Last weeks we discussed the King's Gambit as an ideal opening if you want to beat your opponent in 20 moves or less. Of course if your opponent defends very well and your blitzkrieg fails... well then you might question your decision to sac a pawn as early as move 2! (To really appreciate the value of these little guys, please read my article 'Unsung heroes'). Besides, not everyone plays the King's Gambit and it wouldn't be the best idea to drastically change your openings in order just to get a chance to beat your opponent quickly. Here I start a new series of articles about openings that assure the 'fire on board' as quickly as possible. If you don't play the particular opening covered in an article then... just wait patiently. I'll try to cover all of them and sooner or later you'll find an article about your favorite opening variation!
Center Game (C22) Moves: 1. Qxd4 Chess players frequently playing C22. Recent games Games in this opening that were either played or submited recently. The chess games widget of: See this chess game with anlaysis in Chess-DB.com. Ballester Cladera, Antonio.
Today we will talk about another ancient and a very sharp opening: Center Game. The goal of this article is not to give you a historical development of the opening since you can easily find it elsewhere (for example here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_Game). Also, just like I explained last week in the article about the King's Gambit, if you want to seriously study the theory of an opening, you better look at a book devoted to the opening. Here I just want to show you opening traps and combinations typical for the opening. This is more like a starting point for learning an opening. If you get interested, you might want to do more detailed research.
One of the key features of the Center Game is that White usually castles on the Queen's Side and Black castles on the King's Side. As a result in many cases White pushes his 'h' pawn to create an attack. In the next game the first World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz was miniaturized this way (also the game could be a good addition to my previous article ' Typical Patterns Everyone Should Know. The dangerous 'h' file')
It is after games like this that Black came up with an idea: why not bring an extra defender for his King by a fianchetto. Besides, the Bg7 can be useful not only for a pure defense as the following game proves:
One of the most positional players of all time, the great Akiba Rubinstein shows a classical Central break in the next game.
A very recent game played just two weeks ago shows how a modern super-Grandmaster solves his defensive task in the Center Game. (Hint: Offense is the best defense!)
The bad news for White is that Black managed to find many reliable ways to fight in the old main line. The good news is, the Center Opening is still relatively unexplored (compared to, say, the Sicilian Defense!), so you can find many lines where the opening knowledge is not as important as your creativity and tactical skills. The next game features a very rare 4.Qa4 sideline:
If you are a skillful tactician and have done your opening homework, then play the Center Game and I guarantee you a lot of excitement!
Round-Robin Chess Tournaments Are Dead!
Center Game
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Moves
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4
ECO
C21–C22
Parent
Open Game
The Center Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
1. e4e5
2. d4exd4
The game usually continues 3.Qxd4 Nc6, developing with a gain of tempo for Black due to the attack on the white queen. (Note that 3.c3 is considered a separate opening: the Danish Gambit.)
1Variations
The Center Game is an old opening. It was mostly abandoned by 1900 because no advantage could be demonstrated for White. Jacques Mieses, Savielly Tartakower and Rudolf Spielmann seemed to be the last strong players who would adopt it. The Center Game was rarely played by elite players until Alexander Shabalov revived it in the 1980s. Later, Alexei Shirov, Michael Adams, Judit Polgár and Alexander Morozevich also contributed to the theory of the Center Game by forcing re-evaluation of lines long thought to favor Black. In recent years, the young player Ian Nepomniachtchi has also experimented with the opening.
White succeeds in eliminating Black's e-pawn and opening the d-file, but at the cost of moving the queen early and allowing Black to develop a tempo with 3...Nc6. In White's favor, after 4.Qe3, the most commonly played retreat, the position of the white queen hinders Black's ability to play ...d5. The back rank is cleared of pieces quickly which facilitates queensidecastling and may allow White to quickly develop an attack. From e3, the white queen may later move to g3 where she will pressure Black's g7-square.
Variations[edit]
3.c3[edit]
3.Qxd4 Nc6[edit]
The nearly universal sequence of moves in the Center Game is 3.Qxd4 Nc6 (ECO code C22). Now White has a choice of retreat squares for the queen. Although 4.Qa4 corresponds to a fairly commonly played variation of the Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3.Nc3 Qa5), it is rarely played in the Center Game because tournament experience has not been favorable for White in this line.
The best move for the queen seems to be 4.Qe3, known as Paulsen's Attack. White intends to castle queenside in this line. Black usually continues 4...Nf6 when a typical line continues 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bd2 0-0 7.0-0-0 Re8. White may try to complicate play by means of the pawn sacrifice 8.Qg3!? intending 8...Rxe4 9.a3! – Shabalov's move. Black's best reply seems to be the quiet 9...Ba5. Even though this line gives White some compensation for the pawn, it is probably fine for Black.[1]
A more solid option for Black is the natural 5...Be7! intending ...d7–d5 (sometimes even after White plays 6.Bc4), opening up lines as soon as possible. Black also seems to get a good game with 4...g6, and 4...Bb4+ has been played successfully as well.
Chess Center Game Opening Free
3.Nf3 or 3.Bc4[edit]
Postponing recapture of the queen pawn is a standard idea in the Scandinavian Defense (1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6), but 3.Nf3 is less commonly played in the Center Game. Black can safely transpose to the Scotch Game, Petrov's Defense or the Philidor Defense, or play a line recommended by Alexander Alekhine, 3...Bc5 4.Nxd4 Nf6 and now 5.e5 would be met with 5...Qe7. Similar ideas are possible after 3.Bc4, which is also uncommon.
3.f4?! (Halasz Gambit)[edit]
The Halasz Gambit (3.f4?!) is another rare try. Although the move dates back to at least 1840, it has been championed more recently by the Hungarian correspondence player Dr. György Halasz. The gambit seems dubious but it has not been definitively refuted.[2]
Chess Center Game Opening Game
References[edit]
^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2009-08-17. Retrieved 2009-08-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Arne Moll, Finding Nepo (on an old laptop) (2009) at ChessVibes.com
^Budzinski, Glenn (1998). 'Anatomy of a Gambit: Dissecting the Halasz'. ChessCafe. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
External links[edit]
The Wikibook Chess Opening Theory has a page on the topic of: Center Game
Harding, Tim (August 1999). 'The Vampire Gambit: Can We Bury It Now?'. ChessCafe.com, The Kibitzer.
Harding, Tim (December 2004). 'The Center Game takes Center Stage' (pdf). ChessCafe.com, The Kibitzer.
Learn Chess Openings
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