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St George's Defence

St George's Defence

The St. George Defense (or St George's Defence), also known as the Baker Defense or Birmingham Defence, is an unusual chess opening played with the black pieces. It is given the B00 ECO code as an uncommon opening. The opening begins with the moves 1.e4 a6!? (see diagram). The St. George Defense is generally considered an inferior response to 1.e4 compared to 1...e5, 1...e6, 1...c5, or 1...c6. The St. George Defense is considered even more dubious than Owen's Defense (1.e4 b6 2.d4 Bb7), since Black spends three moves just to develop his queen bishop, as opposed to two in Owen's Defense, while White occupies the center and is ready to castle in three more moves. The first known chess game involving the St. George was a simultaneous game between amateur J. Baker (which the opening often derives its name) and the first official World Chess Champion Wilhelm Steinitz on 11 December 1868. The advocates of the opening are generally players willing to sacrifice the center in order to attack from the flank, and to avoid theory. Both Michael Basman and Tony Miles have been known to play the St. George. In perhaps its most famous appearance, Miles defeated reigning world champion Anatoly Karpov in the 1980 European Team Championship in Skara, Sweden. Miles' choice of opening was probably born out of desperation as much as anything else, since Miles had lost about seven consecutive games as Black against Karpov. Miles thus named the opening after the myth of Saint George and the Dragon in which Saint George slays the dragon as Miles slew Karpov in winning the game. The opening also acquired the name of "Birmingham Defense" at this time, after Miles' hometown. Boris Spassky also played the St. George Defense, albeit by transposition, in the 22nd game of his 1966 world championship match against world champion Tigran Petrosian. That game began 1.d4 b5 (the Polish Defense) 2.e4 Bb7 3.f3 a6 (transposing to the St. George). This was an inauspicious outing for the defense, however: Petrosian won, giving him the 12 points needed to retain his title. The major lines in the opening start with 1.e4 a6!? 2.d4 b5 and then branch. The main line continues 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.Bd3 e6 5.0-0 Nf6. Another important line is the Three Pawns Attack, sometimes called the St. George Gambit, which continues 3.c4 e6!? 4.cxb5 axb5 5.Bxb5 Bb7. The St. George is also sometimes used to prevent a white bishop from landing on b5 and then the game follows with a French Defense. Here is Miles' win over Karpov: Karpov-Miles, European Team Championship, Skara 1980. 1.e4 a6 2.d4 b5 3.Nf3 Bb7 4.Bd3 Nf6 5.Qe2 e6 6.a4 c5 7.dxc5 Bxc5 8.Nbd2 b4 9.e5 Nd5 10.Ne4 Be7 11.0-0 Nc6 12.Bd2 Qc7 13.c4 bxc3 14.Nxc3 Nxc3 15.Bxc3 Nb4 16.Bxb4 Bxb4 17.Rac1 Qb6 18.Be4 0-0!? 19.Ng5 (19.Bxh7+!? is a very dangerous sacrifice) h6 20.Bh7+ Kh8 21.Bb1 Be7 22.Ne4 Rac8 23.Qd3 Rxc1 24.Rxc1 Qxb2 25.Re1 Qxe5 26.Qxd7 Bb4 27.Re3 Qd5 28.Qxd5 Bxd5 29.Nc3 Rc8 30.Ne2 g5 31.h4 Kg7 32.hxg5 hxg5 33.Bd3 a5 34.Rg3 Kf6 35.Rg4 Bd6 36.Kf1 Be5 37.Ke1 Rh8 38.f4 gxf4 39.Nxf4 Bc6 40.Ne2 Rh1+ 41.Kd2 Rh2 42.g3 Bf3 43.Rg8 Rg2 44.Ke1 Bxe2 45.Bxe2 Rxg3 46.Ra8 Bc7 0-1.

External links

- [http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1433477 Includes a fairly indepth analysis]
- [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessopening?eco=B00 Chessdatabase] Category:Chess openings

Chess openings

The first moves of a chess game are the "opening moves," collectively referred to as "the opening." Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings or defenses, and have been given names such as the Ruy Lopez, Sicilian Defense, and Queen's Gambit Declined. There are dozens of different openings, which vary widely in character from quiet positional play (e.g. the Réti Opening and some lines of the Queen's Gambit Declined) to wild tactical play (e.g. the Latvian Gambit and Two Knights Defense, particularly the Wilkes-Barre Variation). A sequence of opening moves that is considered standard or follows that given in a reference work (such as the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings) is referred to as "the book moves" or simply "book." These reference works often present these move sequences in theory tables. A new move in the opening is referred to as a "novelty" or "theoretical novelty." At the point at which a game deviates from previously known opening theory, the players are said to be "out of book." In some opening lines, the moves considered best for both sides have been worked out to 30-35 moves or more. Serious chessplayers often spend years studying the openings, and continue doing so throughout their careers, since opening theory is constantly being refined. For a list of openings as classified by the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, see List of chess openings.

Aims of the opening

Although a wide variety of moves are played in the opening, the aims behind them are broadly speaking the same. First and foremost, the aim is to avoid being checkmated and avoid losing material, as in other phases of the game. However, assuming neither player makes a blunder in the opening, the main aims include: #Development: the pieces in the starting position of a game are not doing anything very useful. One of the main aims of the opening, therefore, is to put them on more useful squares where they will have more impact on the game. To this end, knights are usually developed to f3, c3, f6 and c6 (or sometimes e2, d2, e7 or d7), and both player's e- and d-pawns are moved so the bishops can be developed (alternatively, the bishops may be fianchettoed with a manoeuvre such as g3 and Bg2). The more rapidly the pieces are developed, the better. The queen, however, is not usually played to a central position until later in the game, as it is liable to be attacked otherwise, when its value means it has to be moved, which can waste time. #Control of the center: at the start of the game, it is not clear on which part of the board the pieces will be needed. However, control of the central squares allows pieces to be moved to any part of the board relatively easily, and can also have a cramping effect on the opponent. The classical view is that central control is best effected by placing pawns there, ideally establishing pawns on d4 and e4 (or d5 and e5 for Black). However, the hypermodern school showed that it was not always necessary or even desirable to occupy the center in this way, and that too broad a pawn front could be attacked and destroyed, leaving its architect vulnerable: an impressive looking pawn center is worth little unless it can be maintained. The hypermoderns instead advocated controlling the centre from a distance with pieces, breaking down one's opponent center, and only taking over the center oneself later in the game. This leads to openings such as the Alekhine Defence - in a line like 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 (the Four Pawns Attack) White has a formidable pawn center for the moment, but Black hopes to undermine it later in the game, leaving White's position exposed. #King safety: in the middle of the board, the king is somewhat exposed. It is therefore normal for both players to either castle in the opening (simultaneously developing one of the rooks) or to otherwise bring the king to the side of the board via artificial castling. #Good pawn structure: this is perhaps not so important as the other aims, but it is something which should be borne in mind. A number of openings are based on the idea of giving one's opponent an inferior pawn structure. In the Winawer Variation of the French Defence (1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. e5 c5 5. a3 Bxc3 6. bxc3), Black gives up his pair of bishops (which, other things being equal, it is usually best to hang on to) and allows White more space, but damages White's pawn structure in compensation by giving him doubled c-pawns. Similarly, in the Nimzo-Indian Defence (1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4), the Classical Variation (4. Qc2) is specifically designed to avoid a similar fault in White's pawn structure (he can recapture on c3 with the queen rather than the b-pawn). (It should be noted that doubled pawns are not all negative for their holder: doubled pawns on one file mean a half-open adjacent file which can be used for an attack.) In more general terms, many writers (for example, Reuben Fine in The Ideas Behind the Chess Openings) have commented that it is White's task in the opening to preserve and increase the advantage conferred by moving first, while Black's task is to equalise the game. Many openings, however, give Black a chance to play aggressively for advantage from the very start. According to IM Jeremy Silman, the purpose of the opening is to create dynamic imbalances between the two sides, which will determine the character of the middlegame and the strategic plans chosen by both sides. For example, in the aforementioned Winawer French, White will try to use his bishop pair and space advantage to mount an attack on Black's kingside, while Black will seek simplifying exchanges (in particular, trading off one of White's bishops to blunt this advantage) and counterattack against the weakened pawns on White's queenside.

Opening nomenclature

Early in the history of chess the lack of an adequate or widely used system of chess notation made it very cumbersome to describe the opening moves of a game. It was natural to assign names to sequences of opening moves to make them easier to discuss. Opening theory began being studied more scientifically from the 1840s on, and many opening variations were discovered and named in this period and later. Unfortunately opening nomenclature developed haphazardly, and most names are more historical accidents than based on any systematic principles. The oldest openings tend to be named for geographic places and people. Many openings are named after nationalities, for example English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Scotch, Russian, Italian, Scandinavian, and Sicilian. Cities are also used, such as Vienna, Berlin, and Wilkes-Barre. The Catalan System is named after the Catalonia region of Spain. Chess players' names are the most common sources of opening names. The name given to an opening is not always that of the first player to adopt it; often an opening is named for the player who was the first to popularize it or to publish analysis of it. Eponymic openings include the Ruy Lopez, Alekhine Defense, Morphy Defense, and the Réti System. Some opening names honor two people, such as with the Caro-Kann. A few opening names are descriptive, such as Giuoco Piano (Italian: "quiet game"). More prosaic descriptions include Two Knights and Four Knights. Descriptive names are less common than openings named for places and people. Some openings have been given fanciful names, often names of animals. This practice became more common in the 20th century. By then, most of the more common and traditional sequences of opening moves had already been named, so these tend to be unusual or recently developed openings like the Orangutan, Hippopotamus, Elephant, and Hedgehog. Many terms are used for the opening as well. In addition to Opening, common terms include Game, Defense, Gambit, and Variation; less common terms are System, Attack, Counterattack, Countergambit, Reversed, and Inverted. To make matters more confusing, these terms are used very inconsistently. Consider some of the openings named for nationalities: Scotch Game, English Opening, French Defense, and Russian Game — the Scotch Game and the English Opening are both White openings, the French is indeed a defense but so is the Russian Game. Although these don't have precise definitions, here are some general observations about how they are used. ; Game : Used only for some of the oldest openings, for example Scotch Game, Vienna Game, and Four Knights Game. ; Opening : Along with Variation, this is the most common term. ; Variation : Usually used to describe a line within a more general opening, for example the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. ; Defense : Always refers to an opening chosen by Black, such as Two Knights Defense or Kings Indian Defense. ; Gambit : An opening that involves the sacrifice of material, usually one or more pawns. Gambits can be played by White (e.g., King's Gambit) or Black (e.g., Latvian Gambit). The full name often includes Accepted or Declined depending on whether the opponent took the offered material, as in the Queen's Gambit Accepted and Queen's Gambit Declined. In some cases, the sacrifice of material is only temporary. For example, after 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 (the Queen's Gambit Accepted), White can regain the pawn immediately by 3.Qa4+ if he wishes. ; Countergambit : A gambit offered in response to an opponent's gambit; or, any gambit played by Black. Examples of this include the Falkbeer Countergambit to the King's Gambit and the Greco Counter Gambit (an old-fashioned name for the Latvian Gambit). ; System : A method of development that can be used against many different setups by the opponent. Examples include Réti System, Barcza System, and Hedgehog System. ; Attack : Sometimes used to describe an aggressive or provocative variation such as the Albin-Chatard Attack (or Chatard-Alekhine Attack), the Fried Liver Attack in the Two Knights Defense, and the Grob Attack. In other cases it refers to a defensive system by Black when adopted by White, as in King's Indian Attack. In still other cases the name seems to be used ironically, as with the fairly inoffensive Durkin's Attack (also called the Durkin Opening). ; Reversed, Inverted : A Black opening played by White, or more rarely a White opening played by Black. Examples include Sicilian Reversed (from the English Opening), and the Inverted Hungarian. Rarely the prefix Anti- is applied before an opening's name. This refers to an opening intended to avoid a particular line otherwise available to one's opponent, for example the Anti-Marshall (against the Marshall (Counter) Attack in the Ruy Lopez) and the Anti-Meran Gambit (against the Meran Variation of the Semi-Slav Defense).

Classification of chess openings

Various classification schemes for chess openings are in use. The ECO scheme is given at list of chess openings. The beginning chess position offers White 20 possible first moves. Of these, 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3, and 1.c4 are by far the most popular as these moves do the most to promote rapid development and control of the center. A few other opening moves are considered reasonable but less consistent with opening principles than the four most popular moves. The Dunst Opening, 1.Nc3, develops a knight to a good square, but is somewhat inflexible because it blocks White's c-pawn; also, after 1...d5 the knight is liable to be kicked to an inferior square by ...d4. (Note that after 1.Nf3 the analogous 1...e5? just loses a pawn.) Bird's Opening, 1.f4, addresses center control but not development and weakens the king position slightly. The Sokolsky Opening 1.b4 and the King's and Queen's fianchettos 1.b3 and 1.g3 aid development a bit, but they only address center control peripherally and are slower than the more popular openings. The 11 remaining possibilities are rarely played at the top levels of chess. Of these, the best are merely slow such as 1.c3, 1.d3, and 1.e3. Worse possibilities either ignore the center and development like 1.a3, weaken White's position (for instance, 1.f3 and 1.g4), or place the knights on poor squares (1.Na3 and 1.Nh3). Black has 20 possible responses to White's opening move. Many of these are mirror images of the most popular first moves for White, but with a tempo less. Defenses beginning with 1...c6 and 1...e6, often followed by the center thrust 2...d5, are also popular. Defenses with an early ...d6 coupled with a king-side fianchetto are also commonly played. One reasonable way to group the openings is
- Double King Pawn or Open Games (1.e4 e5)
- Single King Pawn or Semi-Open Games (1.e4 other)
- Double Queen Pawn or Closed Games (1.d4 d5)
- Indian Systems (1.d4 Nf6)
- Other Black Defenses to 1.d4 (including the Dutch and the Benoni)
- Flank Openings (including 1.c4, 1.Nf3, 1.f4, and others)
- Unusual first moves for White

Open games (1.e4 e5)

White starts by playing 1.e4 (moving his King's pawn 2 spaces). This is the most popular opening move and it has many strengths — it immediately works on controlling the center, and it frees two pieces (the queen and a bishop). The oldest openings in chess follow 1.e4 and many lie along the Épine Dorsale. Bobby Fischer rated 1.e4 as "best by test". On the downside, 1.e4 places a pawn on an undefended square and weakens d4 and f4; the Hungarian master Gyula Breyer melodramatically declared that "After 1.e4 White's game is in its last throes". If Black mirrors White's move and replies with 1...e5, the result is an open game. The most popular second move for White is 2.Nf3 attacking Black's king pawn and preparing to advance the queen pawn to d4. Black's most common reply is 2...Nc6, which usually leads to the Ruy Lopez, Giuoco Piano, Two Knights Defense, or Scotch Game. If Black instead maintains symmetry and counterattacks White's center with 2...Nf6 then the Petrov's Defense results. The most popular alternatives to 2.Nf3 are 2.Nc3 (the Vienna Game), 2.Bc4 (the Bishop's Opening) and 2.f4 (the King's Gambit). All of these three openings have some similarities with each other, in particular the Bishop's Opening frequently transposes to variations of the Vienna Game. The King's Gambit was extremely popular in the 1800s. White sacrifices a pawn for quick development and to pull a black pawn out of the center. The Vienna Game also frequently features attacks on the Black center by means of a f2-f4 pawn advance. In the Center Game, 2.d4, White immediately opens the center but if the pawn is to be recovered after 2...exd4, White must contend with a slightly premature queen development after 3.Qxd4. An alternative is to sacrifice one or two pawns, for example in the Danish Gambit. The early queen developments of the Parham Attack and the Napoleon Opening look amateurish. Indeed they are generally only played by novices, but the Parham Attack has been played in a few grandmaster tournament games. The Portuguese Opening, Alapin's Opening, Konstantinopolsky Opening, and Inverted Hungarian Opening are rare, offbeat tries for White. Of the defenses in this section, only the Damiano Defense is truly bad, although the Elephant Gambit and the Latvian Gambit are very risky for Black. The Philidor Defense is not popular in modern chess because it allows White an easy space advantage while Black remains solid but cramped and passive.
- 1.e4 e5 Double King's Pawn Opening or Open Game
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Ruy Lopez
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Ponziani Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 Scotch Game
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Italian Game
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 Giuoco Piano
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Evans Gambit
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 Two Knights Defense
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Be7 Hungarian Defense
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 Four Knights Game
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 something besides 3...Nf6 Three Knights Game
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Ponziani Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3 Konstantinopolsky Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 Petrov's Defence
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 Philidor Defense
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 Latvian Gambit
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 Elephant Gambit
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qf6 Greco Defense
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 Damiano Defense
- 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bishop's Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Vienna Game
- 1.e4 e5 2.f4 King's Gambit
- 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4 Center Game
- 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 Danish Gambit
- 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Parham Attack
- 1.e4 e5 2.Bb5 Portuguese Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.c3 Lopez Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Be2 Inverted Hungarian Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.Ne2 Alapin's Opening
- 1.e4 e5 2.Qf3?! Napoleon Opening

Semi-open games (1.e4, Black plays something other than 1...e5)

In the semi-open games White plays 1.e4 and Black breaks symmetry immediately by replying with a move other than 1...e5. The most popular Black defense to 1.e4 is the Sicilian, but the French and the Caro-Kann are also very popular. The Pirc and the Modern are also commonly seen, and the Alekhine has made occasional appearances in World Chess Championship games. The Center Counter and Nimzowitsch are playable but rare. Owen's Defense and the St. George Defense are oddities, although Tony Miles once used St. George's Defense to defeat then World Champion Anatoly Karpov. The Sicilian and French Defenses lead to unbalanced positions that can offer exciting play with both sides having chances to win. The Caro-Kann Defense is solid as Black intends to use his c-pawn to support his center (1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5). Alekhine's, the Pirc and the Modern are hypermodern openings in which Black tempts White to build a large center with the goal of attacking it with pieces.
- 1.e4 a6 St. George Defense
- 1.e4 b6 Owen's Defense
- 1.e4 c5 Sicilian Defense
- 1.e4 c6 Caro-Kann Defense
- 1.e4 Nc6 Nimzowitsch Defense
- 1.e4 d5 Center Counter Defense
- 1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 Pirc Defense
- 1.e4 e6 French Defense
- 1.e4 e6 2.d4 c5 Franco-Benoni Defense
- 1.e4 Nf6 Alekhine's Defense
- 1.e4 g6 Modern Defense

Closed games (1.d4 d5)

The openings classified as closed games begin 1.d4 d5. The move 1.d4 offers the same benefits to development and center control as does 1.e4, but unlike with the King Pawn openings where the e4 pawn is undefended after the first move, the d4 pawn is protected by White's queen. This slight difference has a tremendous effect on the opening. For instance, whereas the King's Gambit is rarely played today at the highest levels of chess, the Queen's Gambit remains a popular weapon at all levels of play. Also, compared to the King Pawn openings, transpositions between variations are more common and critical in the closed games. The Richter-Veresov Attack, Colle System, Stonewall Attack, and Blackmar-Diemer Gambit are classified as Queen's Pawn Games because White plays d4 but not c4. Although the Richter-Veresov is played at the top levels of chess, it is used only occasionally. The Colle and the Stonewall are both Systems, rather than specific opening variations. White develops aiming for a particular formation without great concern over how Black chooses to defend. Both these systems are popular with club players because they are easy to learn, but are rarely used by professionals because a well prepared opponent playing Black can equalize fairly easily. The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is an attempt by White to open lines and obtain attacking chances. Most professionals consider it too risky for serious games, but it is popular with amateurs and in blitz chess. The most important closed openings are in the Queen's Gambit family (White plays 2.c4). The Queen's Gambit is somewhat misnamed, since White can always regain the offered pawn if desired. In the Queen's Gambit Accepted, Black plays ...dxc4, giving up the center for free development and the chance to try to give White an isolated queen pawn with a subsequent ...c5 and ...cxd5. White will get active pieces and possibilities for the attack. Black has two popular ways to decline the pawn, the Slav (2...c6) and the Queen's Gambit Declined (2...e6). Both of these moves lead to an immense forest of variations that can require a great deal of opening study to play well. Among the many possibilites in the Queen's Gambit Declined are the Orthodox Defense, Lasker's Defense, the Cambridge Springs Defense, the Tartakower Variation, and the Tarrasch and Semi-Tarrasch Defenses. Black replies to the Queen's Gambit other than 2...dxc4, 2...c6, and 2...e6 are uncommon. The Chigorin Defense (2...Nc6) is playable but quite rare. The Symmetrical Defense (2...c5) is the most direct challenge to Queen's Gambit theory — Can Black equalize by simply copying White's moves? Most opening theoreticians believe the answer is no, and consequently the Symmetrical Defense is not popular. The Baltic Defense (2...Bf5) takes the most direct solution to solving the problem of Black's queen bishop by developing it on the second move. Although it is not trusted by most elite players, it has not been definitely refuted and some very strong grandmasters have played it. The Albin Countergambit (2...e5) is generally considered too risky for top-level tournament play, and the Marshall Defense (2...Nf6) is no longer played as it is thought to be definitely inferior for Black.
- 1.d4 d5 Double Queen's Pawn Opening or Closed Game
- 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5 Richter-Veresov Attack
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Queen's Gambit
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4 Queen's Gambit Accepted (QGA)
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5 Symmetrical Defense
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 Slav Defense
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6 Chigorin Defense
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 Albin Countergambit
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 Queen's Gambit Declined (QGD)
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Bf5 Baltic Defense
- 1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nf6 Marshall Defense
- 1.d4 d5 2.e3 Stonewall Attack
- 1.d4 d5 2.e4 Blackmar-Diemer Gambit
- 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.e3 Colle System

Indian systems (1.d4 Nf6)

The Indian systems are asymmetrical defenses to 1.d4 that employ hypermodern chess strategy. Fianchettos are common in many of these openings. As with the closed games, transpositions are important and many of the Indian defenses can be reached by several different move orders. Although Indian defenses were championed in the 1920s by players in the hypermodern school, they were not fully accepted until Soviet players showed in the late 1940s that these systems are sound for Black. Since then, Indian defenses have been the most popular Black replies to 1.d4 because they offer an unbalanced game with chances for both sides. The Modern Benoni Defense is a risky attempt by Black to unbalance the position and gain active piece play at the cost of allowing White a pawn wedge at d5 and a central majority. Tal popularized the defense in the 1960s by winning several brilliant games with it. Often Black adopts a slightly different move order, playing 2...e6 before 3...c5. The Benko Gambit is now considered a sound opening for Black. Black plays to open lines on the queenside where White will be subject to considerable pressure. If White accepts the gambit, Black's compensation is positional rather than tactical, and his initiative can last even after many piece exchanges and well into the endgame. White often chooses instead either to decline the gambit pawn or return it. Advocated by Nimzowitsch as early as 1913, the Nimzo-Indian Defense was the first of the Indian systems to gain full acceptance. It remains one of the most popular and well-respected defenses to 1.d4. Black attacks the center with pieces and is prepared to trade a bishop for a knight to weaken White's queenside with doubled pawns. The Queen's Indian Defense is considered solid, safe, and perhaps somewhat drawish. Black often chooses the Queen's Indian when White avoids the Nimzo-Indian by playing 3.Nf3 instead of 3.Nc3. Black constructs a sound position that makes no positional concessions, although sometimes it is difficult for Black to obtain good winning chances. Karpov is a leading expert in this opening. The King's Indian Defense is aggressive and somewhat risky, and generally indicates that Black will not be satisfied with a draw. Although it was played occasionally as early as the late 19th century, the King's Indian was considered inferior until the 1940s when it was featured in the games of Bronstein, Boleslavsky, and Reshevsky. Fischer's favored defense to 1.d4, its popularity faded in the mid-1970s. Kasparov's successes with the defense restored the King's Indian to prominence in the 1980s. Ernst Grünfeld debuted the Grünfeld Defense in 1922. Distinguished by the move 3...d5, Grünfeld intended it as an improvement to the King's Indian which was not considered entirely satisfactory at that time. The Grünfeld has been adopted by World Champions Smyslov, Fischer, and Kasparov. The Old Indian Defense was introduced by Tarrasch in 1902, but it is more commonly associated with Chigorin who adopted it five years later. It is similar to the King's Indian in that both feature a ...d6 and ...e5 pawn center, but in the Old Indian Black's king bishop is developed to e7 rather than being fianchettoed on g7. The Old Indian is solid, but Black's position is usually cramped and it lacks the dynamic possibilities found in the King's Indian. The Catalan Opening is characterized by White forming a pawn center at d4 and c4 and fianchettoing his king's bishop. It resembles a combination of the Queen's Gambit and Réti Opening. Since the Catalan can be reached from many different move orders, (one QGD-like move sequence is 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.g3), it is sometimes called the Catalan System. The Neo-Indian Attack, Torre Attack, and Trompowski Attack are White anti-Indian variations. Related to the Richter-Veresov Attack, they feature an early Bg5 by White and avoid much of the detailed theory of other queen's pawn openings. The Black Knights' Tango or Mexican Defense introduced by Carlos Torre in 1925 in Baden Baden shares similarities with Alekhine's Defense as Black attempts to induce a premature advance of the white pawns. It may transpose into many other defenses. The Blumenfeld Gambit (or Countergambit) bears a superficial but misleading resemblence to the Benko Gambit, as Black's goals are very different. Black gambits a wing pawn in an attempt to build a strong center. White can either accept the gambit or decline it to maintain a small positional advantage. Although the Blumenfeld is playable for Black it is not very popular. The Döry Defense is uncommon, but it was sometimes adopted by Keres. It will sometimes transpose into a variation of the Queen's Indian Defense but there are also independent lines. The Budapest Defense is rarely played in grandmaster games, but often played by amateurs. Although it is a gambit, White usually does not hold on to the extra pawn.
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 Modern Benoni
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 Benko Gambit
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 Black Knights' Tango
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 Old Indian Defense
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 Budapest Defense
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 Nimzo-Indian Defense
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Bb4+ Bogo-Indian Defense
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b5 Polish Defence
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6 Queen's Indian Defense
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 c5 4.d5 b5 Blumenfeld Gambit
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 Ne4 Döry Defense
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Bg5 Neo-Indian Attack
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3 Catalan Opening
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 Grünfeld Defense
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 King's Indian Defense (KID)
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5 Torre Attack
- 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5 Trompowski Attack

Other Black responses to 1.d4

There are several other defenses that can be played to 1.d4. The most common is the Dutch Defense. The Dutch is quite aggressive. Adopted for a time by World Champions Alekhine and Botvinnik, it is still played occasionally at the top level by Short and others. Another fairly common opening is the Benoni Defense, which may become very wild if it develops into the Modern Benoni, though other variations are more solid. The remaining openings in this section are uncommon. The Englund Gambit is a rare and dubious sacrifice. The Polish Defense has never been very popular but has been tried by Spassky, Ljubojevic, and Csom, among others. The Kangaroo Defense, also known as the Keres Defense, often transposes into the Dutch, Nimzo-Indian, or Bogo-Indian. The Queen's Knight Defense is an uncommon opening that often transposes to the Nimzowitsch Defense after 1.d4 Nc6 2.e4 or the Chigorin Defense after 2.c4 d5, although it can lead to unique lines, for example after 1.d4 Nc6 2.d5 or 2.c4 e5.
- 1.d4 b5 Polish Defense
- 1.d4 c5 Benoni Defense
- 1.d4 Nc6 Queen's Knight Defense
- 1.d4 d6 Wade Defense
- 1.d4 e5 Englund Gambit
- 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ Kangaroo Defense
- 1.d4 f5 Dutch Defence

Flank openings (including English, Réti, Bird's, and White fianchettoes)

The flank openings are the group of White openings typified by play on one or both flanks. White plays in hypermodern style, attacking the center from the flanks with pieces rather than occupying it with pawns. These openings are played often, and 1.Nf3 and 1.c4 trail only 1.e4 and 1.d4 in popularity as opening moves. If White opens with 1.Nf3, the game often becomes one of the d4 openings (closed games or Indian systems) by a different move order (this is called transposition), but unique openings such as the Réti and King's Indian Attack are also common. The Réti itself is characterized by White playing 1.Nf3, fianchettoing one or both bishops, and not playing an early d4 (which would generally transpose into one of the 1.d4 openings). The King's Indian Attack (KIA) is a system of development that White may use in reply to almost any Black opening moves. The characteristic KIA setup is 1.Nf3, 2.g3, 3.Bg2, 4.0-0, 5.d3, 6.Nbd2, and 7.e4, although these moves may be played in many different orders. In fact, the KIA is probably most often reached after 1.e4 when White uses it to respond to a Black attempt to play one of the Semi-open games such as the Caro-Kann, French, or Sicilian, or even the open games which usually come after 1.e4 e5. Its greatest appeal may be that by adopting a set pattern of development, White can avoid the large amount of opening study required to prepare to meet the many different possible Black replies to 1.e4. The English also frequently transposes into a d4 opening, but it can take on independent character as well including symmetrical variations (1.c4 c5) and the Sicilian Defense in reverse (1.c4 e5). Larsen's Opening and the Sokolsky Opening are occasionally seen in grandmaster play. Benko used 1.g3 to defeat both Fischer and Tal in the 1962 Candidates Tournament in Curaçao. With Bird's Opening White tries to get a strong grip on the e5-square. The opening can resemble a Dutch Defense in reverse after 1.f4 d5, or Black may try to disrupt White by playing 1...e5!? (From's Gambit).
- 1.b3 Larsen's Opening
- 1.b4 Sokolsky Opening
- 1.Nc3 Dunst Opening
- 1.c4 English Opening
- 1.Nf3 Réti Opening (characteristically followed by fianchettoing one or both bishops, and without an early d4)
- 1.Nf3, 2.g3, 3.Bg2, 4.0-0, 5.d3, 6.Nbd2, 7.e4 King's Indian Attack (KIA) (moves may be played in many different orders)
- 1.f4 Bird's Opening
- 1.g3 Benko Opening

Unusual first moves for White

Each of these openings is rarely adopted for one or more of the following reasons: it is considered too passive for White (e.g. 1.e3, 1.d3, 1.c3); it gratuitously weakens White's position (e.g. 1.f3, 1.h4); it does nothing to aid White's development or control the center (e.g. 1.f3, 1.a4, 1.h4); or it develops a knight to an inferior square (1.Nh3 or 1.Na3).
- 1.a3 Anderssen's Opening
- 1.Na3 Durkin Opening
- 1.a4 Ware Opening
- 1.c3 Saragossa Opening
- 1.d3 Mieses Opening
- 1.e3 Van 't Kruijs Opening
- 1.f3 Barnes Opening
- 1.g4 Grob's Attack
- 1.h3 Clemenz Opening
- 1.Nh3 Amar Opening
- 1.h4 Deprès Opening See also Fool's mate.

References

- :Nick de Firmian is a 3-time U.S. Chess Champion. Often called MCO-14 or simply MCO, this is the 14th edition of the work that has been the standard English language reference on chess openings for a century. This book is not suitable for beginners, but it is a valuable reference for club and tournament players.
- :Garry Kasparov was the World Chess Champion from 1985–2000. This book is often called BCO 2 and is intended as a reference for club and tournament players.
- :Raymond Keene is a former British Chess Champion and a noted chess author. This is an introductory book suitable for beginning to intermediate level chess players. It is not a reference covering all opening theory, but instead explains the ideas behind several popular opening variations.
- :John Nunn is a former British Chess Champion and a noted chess author. This book is often called NCO and is a reference for club and tournament players.
- Sahovski Informator. The Encyclopedia of Chess Openings :This is an advanced, technical work in 5 volumes published by Chess Informant of Belgrade. http://www.sahovski.com/ It analyzes openings used in tournament play and archived in Chess Informant since 1966. Instead of using the traditional names for the openings and descriptive text to evaluate positions, Informator has developed a unique coding system that is language independent so that it can be read by chess players around the world without requiring translation. Called the ECO, these volumes are the most comprehensive reference for professional and serious tournament players.
- :Eugene Znosko-Borovsky was a noted Russian chess teacher. This inexpensive reprint is a translation of a Russian book originally published in 1935. Although most of the specific variations given in the book have been obsolete for many years, the book's discussion of general opening principles and survey of the major opening systems can still be useful for beginning players. Club and tournament players will need a more up to date reference.

External links

- [http://www.eudesign.com/chessops/ch-clear.htm Chess openings guide]
- [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/explorer Chess Opening Explorer on chessgames.com] Category:Chess
- Chess opening

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings

The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) is a book collection (now also a computer database) describing chess openings. The moves were taken from hundreds of thousands of games between masters, from published analysis in the Chess Informant since 1966, and then compiled by notable chess players. Both the ECO and the Chess Informant are published by the Serbian company Šahovski informator [http://www.sahovski.com/ sahovski]. These openings are typically provided in an ECO table that concisely presents the best opening lines. Instead of the traditional names for the openings, ECO has developed a unique coding system that has also been used by other chess publications. There are five main categories, A-E, each of which is divided into a hundred sub-categories.

Main ECO codes

A

# R' 1. e4, 1. d4: Irregular openings. # d4 R' 1 ...d5, 1... Nf6: Atypical replies to 1.d4 # d4 Nf6 2. R' 2. c4: Atypical replies to 1...Nf6 # d4 Nf6 2. c4 R' 2... e6, 2... g6: Atypical Indian systems. ----

B

# e4 R' 1... c5, 1... e6, 1... e5 # e4 c5: Sicilian Defence ----

C

# e4 e6: French Defence # e4 e5: Double King Pawn games ----

D

# d4 d5: Double Queen Pawn games # d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 + d7-d5: Grünfeld Defence ----

E

# d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6: Indian systems with ...e6 # d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 ' d7-d5: Indian systems with ...g6 (except Grünfeld)

Owen's Defense

Owen's Defense or the Queen's Fianchetto Defense is a chess opening defined by the moves (in algebraic notation) 1.e4 b6. It is named after the English vicar and strong amateur chess player John Owen. By playing 1...b6, Black prepares to fianchetto the queen's bishop where it will participate in the battle over the center. The downside of this plan is that White will be able to occupy the center with pawns and gain an advantage in space. Since development of the queen's bishop by 1...b6 does not prepare kingside castling as 1...g6 does, and since Black starts the game with a slightly inferior position and must be careful about falling behind in development and the fight over the center, Owen's Defense has a somewhat dubious reputation, even though it has been played occasionally by masters. The fact that 1...b6 is rarely played is attractive to some players of the black pieces, because they can often enter a prepared variation which White knows little about. White usually responds to 1...b6 by making a full center by 2.d4. If White is worried about entering a prepared main line, alternatives include 2.c4 and 2.Nf3. Owen's Defense is an uncommon reply to 1.e4, and is therefore classified as B00 by the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings. Category:Chess openings

Queen (chess)

The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of their first rank next to their king. Beginners often accidentally interchange the placement of the queen and king, thus the mnemonic "queen on her color." The white queen starts on a white square, and the black queen on a black square. In algebraic notation, the white queen starts on d1 and the black queen on d8. When Chess served as a wargame for battle planning, the Queen represented the King's most experienced and skilled troops rather than the monarch's spouse. In most cases this was his personal guard.

The queen can be moved in a straight line vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, any number of unoccupied squares as shown to the left, thus combining the moves of the rook and bishop. As with most pieces, the queen captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece sits. Ordinarily the queen is slightly more powerful than a rook and a bishop togehter, while slightly less powerful than two rooks. Because the queen is more valuable than any other piece, it is almost always disadvantageous to exchange the queen for a piece other than the enemy's queen, unless doing so leads to a position where the king can be checkmated. The queen is at her most powerful when the board is open, when the enemy king is not well-defended, or when there are loose (i.e. undefended) pieces in the enemy camp. Because of her long range and ability to move in more than one direction, the queen is well-equipped to execute forks, but these are only useful if the forked pieces are undefended, or one is undefended and the other is the enemy king. Beginners often develop the queen as soon as possible, in the hopes of plundering the enemy position and possibly even delivering an early checkmate. While effective against other beginners, this strategy is disadvantageous against experienced players. With no other pieces developed, an attack by the queen alone can be easily repelled. Moreover, because the queen is too valuable to exchange for a lesser piece, the defender can often gain time and space by threatening an exposed queen and forcing her to retreat. An exchange of queens often marks the beginning of the endgame. After the queens and a few other pieces have been exchanged, the kings are able to participate more actively in events, and the focus of the game shifts to a struggle to promote a pawn, usually to a new queen. However, it is not necessary to lose one's queen before gaining a new one by promotion. It is thus theoretically possible, though improbable, for a player to have nine queens at one time.

Bishop (chess)

A bishop (♗♝) is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops, one light-squared and one dark-squared. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen. In algebraic notation the starting squares are c1 and f1 for White's bishops, and c8 and f8 for Black's bishops. The bishop has no restrictions in distance for each move, but is limited to diagonal movement, forward and backward. Bishops cannot jump over other pieces. As with most pieces, a bishop captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece sits. The bishops may be differentiated according to which wing they begin on, i.e. the king's bishop and queen's bishop. As a consequence of its diagonal movement, each bishop always remains on either the white or black squares, and so it is also common to refer to them as light-squared or dark-squared bishops. Because the bishop has access to only thirty-two squares of the board, it is rather weaker than the rook to which all sixty-four squares of the board are accessible. Furthermore, a rook on an empty board always attacks fourteen squares, whereas a bishop attacks only seven to thirteen depending on how near it is to the center. A rook is generally worth about two pawns more than a bishop. Bishops are approximately equal in strength to knights. Bishops gain in relative strength towards the endgame as more and more pieces are traded, and lines open up on which they can operate. When the board is empty, a bishop can operate on both wings simultaneously, whereas a knight takes several moves to hop across. In an open endgame, a pair of bishops is decidedly superior to a bishop and a knight or two knights. A player possessing a pair of bishops has a strategic weapon in the form of a long-term threat to trade down to an advantageous endgame. On the other hand, in the early going a bishop may be hemmed in by pawns of both players, and thus be inferior to a knight which can hop over obstacles. Furthermore, on a crowded board a knight has many opportunities to fork two enemy pieces. While it is technically possible for a bishop to fork, practical opportunities are rare. A bishop which has trouble finding a good square for development in the center may be fianchettoed, for example pawn g2-g3 and bishop f1-g2. This forms a strong defense for the castled king on g1 and the bishop can often exert pressure on the long diagonal h1-a8. A fianchettoed bishop should not be given up lightly, because then the holes in the pawn formation around the king can easily prove disastrous. A player with only one bishop should generally place their pawns on squares of the color that the bishop cannot move to. This allows the player to control squares of both colors, allows the bishop to move freely among the pawns, and helps fix enemy pawns on squares on which they can be attacked. A bishop which is impeded by friendly pawns is sometimes disparagingly called a "tall pawn", or more simply, a "bad bishop". However, a "bad" bishop may not be really bad, if it is outside its own pawns' pawn chains. A bad bishop can be made good by getting it outside the pawn chain. An endgame in which each player has only one bishop, one controlling the dark squares and the other the light, will often result in a draw even if one player has a pawn or two more than the other. The players tend to gain control of squares of opposite colors, and a deadlock results. In endgames with same-colored bishops, however, even a minute advantage may be enough to win. The one unknown which remains is the design of the slit in the upper part of the piece, specifically, why it exists. Category:Chess pieces ja:ビショップ

World chess champion

was between Anatoly Karpov (right) and Garry Kasparov (left).]] The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Both men and women are eligible to contest this title. In addition, there is a separate event for women only, for the title of "Woman's World Champion", and separate competitions and titles for juniors, seniors and computers. However, these days the strongest competitors in the junior, senior, and women's categories often forego these niche title events in order to pursue top level competition, although they continue to be part of chess tradition. Computers are barred from competing for the open title. As of 2005, there is no consensus on who owns the title. Vladimir Kramnik is considered by many to be World Champion (having defeated the last undisputed World Champion Garry Kasparov as well as drawing his challenger in 2004, Péter Lékó), but Veselin Topalov is the official FIDE World Champion, having won the FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. Some of the controversy has come because up until the 1990s the World Chess Championship was determined either in individual match play or in a small round robin event, at "classical" (long) time controls. The FIDE events beginning in 1997 were played with over 100 players at faster time controls in a knockout format. Very fast games were used to resolve ties at the end of each round, a format which some felt did not necessarily recognize the highest quality play. GM Kramnik, GM Kasparov, and a few other top players refused to participate in the new format, and GM Kramnik's title matches were held under traditional conditions. The FIDE World Chess Championship 2005 will attempt to resolve this by altering the format to a small round robin tournament of elite players. The World Champion is not necessarily the highest-rated player in the world: Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Veselin Topalov, Peter Leko, and Vassily Ivanchuk are the five highest-ranked players on the July 2005 FIDE rating list, but only Topalov holds a championship title. Kramnik is ranked 6th in the world while the previous FIDE Champion Kasimdzhanov is ranked 35th.

Reigns of the Champions

Unofficial World Champions

- Ruy López de Segura, ~1560, Spain
- Paolo Boi and Leonardo da Cutri, ~1575, Italy
- Alessandro Salvio, ~1600, Italy
- Gioacchino Greco, ~1620, Italy
- Legall de Kermeur, ~1730–1747, France
- Francois-André Philidor, ~1747–1795, France
- Alexandre Deschapelles, ~1800–1820, France
- Louis de la Bourdonnais, ~1820–1840, France
- Howard Staunton, 1843–1851, England
- Adolf Anderssen, 1851–1858, Germany
- Paul Morphy, 1858–1859, United States
- Adolf Anderssen, 1858–1866, Germany
- Wilhelm Steinitz, 1866–1886, Austria

Undisputed World Champions

- Wilhelm Steinitz, 1886–1894, Austria/USA
- Emanuel Lasker, 1894–1921, Germany
- José Raúl Capablanca, 1921–1927, Cuba
- Alexander Alekhine, 1927–1935, Russia/France
- Max Euwe, 1935-1937, Netherlands
- Alexander Alekhine, 1937–1946, Soviet Union
- Mikhail Botvinnik, 1948–1957, Soviet Union
- Vasily Smyslov, 1957–1958, Soviet Union
- Mikhail Botvinnik, 1958–1960, Soviet Union
- Mikhail Tal, 1960–1961, Soviet Union
- Mikhail Botvinnik, 1961–1963, Soviet Union
- Tigran Petrosian, 1963–1969, Soviet Union
- Boris Spassky, 1969–1972, Soviet Union
- Robert J Fischer, 1972–1975, United States
- Anatoly Karpov, 1975–1985, Soviet Union
- Garry Kasparov, 1985–1993, Soviet Union/Russia

"Classical" World Champions

- Garry Kasparov, 1993–2000, Russia
- Vladimir Kramnik, 2000–present, Russia

FIDE World Champions since 1993

- Anatoly Karpov, 1993–1999, Russia
- Alexander Khalifman, 1999–2000, Russia
- Viswanathan Anand, 2000–2002, India
- Ruslan Ponomariov, 2002–2004, Ukraine
- Rustam Kasimdzhanov, 2004–2005, Uzbekistan
- Veselin Topalov, 2005–present, Bulgaria

History of the World Chess Championship

Three pioneering titans (Pre-1900)

The first match proclaimed by the players as for the world championship was the match that Wilhelm Steinitz won against Johannes Zukertort in 1886. However, a line of players regarded as the strongest (or at least the most famous) in the world extends back hundreds of years beyond them, and these players are sometimes considered the world champions of their time. They include Ruy López de Segura around 1560, Paolo Boi and Leonardo da Cutri around 1575, Alessandro Salvio around 1600, and Gioacchino Greco around 1620. In the 18th and early 19th century, French players dominated, with Legall de Kermeur (1730–1747), Francois-André Philidor (1747–1795), Alexandre Deschapelles (1800–1820) and Louis de la Bourdonnais (1820–1840) all widely regarded as the strongest players of their time. La Bourdonnais played a series of six matches — and 85 games — against the Irishman Alexander McDonnell, with many of the encounters having been annotated by the American Paul Morphy. The Englishman Howard Staunton's match victory over another Frenchman, Pierre-Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant, in 1843 is considered to have established him as the world's strongest player (1840–1850). When he only finished fourth in the 1851 London tournament, he is considered to have relinquished the role to the tournament's winner, Adolf Anderssen (1851–1858). About the same time (1850), von der Lasa was considered Anderssen's equal, and won a match with Staunton by one point. von der Lasa] Anderssen was himself decisively defeated in an 1858 match against the American Paul Morphy, after which Morphy was toasted across the chess-playing world as the world chess champion. A fast player (he took only minutes to decide on his moves, compared with some others who "were notorious not for out-thinking their opponents but out-sitting them", as Steinitz once said), and possessing fearsome talent, he defeated every major player of the time. Soon after, he offered pawn and move odds to anyone who would play him. Finding no takers, Morphy abruptly retired from chess the following year, but many considered him the world champion until his death in 1884. His sudden withdrawal from chess at his peak and subsequent mental illness led to his being known as "the pride and sorrow of chess". 1884] This left Anderssen again as possibly the world's strongest active player, a reputation he reinforced by winning the strong London tournament of 1862. He was narrowly defeated in an 1866 match against Wilhelm Steinitz, and some commentators regard this to be the first "official" world championship match. The match was not declared to be a world championship at the time, however. It was only after Morphy's death in 1884 that such a match was declared, a testament to Morphy's dominance of the game (even though he had not played publicly for 25 years). This 1886 match between Steinitz and Johannes Zukertort, won by Steinitz, though not held under the aegis of any official body, is universally recognized as the first official World Chess Championship match, with Steinitz the game's first official World Champion. Johannes Zukertort] The championship was conducted on a fairly informal basis through the remainder of the nineteenth century and in the first half of the twentieth: if a player thought he was strong enough, he would challenge the reigning world champion to a match. If he won, he would become the new champion. There was no formal system of qualification. However, it is generally regarded that the system did on the whole produce champions who were the strongest players of their day. The players who held the title up until World War II were Steinitz, Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, and Max Euwe, each of them defeating the previous incumbent in a match.

Rise of the modern Grandmaster (1894 - 1946)

Lasker was the first champion after Steinitz; though there were criticisms that he played infrequently, he did string together an impressive run of tournament victories and dominated his opponents. His success is largely due to the fact that he was an excellent practical player. He did not necessarily play the objectively best move, but instead the one that would upset his rival the most. In difficult or objectively lost positions he would complicate matters and use his extraordinary tactical abilities to save the game. He held the title from 1894 to 1921, a reign (27 years) unlikely even to be approached by any modern champion. In that period he defended the title successfully 6 times, against Steinitz, Marshall, Tarrasch, Janowsky (twice) and Schlechter (the last was a tied match +1-1=8, with Lasker keeping his title by winning the last game). The tournaments St. Petersburg 1909 and St. Petersburg 1914 were pivotal events of this period. Lasker won both events (sharing first with Akiba Rubinstein in 1909), followed by Capablanca and Alekhine in 1914. Tsar Nicholas II awarded the five finalists of St. Petersburg 1914 with the title Grand Master of Chess: Emanuel Lasker, José Raúl Capablanca, Alexander Alekhine, Siegbert Tarrasch, and Frank Marshall. In 1921, Lasker lost the title to a sensational young Cuban named José Raúl Capablanca. Capablanca was the last and greatest of the "natural" players: he prepared little for his games, but won them brilliantly. He possessed an astonishing insight into positions simply by glancing at them. Renowned for his ability to gradually convert the tiniest advantages into victory as well as his famous endgame skill, Capablanca was one of the most feared players in history. From a loss to Oscar Chajes in 1916 to a loss to Richard Réti in 1924, he was undefeated. 1924] However, in 1927, he was shockingly upset by a new challenger, Alekhine. Before the match, no one gave Alekhine a chance against the dominant Cuban. However, Alekhine set a standard for future grandmasters by his incredible preparation. His hard work (especially deep opening analysis, which became a hallmark of all future grandmasters) and unmatched drive eventually overcame Capablanca's natural skill. The aggressive Alekhine was helped by his fearsome tactical skill, which complicated the game. In 1935, he briefly lost the title to the Dutch mathematician Max Euwe. He is reputed to have been drinking heavily through this match. In 1937, a sober Alekhine won his title back. He then held the title until his death in 1946.

Soviet dominance (1948 - 1969)

Alekhine's death threw the chess world into chaos. The previous informal system could not deal with this unlikely eventuality. Though Euwe could claim a moral right to the title, he graciously allowed FIDE to step in. Though FIDE had existed since 1924, it lacked power because the strongest chess-playing nation, the Soviet Union, refused to participate. However, upon Alekhine's death, the Soviet Union joined FIDE in order to be a part of the process to select the next champion. FIDE organised a match tournament in 1948 between five of the world's strongest players: Mikhail Botvinnik, Vasily Smyslov, Paul Keres, Samuel Reshevsky, and Max Euwe himself (Reuben Fine was also invited, but declined to take part due to his doctorate degree requirements). Botvinnik won the tournament by a large margin (as well as winning all the sub-matches against all his opponents), and thus the championship, and FIDE continued to organise the championship thereafter. In place of the previous informal system, a new system of qualifying tournaments and matches was arranged. The world's strongest players were seeded into "Interzonal tournaments", where they were joined by players who had qualified from "Zonal tournaments". The leading finishers in these Interzonals would go on the "Candidates" stage, which was initially a tournament, later a series of knock-out matches. The winner of the Candidates would then play a match against the reigning champion (who did not have to qualify through this process) for the championship. If a champion was defeated, he had a right to play a rematch one year after his loss. This system worked on a three-year cycle. Candidates] The winner of the 1948 tournament, Mikhail Botvinnik, would end up being a constant presence in championship matches for over ten years. His marked longevity at the top is generally explained by the fact that he was a tireless worker. It is said he perfected the game as a science, not a sport, through his emphasis on technique over tactics. This longevity is even more impressive considering he had hit his peak during World War II, during which international chess was suspended, and he was the first champion who was forced to play all his challengers. Perhaps most remarkably, he was not a professional chess player, but a decorated engineer by trade. Botvinnik first successfully defended his title twice over his first six years, holding off both David Bronstein in 1951 and Vasily Smyslov in 1954. Both the matches were drawn 12-12 but Botvinnik retained the title by virtue of being defending champion. Smyslov, however, won the title in 1957 by a score of 12.5 – 9.5, only to lose it once more to Botvinnik in 1958 by a score of 12.5 – 10.5. At the time, Smyslov had the dubious pleasure of being the shortest-reigning world champion, but this 'honour' soon switched hands, to the 'Magician from Riga', Mikhail Tal. Tal's daring, sacrificial style had brought him success in 1960, overcoming Botvinnik by a score of 12.5 – 8.5. But once more, Botvinnik was not content, and won back his title the following year in a rematch, by the score of 13 – 8, after Tal fell ill. Botvinnik has said: "If Tal would learn to program himself properly, he would have been impossible to play." Unfortunately, he did not, and many believe that Tal was never able to live up to his potential. He remains to this day the shortest-lived champion. 1960] Botvinnik would play just one more world championship match, against the Armenian Tigran Petrosian, losing it 12.5 – 9.5. There was no rematch, because FIDE abolished the rematch rule. Botvinnik retired from chess and occupied himself with computer chess and the creation of his famous chess school. Petrosian successfully defended his title in 1966 against Boris Spassky, winning by the narrowest of margins (12.5 – 11.5) in Moscow. Three years later, however, (once more in Moscow) he lost 12.5 – 10.5 to the same challenger.

A second American sorrow and the K-K arch-rivalry (1972 - 1990)

Moscow] The next championship, held in Reykjavík (Iceland) in 1972, saw the first non-Soviet finalist since before World War II (the first under FIDE), the young American, Bobby Fischer. Having defeated his Candidates opponents Bent Larsen, Mark Taimanov, and Tigran Petrosian by unheard-of margins (with scores of 6–0, 6–0, and 6.5–2.5, respectively), Fischer was easily qualified to challenge Spassky. The so-called Match of the Century, possibly the most famous in chess history, had a shaky start: having lost the first game, Fischer defaulted the second after he failed to turn up, complaining about playing conditions. There was concern he would default the whole match rather than play, but he duly turned up for the third game and won it brilliantly. Spassky won only one more game in the rest of the match and was eventually crushed by Fischer by a score of 12.5 – 8.5. Fischer's dominance drew many parallels to the other famed American chess champion, Morphy. Unfortunately, this similarity became all too close three years later. A line of unbroken FIDE champions had thus been established from 1948 to 1972, with each champion gaining his title by beating the previous incumbent. This came to an end in 1975, however, when reigning champion Fischer refused to defend his title against Soviet Anatoly Karpov when Fischer's demands were not met. Fischer abandoned his FIDE title, but maintained that he was still World Champion. He went into seclusion and did not play chess in public again until 1992, when he offered Spassky a rematch, again for the World Championship. The general chess public did not take this claim to the championship seriously, since both of them were well past their prime, shadows of their former selves. In addition, Karpov dominated the 1970s and 1980s with an incredible string of tournament successes. He convincingly demonstrated that he was the strongest player in the world by defending his title twice against ex-Soviet Viktor Korchnoi, first in Baguio City in 1978 and then in Merano in 1981. His "boa constrictor" style frustrated opponents, often causing them to lash out and err. This allowed him to bring the full force of his Botvinnik-learned dry technique (both Karpov and Kasparov were students at Botvinnik's school) against them, grinding his way to victory. He eventually lost his title to a fiery, aggressive, tactical player who was equally convincing over the board: Garry Kasparov. The two of them fought five incredibly close world championship matches, in 1984 (which was controversially terminated without result when Karpov was leading 5–3, see Anatoly Karpov's article for details), 1985 (which Kasparov won 13-11), 1986 (which Kasparov squeaked by with a victory 12.5–11.5), 1987 (which was drawn 12–12 and Kasparov kept the title), and 1990 (which Kasparov narrowly won 12.5–11.5). The two of them fought numerous titanic battles, and though Karpov dominated at first, Kasparov took over soon after. As of May 2004, according to [http://www.chessgames.com ChessGames], in their 235 formal games played, Karpov has 23 wins, Kasparov has 33 wins, and they share 179 draws.

Chaos (1993 - 2004)

Not long after Kasparov became champion, the Soviet Union collapsed, freeing Kasparov from the grip of the Soviet state. This set the stage for a more lasting set-back to FIDE's system when in 1993, Kasparov and challenger Nigel Short complained of corruption and a lack of professionalism within FIDE and split from FIDE to set up the Professional Chess Association (PCA), under whose auspices they held their match. The event was orchestrated largely by Raymond Keene, who has been at the centre of much off-the-board chess activity for a long time now. Keene brought the event to London (FIDE had planned it for Manchester), and England was whipped up into something of a chess fever: Channel Four broadcast some 81 programmes on the match, the BBC also had coverage, and Short appeared in television beer commercials. However, Kasparov crushed Short by five points, and interest in chess in the UK soon died down. At the same time, FIDE held a championship match between Karpov (who had been champion before Kasparov) and Jan Timman (who had been defeated by Short in the Candidates final) in the Netherlands and Jakarta, Indonesia. Karpov emerged victorious. Ever since that time there have been two simultaneous World Champions and World Championships. Kasparov went on to defend his PCA title against Viswanathan Anand, who had qualified through a series of events similar to those in the old FIDE system. It seemed his next challenger would be Alexei Shirov, who won a match against Vladimir Kramnik to apparently secure his place. However, plans for a match with Shirov never materialised, and he was subsequently omitted from negotiations, much to his disgust. Instead, Anand was lined up to play Kasparov once more, but here too, plans fell through (in somewhat disputed circumstances). Instead, Vladimir Kramnik was given the chance to play Kasparov in 2000. Kramnik won the match with two wins, thirteen draws, and no losses. FIDE, meanwhile, after one more traditional championship cycle which resulted in Karpov successfully defending his title against Gata Kamsky in 1996, largely scrapped the old system, instead having a large knock-out event in which a large number of players contested short matches against each other over just a few weeks. In the first of these events, champion Karpov was seeded straight into the final (as in previous championships), but subsequently the champion had to qualify like other players. Karpov defended his title in the first of these championships in 1998, but resigned his title in anger at the new rules in 1999. Alexander Khalifman took the title in 1999, Anand in 2000 and Ruslan Ponomariov in 2002. This left a chess world with two distinct championships: one extending the Steinitzian lineage in which the current champion plays a challenger in match format (a series of many games); the other following FIDE's new format of a tennis-style elimination—or "Knockout"—tournament with dozens of players competing. In addition Kasparov had claim to be the strongest player, both because he had the highest rating, and because he won several major tournaments after losing his title to Kramnik. In May 2002, under the terms of the so-called "Prague Agreement" masterminded by Yasser Seirawan, several leaders in the chess world met in Prague and signed a unity agreement which intended to ensure the crowning of an undisputed world champion before the end of 2003, and restore the traditional cycle of qualifying matches by 2005. The semifinalists for the 2003 championship were to be Ruslan Ponomariov (FIDE champion) vs. Garry Kasparov (highest rated player), and Vladimir Kramnik (successor to Kasparov's title) vs. a challenger to Kramnik (this challenger cycle had been organised before Prague, and was subsequently won by Péter Lékó). The latter match was originally to be held in Budapest, but funding collapsed and it was called off. The match was rescheduled as a fourteen game match held in Brissago, Switzerland from September 25 to October 18, 2004 and billed as the Classic World Chess Championship sponsored by the cigar company Dannemann. The match was drawn after Kramnik won the last game when a point behind, which meant that Kramnik retained the title. The other semifinal suffered greater problems. Organised by FIDE, it was scheduled for September 2003, but called off when Ponomariov refused to sign his contract for it in disputed circumstances. Instead it was suggested that Kasparov play the winner of the FIDE World Chess Championship 2004, a knockout event held in June–July 2004 in Tripoli, the capital of Libya, a controversial event in a controversial venue which saw several prominent players withdraw and no Israelis take part. The winner turned out to be Rustam Kasimdzhanov, but a match between him and Kasparov planned to be held in the United Arab Emirates in January 2005 was called off when promised funding failed to materialise. Efforts to rearrange the match in Turkey also came to nothing. In the meantime, Kasparov has announced his retirement from competitive chess. The result is that the Prague Agreement has failed to reunify the title.

A New Approach (2005 - )

After the announced retirement of GM Garry Kasparov in early 2005, some argued that the Prague Agreement no longer needed resolution. But there were still two competing titles: Kramnik's, and the FIDE title. FIDE then announced a new format, which in part attempted to address the criticisms of the previous knockout events. The next championship tournament took place in Argentina in September - October 2005, see FIDE World Chess Championship 2005. It was won by Veselin Topalov. Kramnik refused to take part, but has tried to initiate a reunification match with Topalov. The previous FIDE knockout format has now been renamed the FIDE World Cup, and in the future it will be used as part of a qualifier process rather than the final title event. [http://www.fide.com/news.asp?id=727]

Women's World Championship

Reigns of the Women's World Champions

- Vera Menchik, 1927–1944, United Kingdom
- Ludmilla Rudenko, 1950–1953, Soviet Union
- Elisabeth Bikova, 1953–1956, Soviet Union
- Olga Rubzowa, 1956–1958, Soviet Union
- Elisabeth Bikova, 1958–1962, Soviet Union
- Nona Gaprindashvili, 1962–1978, Georgia
- Maya Chiburdanidze, 1978–1991, Georgia
- Xie Jun, 1991–1996, China
- Susan Polgar, 1996–1999, Hungary
- Xie Jun, 1999–2001, China
- Zhu Chen, 2001–2004, China
- Antoaneta Stefanova, 2004–present, Bulgaria

Era of Menchik

The Women's World Championship was established by FIDE in 1927 as a single tournament held alongside the Chess Olympiad. The winner of that tournament, Vera Menchik, did not have any special rights as the men's champion did — instead she had to defend her title by playing as many games as all the challengers. She did this successfully in every other championship in her lifetime (1930, 1931, 1933, 1935, 1937 and 1939). Menchik died as champion in 1944 by a German air raid. The next championship was another round-robin tournament in 1949-50 and was won by Ludmilla Rudenko. Thereafter a system similar to that of the men's championship was established, with a cycle of Candidates events (and later Interzonals) to pick a challenger to face the reigning champion. The first such Candidates tournament was held in Moscow, 1952. Elizaveta Bikova won and proceeded to defeat Rudenko with seven wins, five losses, and two draws to become the third champion. The next Candidates tournament was won by Olga Rubzowa. Instead of directly playing Bikova, however, FIDE decided that the championship should be held between the three top players in the world. Rubzomwa won at Moscow in 1956, one-half point ahead of Bikova, who finished five points ahead of Rudenko. Bikova regained the title in 1958 and defended it against Kira Zvorikina, winner of a Candidates tournament, in 1959.

Georgian dominance

The fourth Candidates tournament was held in 1961 in Vrnjacka Banja, and was utterly dominated by Nona Gaprindashvili of Georgia, who won with ten wins, zero losses, and six draws. She then decisively defeated Bikova with seven wins, no losses, and four draws in Moscow, 1962 to become champion. Gaprindashvili defended her title against Alla Kushnir of Russia at Riga 1965 and Tbilisi/Moscow 1969. In 1972, FIDE introduced the same system for the women's championship as with the men's: a series of Interzonal tournaments, followed by the Candidates matches. Kushnir won again, only to be defeated by Gaprindashvili at Riga 1972. Gaprindashvili defended the title one last time against Nana Alexandria of Georgia at Pitsounda/Tbilisi 1975. In 1976-1978 Candidates cycle, 17-year-old Maya Chiburdanidze of Georgia ended up the surprise star, defeating Nana Alexandria, Elena Akhmilovskaya, and Alla Kushnir to face Gaprindashvili in the 1978 finals at Tbilisi. Chiburdanidze proceeded to soundly defeat Gaprindashvili, marking the end of one Georgian's domination and the beginning of another's. Chiburdanidze defended her title against Alexandria at Borsomi/Tbilisi 1981 and Irina Levitina at Volgograd 1984. Following this, FIDE reintroduced the Candidates tournament system. Akhmilovskaya, who had earlier lost to Chiburdanidze in the Candidates matches, won the tournament was but was still defeated by Chiburdanidze at Sofia 1986. Chiburdanidze's final title defense came against Nana Ioseliani at Telavi 1988.

Rise of the Chinese and Hungarians

Her domination ended at Manila 1991, where the young Chinese star Xie Jun defeated Chiburdanidze, after finishing second to the still-active Gaprindashvili in an Interzonal, tying with Alisa Maric in the Candidates tournament, and then beating Maric in a tie-breaker match. It was during this time that the three Polgar sisters Susan (also known as Zsuzsa), Sofia, and Judit emerged as dominant players. The family decided that Judit, as the strongest of the three, should concentrate on the men's championship, while Susan and Sofia should go for the women's. Susan Polgar dominated the 1992 Candidates tournament at Shanghai. However, FIDE stipulated that the top two finishers would need to play a final 8-game match to determine the challenger. Instead of easily defeating her opponent, Ioseliani, the match ended in a draw, even after two tiebreaks. FIDE decreed that the match would simply be decided by a lottery, upon which Ioseliani won. She was then promptly crushed by Xie Jun in the championship at Monaco 1993. The next cycle was dominated by Polgar. She tied with Chiburdanidze in the Candidates tournament, defeated her easily in the match, and then decisively defeated Xie Jun at Jaén 1996 for the championship. In 1997, Alisa Galliamova and Xie Jun finished first and second, but Galliamova refused to play the final match entirely in China. FIDE eventually awarded the match to Xie Jun by default. However, by the time all these delays were sorted out, Polgar had given birth to her first child. She requested that the match be postponed. FIDE refused, and eventually set up the championship to be between Galliamova and Xie Jun! The championship was held in Kazan, Tatarstan and Shenyang, China, and Xie Jun won with five wins, three losses, and seven draws. In 2000 a knock-out event, similar to the FIDE men's title and held alongside it, was the new format of the women's world championship. It was won by Xie Jun. In 2001 a similar event determined the champion, Zhu Chen. Another knock-out, this one held separately from the men's event, in Elista, the capital of the Russian republic of Kalmykia (of which FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov is president), from May 21 to June 8, 2004, produced Bulgarian Antoaneta Stefanova as champion. Similar to Polgar seven years prior, Zhu Chen did not participate due to pregnancy.

Junior and Senior World Champions

The Junior and Senior Champions have always been determined by a single tournament each year (initially every other year in the case of the Juniors). See World Junior Chess Championship.

External links

- [http://www.mark-weeks.com/chess/wcc-indx.htm Mark Weeks' pages on the championships]
- [http://www.wtharvey.com/world.html 100s of Crucial Positions from World Champions' Games]
- [http://www.wtharvey.com/wwcc.html Dozens of Crucial Positions from Women World Champions' Games] Category:Chess competitions Category:Chess history

11 December

December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 20 days remaining.

Events

- 1602 - A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva. (This actually took place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend.)
- 1792 - French Revolution: King Louis XVI of France is put on trial for treason by the National Convention.
- 1816 - Indiana becomes the 19th U.S. state.
- 1872 - P.B.S. Pinchback is sworn in as the first black member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
- 1927 - Guangzhou Uprising: Communist militia and worker red guards launch an uprising in the Chinese city of Guangzhou, taking over most of the city and announcing the formation of a Guangzhou Soviet.
- 1931 - The British Parliament enacts the Statute of Westminster, which establishes a status of legislative equality between the self-governing dominions of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of Canada, the Irish Free State, Newfoundland, the Dominion of New Zealand, and the Union of South Africa.
- 1934 - A fire at the Hotel Kerns in Lansing, Michigan, kills 34 people.
- 1936 - Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII's abdication as King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India becomes effective.
- 1937 - Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italy leaves the League of Nations
- 1941 - World War II: Germany and Italy declare war on the United States.
- 1946 - The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) is established.
- 1954 - The American Nuclear Society is founded.
- 1958 - Upper Volta declares its independence from France, and becomes an autonomous republic in the French Community.
- 1970 - John Lennon releases the album Plastic Ono Band.
- 1971 - The United States Libertarian Party is formed.
- 1972 - Apollo 17 becomes the sixth mission to land on the Moon.
- 1981 - In his last fight, Muhammad Ali is defeated by Trevor Berbick.
- 1981 - Javier Pérez de Cuéllar becomes UN Secretary-General
- 1981 - El Mozote massacre: Salvadoran armed forces kill an estimated 900 civilians in an anti-guerrilla campaign during the country's civil war.
- 1981 - Clube de Regatas do Flamengo defeat Liverpool F.C in the final of the Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo.
- 1990 - Mafia: New York mafioso John Gotti is arrested.
- 1994 - First Chechen War: Russian President Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya
- 1994 - A bomb assembled by Ramzi Yousef explodes on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, killing a Japanese businessman.
- 1998 - A Thai Airways Airbus A310-200 crashes near Surat Thani Airport, killing 101.
- 2001