0–0 chose the innovation Qe7 7. h3 Rg8 , which was largely untested at the top level . As a result, he managed a strong attack on the white kingside and subsequently a convincing point gain.
literature
- Alexei Suetin : Spanish 2. Classic system to open defense: Classic system, Steinitz defense, Berlin defense, Jänisch Gambit, exchange variant, improved Steinitz defense, open defense and the like. a. , Sportverlag Berlin , 1981.
- John Cox: The Berlin Wall . Quality Chess, 2008, ISBN 978-91-85779-02-4 .
- Igor Lysyj , Roman Ovetchkin : The Berlin Defense . Chess Stars, 2012, ISBN 954-8782-89-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Chess: Kasparov tears down "Berlin Wall". welt.de, June 3, 2001, accessed July 30, 2015 .
- ↑ André Schulz : Candidates Tournament Berlin: Kramnik dashes forward , analysis : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYE48dBBvNo&feature=youtu.be