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Moves | 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ECO | C34 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Origin | 1961, Bobby Fischer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Named after | Bobby Fischer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent | King's Gambit |
The Fischer Defense to the King's Gambit is a chess opening variation that begins with the moves:
Although 3...d6 was previously known, [1] it did not become a major variation until Fischer advocated it in a famous 1961 article in the first issue of the American Chess Quarterly . [2] [3]
In the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings , the Fischer Defense is given the code C34.
After Bobby Fischer lost a 1960 game [4] at Mar del Plata to Boris Spassky, in which Spassky played the Kieseritzky Gambit, Fischer left in tears [5] and promptly went to work at devising a new defense to the King's Gambit. In Fischer's 1961 article, "A Bust to the King's Gambit", he claimed, "In my opinion the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force." [6] Fischer concluded the article with the famous line, "Of course White can always play differently, in which case he merely loses differently. (Thank you, Weaver Adams!)" [7] The article became famous. [8] [9] Fischer never tested this published analysis as Black in a tournament game; he never again faced the gambit after his 1960 loss to Spassky.
Fischer himself later played the King's Gambit with some success, [10] winning all three tournament games in which he played it. However, he played the Bishop's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4) rather than the King's Knight Gambit (3.Nf3), the only line that he analyzed in his article. [11] [12] [13]
Fischer called 3...d6 "a high-class waiting move". [14] It allows Black to hold the gambit pawn with ...g5 (unless White plays the immediate 4.h4) while avoiding the Kieseritzky Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5). Fischer asserted that 3...g5 "is inexact because it gives White drawing chances" after 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.d4 d6 7.Nd3 Nxe4 8.Bxf4 Bg7 9.c3! (improving on Spassky's 9.Nc3) Qe7 10.Qe2 Bf5 11.Nd2, which, according to Fischer, "leads to an ending where Black's extra pawn is neutralized by White's stranglehold on the dark squares, especially [f4]". [14]
After 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6 the most common response is 4.d4. [15] If White now tries to force transpositions to Becker Defense (3...h6) or Classical Defense (3...g5) positions, then White can end up in difficulties. Fischer analyzed 4.d4 g5 5.h4 g4 6.Ng5 f6 7.Nh3 gxh3 8.Qh5+ Kd7 9.Bxf4 Qe8! 10.Qf3 Kd8 "and with King and Queen reversed, Black wins easily". [14] Fischer claimed that White has no compensation after the alternative 6.Ng1 Bh6, however in practice White has achieved good results in this line after 7.Nc3 c6 8.Nge2 Qf6 9.g3, [16] and Nigel Short used it to defeat Vladimir Akopian in Madrid 1997. [17]
Another popular move is 4.Bc4. Fischer recommended 4...h6 in response, which he dubbed the "Berlin Defence Deferred". [14] Black's third and fourth moves stop the white knight on f3 from moving to the two dangerous squares e5 and g5. This variation received a high-class examination in a game between two world champions: Boris Spassky vs. Anatoly Karpov, at Berlin TV 1982, played at a one-hour-game format in an event for West German television. GM Spassky won on time in an ending of Q + N vs Q; White had a satisfactory position from the opening.
A quite recent idea is 4.d4 g5 5.Nc3. White intends to leave the bishop on f1 for a while, play an improved version of the Hanstein Gambit (3...g5 4.Bc4 Bg7 and later g2–g3), and, after forcing Black's f4-pawn to move, develop the queenside with Be3, Qd2, and 0-0-0. [18]
The King's Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The Pirc Defence is a chess opening characterised by the response of Black to 1.e4 with 1...d6 and 2...Nf6, followed by ...g6 and ...Bg7, while allowing White to establish a centre with pawns on d4 and e4. It is named after the Slovenian grandmaster Vasja Pirc.
The Modern Defense is a hypermodern chess opening in which Black allows White to occupy the center with pawns on d4 and e4, then proceeds to attack and undermine this "ideal" center without attempting to occupy it. The opening has been most notably used by British grandmasters Nigel Davies and Colin McNab.
The World Chess Championship 1972 was a match for the World Chess Championship between challenger Bobby Fischer of the United States and defending champion Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union. The match took place in the Laugardalshöll arena in Reykjavík, Iceland, and has been dubbed the Match of the Century. Fischer became the first American born in the United States to win the world title, and the second American overall. Fischer's win also ended, for a short time, 24 years of Soviet domination of the World Championship.
Bird's Opening is a chess opening characterised by the move:
The Vienna Game is an opening in chess that begins with the moves:
The Bishop's Opening is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
In chess, compensation is the typically short-term positional advantages a player gains in exchange for typically material disadvantage. Short-term advantages involve initiative and attack.
An Open Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
The Poisoned Pawn Variation is any of several series of opening moves in chess in which a pawn is said to be "poisoned" because its capture can result in a positional loss of time or a loss of material.
A Steinitz Variation is any of several chess openings introduced and practiced, or adopted and advocated by Wilhelm Steinitz, the first officially recognized World Chess Champion.
The American Chess Quarterly was a chess magazine that was published in the United States from Summer 1961 to 1965 by Nature Food Centres. The headquarters of the magazine was in Cambridge, MA.
The Austrian Attack is a chess opening characterised by the following moves:
The Van 't Kruijs Opening is a chess opening defined by the move:
The 1992 Fischer–Spassky match between former world chess champions Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky was billed as a World Chess Championship, though it was an unofficial rematch of their 1972 World Championship match. Fischer won 10–5, with 15 draws.
The McDonnell Gambit is a chess opening gambit in the King's Gambit, Classical Variation that begins with the moves:
The Bishop's Gambit is a variation of the King's Gambit, a chess opening that begins with the moves: