For the Club Player: So Many Openings. Only One Lifetime
The 15th Edition of Modern Chess Openings by GM Nick de Firmian is a mere 748 pages long. Last published in 2008, it is undoubtedly not totally up to date on openings and opening lines developed and played in top level matches since it was last published. But…the basics are there for any chess player at any level. For club players not aiming to be chess professionals and those not yet retired with eons of free time on their hands, deciding on which openings and defenses to reasonably focus on to improve one’s enjoyment of our game becomes a very real and difficult nut to crack. This is the first in a series of posts about basic chess openings and defenses that are sound for club players.
Here are my suggestions for dealing with an opponent’s 1. e4. It was the macabre NYC based comedian of the 60’s, Brother Theodore, who quipped, “I knew his first move would be 1.e4, but I was powerless to stop it.” Here are my suggestions for defenses that you can study and regularly play leading to sound middle games for Black without having to learn a great many variations. I suggest selecting two defenses to begin with from this selection of 4.
1. The French Defense—1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5. From there you will need to become familiar with several White lines such as the Exchange Variation, The Advance Variation, Winawer Variation and my preferred line, The Rubinstein/ Fort Knox Variation. A link to a Rubinstein Variation game played today in the Dutch Championship can be found below.
2. The Scandinavian Defense—1.e4 d5 2.exd Qxd 3.Nc3 Qa5 (most usually). This is an easy defense to learn that was not held in very high regard by the chess elite until Indian GM Anand played it in a World Championship match against GM Gary Kasparov in their 1995 match played atop the World Trade Center in NYC.
3. The Caro-Kann Defense—1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 with similar White options as found with The French Defense. Considered a very solid defense.
4. The Modern Defense—1.e4 g6. This defense also works against 1.d4 and 1.c4. It can also transpose into the Pirc Defense against 1.e4. Of these four it is likely the most complex, but also good fun to play and learn.
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