*Also*
- This guide in chessbase format, for use in chessbase and Fritz.
Created by Ivo Fasiori (thanks Ivo, great job!). Click
here to download.
This
is a summary of the lines following the opening 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4
for the club level player.
This
can lead to variations of the Two Knights Defence and the Guicco Piano, as well
as the dreaded Max Lange Attack. It is a reasonable choice of opening system for
players who thrive on sharp, double-edged positions (a.k.a. cheapo merchants)
and it's easy to learn the basic ideas. It's also usually worth a good 15 minutes
on the clock in the opening stages, in my experience. I haven't covered everything,
but there should be more here than an average club player needs to know.
I've
divided it into 3 sections:
Part
1:
Black
plays 4......Bc5 -
Below
Part
2: Black plays 4......Nf6 - probably best
Part
3: Other black 4th moves
Part
1
1.e4
e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4
4.....Bc5
Black
defends his extra pawn and develops his bishop. He plans Nf6, d6 and castling.
5.c3
Now
black has 3 main options
(a)
5.....dxc3 (b) 5.....d3 (c) 5.....Nf6
(a) 5.....dxc3
Now
white gets a free punch
6.Bxf7+ Kxf7
7.Qd5+ Kf8
8.Qxc5+ d6
(8.....Qe7
9.Qxc3 Qxe4+ 10.Be3 d6 is often given as being equal, with white having enough
compensation for the pawn. Although black's king is exposed and his rook is stuck
in the corner for now, it isn't easy for white to generate a convincing attack.
However white can gain time by attacking the black queen and has chances. Anyway,
if you don't fancy that one there's always the obvious cop-out - 9.Qxe7+ Ngxe7
10.Nxc3 which is dead equal)
Back
to the position after 8....d6.
This
position has to be o.k. for white, but it'll probably be the better player who
wins. To get some idea where white can go from here, the game Sveshnikov-Kupreichik
went....
9.Qc4 Bg4
(9.....cxb2
10.Bxb2. When this happens white usually gets a stonking attack)
10.Nxc3 Bxf3 11.gxf3
Qf6 12.f4 Qf7 13.Qb5 Nd4 14.Qd3 Ne6 15.f5 Nc5 16.Qc2 Qc4 17.Be3 Nf6 18.0-0-0 Re8
(18.....Nxe4
19.Rd4 wins a piece)
19.f3 Ncd7 20.Rd4
Qc6 21.Kb1 Re7 22.Qe2 Ne5 23.Bg5 Qc5 24.Rhd1 Nc6 25.Rc4 Qe5 26.Nd5 Rf7 27.Bf4
Qe8 28.Nxc7! Rxc7 29.Bxd6+ Re7 30.e5 Nd7 31.f4 h5 32.Qd3 Rh6 33.Bxe7+ Kxe7 34.Qa3+
Kf7 35.e6+ Rxe6 36.fxe6+ and
black soon resigned - A game worth seeing but probably not much use to us club
level cloggers.
The
other main option is 9.Qxc3, but all the games I could find with this in ended
in draws.
(b) 5.....d3
This
move, suggested by Keene as an antidote to 5.c3, stops white building a pawn center
with cxd4 and hinders the knight on b1. That said, white gets a decent game anyway
by grabbing queenside space.
6.b4 Bb6
7.Qb3 Qf6
8.0-0 d6
9.a4 a6
10.a5 Ba7
11.b5! Ne5
(11....axb
12.a6 ba 13.Bd5 Nge7 [13.....Bb7 14.Rxa6 Bxf2+ 15.Rxf2 Rxa6 16.Ng5] 14.Bg5 better
for white)
12.Nxe5 dxe
13.bxa bxa
14.Qa4+! Bd7
15.Qd1 Ne7
16.Qxd3 Bc8
17.Na3 is
slightly better for white.
(c) 5......Nf6
This
has transposed to a line of the Guicco Piano.
6.cxd4 Bb4+
(6.....Bb6
7.d5 Ne7 8.e5 Ng4 9.d6! is better for white)
7.Bd2 Bxd2+
(7.....Nxe4
8.Bxb4 Nxb4 9.Bxf7+ - that trick again - Kxf7 10.Qb3+ d5 11.Qxb4 is a bit better
for white)
8.Nbxd2 d5
9.exd5 Nxd5
10.Qb3 Nce7
11.0-0 0-0
12.Rfe1 c6
White
is happier because his rooks have open files and his knights have good scope.
Part
2: Black plays 4....Nf6
Part
3: Other black 4th moves
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