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English Defence
The English Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
The English Defence was rarely seen in master play before the Second World War, but early instances can be found in the games of Henry Bird, Gyula Breyer, Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Leicester player P. N. Wallis investigated the potential of the opening, and in the 1970s it was taken up by several leading English players such as Tony Miles and Raymond Keene. During this period Viktor Korchnoi employed the English Defence successfully in game 6 of his Candidates semi-final match against Lev Polugaevsky at Évian 1977 (see below).
The English Defence remains rare in grandmaster play, but has been used (often as a surprise weapon) by players such as Nigel Short, Alexander Morozevich, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk and Richard Rapport. The most frequent high-level practitioners have been Jon Speelman, Edvins Kengis and, more recently, Georg Meier.
After 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6, Black allows White to form a broad pawn centre with 3.e4, which Black will then attempt to undermine in hypermodern style with moves such as ...Bb7, ...Bb4, and sometimes even ...Qh4 and/or ...f5.
Common lines are as follows:
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 f5 6.Qe2 Nf6.
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Ne2 Nb4 6.Nbc3 NxBd3 7.QxNd3 Ne7 8.0-0 d6.
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.f3 (or Bd3, transposing to the first line above) f5.
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English Defence
The English Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
The English Defence was rarely seen in master play before the Second World War, but early instances can be found in the games of Henry Bird, Gyula Breyer, Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the Leicester player P. N. Wallis investigated the potential of the opening, and in the 1970s it was taken up by several leading English players such as Tony Miles and Raymond Keene. During this period Viktor Korchnoi employed the English Defence successfully in game 6 of his Candidates semi-final match against Lev Polugaevsky at Évian 1977 (see below).
The English Defence remains rare in grandmaster play, but has been used (often as a surprise weapon) by players such as Nigel Short, Alexander Morozevich, Hikaru Nakamura, Alexander Grischuk and Richard Rapport. The most frequent high-level practitioners have been Jon Speelman, Edvins Kengis and, more recently, Georg Meier.
After 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6, Black allows White to form a broad pawn centre with 3.e4, which Black will then attempt to undermine in hypermodern style with moves such as ...Bb7, ...Bb4, and sometimes even ...Qh4 and/or ...f5.
Common lines are as follows:
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Bb4+ 5.Nc3 f5 6.Qe2 Nf6.
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nc6 5.Ne2 Nb4 6.Nbc3 NxBd3 7.QxNd3 Ne7 8.0-0 d6.
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.f3 (or Bd3, transposing to the first line above) f5.