6 It was in the late 1970s that I first made the
7 aquaintance of this provocative counter-attacking defence.
8 Under the influence of Raymond Keene, a great many British
9 players were playing it around that time and I decided to
10 jump on the bandwagon. Later on it proved quite difficult to
11 jump off again and play more classical openings, but then
13 With his first two moves, 1...g6 and 2...Bg7 Black makes
14 no attempt whatsoever to follow the tried and trusted
15 classical precept of occupying the center. Instead he calmly
16 fianchettoes a bishop and argues the he can attend to things
17 like development later in the game.
18 Some practitioners of the Modern (Colin McNab and David
19 Norwood for example) like to try and close the position up
20 with ...c6 and possible ...d5. But I have my own
21 interpretation involving a fierce counterattack against the
23 Above all I want that bishop on g7 to breathe fire, to
24 strike terror along the h8-a1 diagonal. Sometimes I play
25 ...c7-c5, sometimes ...e7-e5, but always something against
26 the d4 square and with that long diagonal in mind.
27 There isn't enough time to show all the ins and outs of
28 this defence, but the following games show my interpretation
29 in action against a variety of White set-ups and how this
30 opening has served me faithfully in some critical games.
31 Amongst my victims with this opening are the likes of Bent
32 Larsen and Viswanathan Anand, but on this occasion I'll show
34 The first game was played in the last round of the
35 student team Championships in Graz 1981 in which the England
36 team was going for the silver medal....
39 Student Team Ch., Graz (Austria), 1981
41 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.e4
43 According to the late Mikhail Botvinnik, setting up the
44 pawns on d4, c4 and e4 is the strongest answer to the Modern
45 Defence. I have usually preferred my `stock' recipe; a
46 counterattack against the d4 square.
48 4...Nc6! 5.Be3 e5! 6.d5 Nce7
50 Reaching a kind of King's Indian Defence in which the
51 fact that Black's knight has not been developed on f6 yet
52 means that he can sometimes play ...f7-f5 before bringing it
53 out. White takes immediate measures against this.
55 7.g4 c5 8.h4 Nf6 9.g5 Nh5 10.Be2 Nf4 11.Bf3 0-0 12.Nge2 f5
56 13.Qd2 Qa5 14.0-0-0 Rb8!!
58 One of the best moves I have ever played. The idea,
59 should White play quietly now, is to prise open the
60 queenside with ....b5 followed by ....a6. And there are
61 other points should White capture on f4.
63 15.Nxf4 exf4 16.Bxf4 fxe4 17.Bxd6
65 The line which most beautifully illustrates the power of
66 14...Rb8 is 17.Bxe4 Bxc3 18.bxc3 Rxf4 19.Qxf4 Qxc3+ 20.Kb1
67 (or 20.Bc2 Bf5 21.Rd2 Qa1+) and now 20...b5, opening up the
68 b-file. White, by the way, loses a piece after 17.Nxe4
71 17...Rxf3! 18.Bxb8 Rxc3+! 19.Kb1
73 Or 19.bxc3 Bxc3 20.Qc2 Qa3+ 21.Kb1 Bf5 followed by
76 19...e3 20.fxe3 Bf5+ 21.Ka1 Rc2! 0-1
78 White lost on time by he could equally have resigned.
79 22.Qxa5 is met by 22...Bxb2+ 23.Kb1 Rd2+ followed by mate.
80 I still count this as my most artistic miniature.
82 This next game was one of the wins which earned my first
83 Grandmaster norm in Oslo 1988. After a few careless moves in
84 the opening Black develops a murderous attack. White, by the
85 way, is not a patzer. These days he has a rating of around
86 2500 and is on the verge of becoming a GM.
91 1.d4 d6 2.e4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.Bc4 Nc6 5.Be3 Nf6 6.h3
93 Preventing 6...Ng4 but losing time for development.
95 6...e5 7.dxe5 Nxe5 8.Bb3 0-0 9.Qd2 b5!
97 White's neglect of development allows Black to take the
100 10.f3 b4 11.Nd5 Nxd5 12.Bxd5 c6 13.Bb3 a5 14.a4 d5
102 Blasting open the center before White has got his cing
103 safe. If he had now tried to remedy this with 15.0-0-0
104 there would follow 15...Qf6 and after 16.Bd4 there is
105 16...c5!, distracting the bishop from the defence of b2.
107 15.exd5 Nc4! 16.Bxc4 Bxb2!
109 Suddenly White is in desperate trouble; the threats
110 include 17...Bxa1 and 17...Bc3, not to mention 17...Qh4+.
114 Even stronger than capturing the rook on a1, as that will
117 18.Bf2 Qxc4 19.Rb1 Bc3 20.Nxc3 bxc3 21.Qd3 Re8+ 22.Kd1 Qa2!
118 23.Rc1 Ba6 24.Qxc3 Qxd5+ 25.Qd2 Rad8! 0-1
120 The final position shows the true extent of White's
124 Gausdal Peer-Gynt , 1990
126 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.f4 Nc6
128 I was later to abandon this move after Dragan Velimirovic
129 answered it with 5.Bb5 in a tournament in Vrnjacka Banja in
130 1991. Since then I have answered the Austrian Attack (4.f4)
131 with 4...e6 followed by ...Ne7, ...Nd7, ...b6 and ...Bb7,
132 obtaining a similar set-up to the game.
134 5.Be3 Nf6 6.Nf3 e6 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 Ne7 9.Nd2 b6 10.a4 a6
137 Black's usual way of challenging White's set-up from this
138 structure. Here it proves especially effective because White
139 has plalyed the rather artificial 9.Nd2.
141 12.Qf2 Bb7 13.Bf3 Qc7 14.a5 cxd4 15.Bxd4 b5 16.Bb6 Qc8
144 18.Be3 was better, as now Black rips apart what is left
149 The opening of the position proves good for Black as his
150 pieces are better placed. Note that White's king also proves
151 weak, a consequence of 4.f4!
153 20.g3 exf4 21.gxf4 b4 22.Nd1 Nf6 23.Qg2 fxe4 24.Nxe4 Nxe4
154 25.Bxe4 Bxe4 26.Qxe4 Qg4+ 27.Kh1
156 27.Qg2 Qf5 would also have been unpleasant for White.
160 A suicidal pawn snatch but it is already rather difficult
161 to give White good advice.
165 Taking the knight allows 29...Qh3+ followed by 30...Qg3+
168 29...Nxf1+ 30.Kxf1 Qf3+ 31.Kg1 Rae8 32.Qd2 Rxf4! 0-1
170 White has had enough. 33.Bxf4 is answered by 33...Re2
171 threatening both mate and the queen.
173 For a period of about 10 years I played nothing but the
174 Modern, but in the late 1980s I started to branch out into
175 other openings. Even eating caviar every day can become
177 Yet faced with the prospect of having to win my last
178 round game for a GM norm in a tournament in Budapest, I
179 could hardly answer 1.e4 with 1...e5, after which I would
180 get a boring Four Knights or Ruy Lopez. The only chance was
181 the Modern Defence, and this was it's finest hour.
184 First Saturday Tournament, Budapest, May 1993
186 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 d6 4.Nge2
188 The safe way of introducing the fianchetto line for
189 White, as after the immediate 4.g3 there is 4...Nc6 and if
190 5.Nge2 then 5...Bg4. After the text move I either play the
191 immediate 4...Nc6, or sometimes 4...a6 5.a4 Nc6.
193 4...Nc6 5.Be3 Nf6 6.h3 e5 7.dxe5 Nxe5 8.Ng3 0-0
195 The safe way to play it would have been 8...Be6 9.Qd2
196 Nc4, but given that I had to win this game I was not afraid
199 9.Qd2 Re8 10.0-0-0 b5!?
201 A pawn for an open file - not a bad deal with opposite
202 wing castling. If White doesn't capture Black gets the c4
203 square for his knight on e5.
207 After 12.f4 my opponent didn't like the look of 12...Bxb5
208 13.fxe5 Rxe5 14.Bd4 Qe7, which he felt gave me good
209 compensation for the sacrificed exchange. In the post mortem
210 we looked at 12.Ba6!? but then 12...Be6 wasn't clear.
212 12.... Qb8 13.f4 Nc6 14.Bf3 Qb4
214 Preparing to move a rook to b8 and threaten mate on b2.
216 15.a3 Qb7 16.e5 Rab8 17.b3
218 An alternative way to defend b2 was with 17.Na4, but
219 then Black has 17...dxe5 18.fxe5 Qb5! 19.exf6 Bxf6 20.b3
220 Rxe3 21.Qxd7 Bg5 and if 22.Kb1 then 22...Rxb3+.
222 17...dxe5 18.fxe5 Rxe5 19.Nge4 Qa6!
224 It is less good to play this move after a preliminary
225 exchange of knights on e4. Thus 19...Nxe4 20.Nxe4 Qa6 can by
226 met by 21.a4 after which White's defences hold.
230 The decisive mistake. White should take this opportunity
231 to exchange on f6, as for the time being Black is forced to
232 recapture with the bishop. After Black's next move it
233 becomes possible to take back on f6 with the queen.
235 20...Na5! 21.Nxf6+ Qxf6!
237 The point, after which the latent threats along the long
238 h8-a1 diagonal prove decisive. Perhaps White thought that
239 his next move made the capture with the queen impossible,
240 but a serious disappointment is waiting.
244 Ouch! Only now did he see that the intended capture of my
245 rook on e5 is met by 23...Qa3+ followed by 24...Nxb3.
249 KAPOW! White must kiss his castled position goodbye.
253 White has had enough. The threat is 25...Rb1+, the rook
254 is immune to capture because of the knight fork picking up
255 White's queen and after 25.Nc3 there is either 25...Nc4 or
256 25...Ra3, depending on Black's mood.
258 This event was brought to you by Warwick chess club (England)