The English Defence is a
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
opening
Opening may refer to:
Types of openings
* Hole
* A title sequence or opening credits
* Grand opening of a business or other institution
* Inauguration
* Keynote
* Opening sentence
* Opening sequence
* Opening statement, a beginning statemen ...
characterised by the moves:
: 1.
d4 e6
: 2.
c4 b6
History
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
Aron Nimzowitsch (; , ''Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich''; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimzowitsch was one of the best chess players in the world. He was the foremost f ...
and
Richard Reti. In the late 1940s and early 1950s the
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...
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
Raymond Dennis Keene (born 29 January 1948) is an English chess grandmaster, a FIDE International Arbiter, a chess organiser, and a journalist and author. He won the British Chess Championship in 1971 and was the first player from England t ...
.
During this period
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (, ; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion.
Bor ...
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
Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, columnist, coach and commentator who has been the FIDE Director for Chess Development since September 2022. Short earned the title of grandmaster at the ...
,
Alexander Morozevich,
Hikaru Nakamura
Christopher Hikaru Nakamura[Alexander Grischuk
Alexander Igorevich Grischuk (born October 31, 1983) is a Russian chess grandmaster. Grischuk was the Russian champion in 2009. He is also a three-time world blitz chess champion (in 2006, 2012 and 2015).
He has competed in five Candidates To ...](_blank)
and
Richard Rapport. The most frequent high-level practitioners have been
Jon Speelman,
Edvins Kengis and, more recently,
Georg Meier
Georg "Schorsch" Meier (; 9 November 1910 – 19 February 1999) was a German Motorcycle sport, motorcycle racer famous for being the first foreign winner of the prestigious Senior TT, the Blue Riband race of the Isle of Man TT Races, in 1939 ri ...
.
Description
After 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6, Black allows White to form a broad 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.
If White decides against playing e4, for example by opting for 3.Nc3, play will likely transpose to a form of b6 Nimzo-Indian Defence, for example via 3...Bb7 4.Nf3 Bb4 5.Qc2 Nf6.
White can also transpose to a King's Pawn opening with 2.e4, in which case Black will typically proceed with either 2...d5 (
French Defence
The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
:1. e4 e6
This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5. Black usually plays ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...
) or 2...b6 (
Owen's Defence
Owen's Defence (also known as the Queen's Fianchetto Defence) is an uncommon chess opening defined by the moves:
:1. e4 b6
By playing 1...b6, Black prepares to fianchetto the where it will participate in the battle for the . The downside of t ...
).
The English Defence can also arise via a 1.d4 b6 move order, especially at club level where some players adopt 1...b6/2...Bb7 as a universal system.
Example games
*
Lev Polugaevsky vs.
Viktor Korchnoi
Viktor Lvovich Korchnoi (, ; 23 March 1931 – 6 June 2016) was a Soviet (before 1976) and Swiss (after 1980) chess grandmaster (GM) and chess writer. He is considered one of the strongest players never to have become World Chess Champion.
Bor ...
, Évian 1977
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Qc2 Qh4 5.Nd2 Bb4 6.Bd3 f5 7.Nf3 Bxd2+ 8.Kf1 Qh5 9.Bxd2 Nf6 10.exf5 Bxf3 11.gxf3 Nc6 12.Bc3 0-0 13.Re1 Qh3+ 14.Ke2 Rae8 15.Kd1 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Be2 Nxf3 18.Qd3 Rxe2 19.Rxe2 Qg2 20.Rhe1 Nxe1 21.Kxe1 Qxh2 22.Re7 Qg1+ 23.Ke2 Qg4+ 24.Ke1 h5 25.Qg3 Qxg3 26.fxg3 Rf7 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Re8+ Kg7 29.Kf2 Kh6 30.b4 Kg5 31.Ra8 Kxf5 32.Rxa7 d6 33.a4 Ke6 34.a5 bxa5 35.Rxa5 f5 36.c5 Rh7 37.cxd6 cxd6 38.b5 h4 39.gxh4 Rxh4 40.Ra8 Rb4 41.Rb8 Kd5 42.Kf3 Rb3+ 43.Kf4 Kc5 44.Rc8+ Kxb5 45.Kxf5 Re3 46.Kf4 Re1 47.Rd8 Kc5 48.Rc8+ Kd4 49.Kf3 d5 50.Kf2 Re5 51.Ra8 Kc3 52.Ra3+ Kb4 53.Ra1 d4 54.Rc1 d3 55.Rc8 d2 56.Rb8+ Kc3 57.Rc8+ Kd3 58.Rd8+ Kc2 59.Rc8+ Kd1 60.Rc7 Rf5+ 61.Kg2 Ke2 62.Re7+ Kd3 63.Rd7+ Ke3 64.Re7+ Kd4 65.Rd7+ Rd5
*
Susan Polgar
Susan Polgar (born April 19, 1969, as Polgár Zsuzsanna and often known as Zsuzsa Polgár) is a Hungarian-American chess grandmaster. Polgár was Women's World Chess Champion from 1996 to 1999. On FIDE's Elo rating system list of July 1984, a ...
vs.
Jon Speelman, Netherlands 1993
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Nc3 b6 4.e4 Bb7 5.d5 Qe7 6.Be2 Nf6 7.f3 exd5 8.cxd5 c6 9.dxc6 Nxc6 10.Nh3 d5 11.exd5 0-0-0 12.Bg5 Rhe8 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Nf4 Qe5 15.Qd2 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Nb4 17.Kf2 Nxd5 18.Nd3 Nxc3 0–1
*Lucian Filip vs.
Igor Kovalenko,
Iasi 2014
1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.g3 Bb7 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Bxf3 6.exf3 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 d5 8.cxd5 Qxd5 9.Nc3 Qxf3 10.Rg1 Qh5 11.Nb5 Na6 12.Qc2 Ne7 13.Qa4 0-0 14.Qxa6 Qxh2 15.Rg2 Qh6 16.Qa3 Nf5 17.g4 Nh4 18.Rg3 c6 19.g5 Qg6 20.Bd3 Nf5 21.Nd6 Qh5 22.Bxf5 Qh1+ 23.Ke2 Qxa1 24.Bc2 Qc1 25.Qd3 g6 26.Ne4 Rad8 27.Rh3 Kg7 28.Rxh7+
See also
*
List of chess openings
This is a list of chess openings, organised by the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') code classification system. The chess openings are categorised into five broad areas ("A" through "E"), with each of those broken up into one hundred ...
*
List of chess openings named after places
Many of the 1,327 named chess openings and variants listed by ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' are named for geographic places.
A
*Aachen Gambit of the Nimzowitsch Defence – 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 Nb4
*Aasum Gambit of the Dunst Opening - 1 ...
References
Bibliography
* Bauer, Christian, ''Play 1...b6'' (Everyman Chess, 2005)
* Gonzalez, Jose, ''Opening Repertoire: The English Defence (Everyman Chess, 2023)
* Keene R, Plaskett J & Tisdall J, ''The English Defence, ...e6, ...b6, ...Bb7'' (Batsford, 1987)
* King, Daniel, ''English Defence'' (Everyman Chess, 1999)
* Lakdawala, Cyrus, ''1...b6 move by move'' (Everyman Chess, 2014)
*
* Odessky, Ilya, ''English Defence'' (Chess University 2008)
* Odessky, Ilya, ''Winning Quickly with 1.b3 and 1...b6: Odessky's sparkling lines and deadly traps'' (New In Chess, 2020)
*
* Semkov, Semko, ''Playing for a win with ...b6'' (Chess Stars, 2023)
* Trent, Lawrence, ''1...b6 Against Everything'' (Chessable.com, 2021)
{{Chess
Chess openings