English Opening: Bickering Bishop



Position after 3 ... Bb4

After Black castles, he will attempt to grip the
center by ... Re8 and ... Bxc3. He'll also try to
get the better pawn structure in light of the
likely doubling of pawns on c3. The drawback to
this plan is that it abandons the bishop pair.

Position after 3 ... Bb4:



4 g3 O-O 5 Bg2 Bxc3 6 bxc3 Re8 7 O-O e5:



8 d3 c6 9 e4 d6 10 h3 Nbd7 11 Be3 Nc5
12 Qc2 b6 13 Rae1 Qe7 14 Nd2.



8 h3 e4 9 Nd4 Nc6 10 Rb1 Rb8 11 Qc2 a6
12 d3 exd3 13 exd3 Nxd4 14 cxd4 d5 15 Bf4.



8 e4 Nxe4 9 Re1 Nf6 10 Rxe5 Rxe5 11 Nxe5 d6
12 Nf3 Nbd7 13 d3 c6 14 Bf4 Nc5 15 Nd4.



8 Qc2 c6 9 Rb1 d5 10 d4 e4 11 Nd2 Qe7
12 Qb3 b5 13 cxb5 cxb5 14 h3 Qe6.



8 Re1 c6 9 e4 d6 10 d3 Nbd7 11 h3 Nc5
12 Be3 Qc7 13 Qc2 b6 14 Rab1.



8 Qb3 d6 9 d3 Nbd7 10 Qc2 e4 11 Nd4 Qe7
12 h3 Ne5 13 dxe4 Nxc4 14 Qb3 Nb6.



8 a3 e4 9 Nd4 Nc6 10 Rb1 Rb8 11 d3 Nxd4
12 cxd4 d5 13 Bg5 Bf5 14 dxe4.

ENGLISH OPENING (SYMMETRICAL VARIATION)

1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5
5 e4 Nb4:




What's the game plan for White?

(i) Promptly displace the centralized d5 knight
through e2-e4.
(ii) Eliminate the threat of ... Nd3+ via Bb5+,
d2-d4, a2-a3
and axb4.

1 c4 c5 2 Nf3 Nf6 3 Nc3 d5 4 cxd5 Nxd5
5 e4 Nb4:




What's the game plan for Black?

(i) Play ... Nb4 to threaten ... Nd3+.
(ii) Respond to White's d2-d4 strike with
... cxd4, followed by ... dxc3 and ... c2.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

There seems to be an error here, perhaps in the diagram rather than the text. The diagram claims to show the position after 4 ... Bb4, but only three moves have been made per side, and white's g pawn has not yet moved to g3 to allow the stated move 5. bg2. In other words, it looks like play went 1. c4 Nf6 2. Nc3 e6 3. Nf3 Bb4 and now there is a missing 4th move.

Chris Kannon said...

You're so kind. Thanks again for highlighting the diagram blunder.