English Defense

Chess diagram|=
tleft|
=
rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd| |rd|=
pd| |pd|pd| |pd|pd|pd|=
|pd| | |pd| | | |=
| | | | | | | |=
| |pl|pl| | | | |=
| | | | | | | |=
pl|pl| | |pl|pl|pl|pl|=
rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl|=
The English Defense

The English Defense is a chess opening characterized by the moves 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6. White often gains a broad pawn center with 3.e4, which Black puts pressure on with moves like ...Bb7, ...Bb4, and sometimes even ...Qh4 and/or ...f5. It was developed by the Leicester player P.N. Wallis, and was taken up by several leading English players in the 1970s, such as Tony Miles, Jon Speelman and Raymond Keene.cite book|title=Tony Miles:It's Only Me|author=Lawton, Geoff|year=2003|isbn=0-7134-8809-3|publisher=Batsford|pages=281] It flouts several traditional opening principles, as Black often develops bishops before knights and brings out the queen early. It is a somewhat unusual opening, but has been seen in high-level grandmaster play, usually as a surprise weapon, for example when Viktor Korchnoi used it to defeat Lev Polugaevsky in their world championship semi-finals match at Évian 1977 (see below).

Note that if White varies with 2.e4, Black must decide whether to play the French Defence (2..d5), Owen's Defense (2...b6), or the Franco-Benoni (2...c5).

Illustrative Games

Polugaevsky-Korchnoi, Évian 1977 1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6 3.e4 Bb7 4.Qc2 Qh4 5.Nd2 Bb4 6.Bd3 f5 7.Nf3 Bxd2+ 8.Kf1 Qh5 9.Bxd2 Nf6 10.exf5 Bxf3 11.gxf3 Nc6 12.Bc3 O-O 13.Re1 Qh3+ 14.Ke2 Rae8 15.Kd1 e5 16.dxe5 Nxe5 17.Be2 Nxf3 18.Qd3 Rxe2 19.Rxe2 Qg2 20.Rhe1 Nxe1 21.Kxe1 Qxh2 22.Re7 Qg1+ 23.Ke2 Qg4+ 24.Ke1 h5 25.Qg3 Qxg3 26.fxg3 Rf7 27.Bxf6 gxf6 28.Re8+ Kg7 29.Kf2 Kh6 30.b4 Kg5 31.Ra8 Kxf5 32.Rxa7 d6 33.a4 Ke6 34.a5 bxa5 35.Rxa5 f5 36.c5 Rh7 37.cxd6 cxd6 38.b5 h4 39.gxh4 Rxh4 40.Ra8 Rb4 41.Rb8 Kd5 42.Kf3 Rb3+ 43.Kf4 Kc5 44.Rc8+ Kxb5 45.Kxf5 Re3 46.Kf4 Re1 47.Rd8 Kc5 48.Rc8+ Kd4 49.Kf3 d5 50.Kf2 Re5 51.Ra8 Kc3 52.Ra3+ Kb4 53.Ra1 d4 54.Rc1 d3 55.Rc8 d2 56.Rb8+ Kc3 57.Rc8+ Kd3 58.Rd8+ Kc2 59.Rc8+ Kd1 60.Rc7 Rf5+ 61.Kg2 Ke2 62.Re7+ Kd3 63.Rd7+ Ke3 64.Re7+ Kd4 65.Rd7+ Rd5 0-1 [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/dupe?gid=1112235]

Susan Polgar-Speelman, Netherlands 1993 1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+ 3.Nc3 b6 4.e4 Bb7 5.d5 Qe7 6.Be2 Nf6 7.f3 exd5 8.cxd5 c6 9.dxc6 Nxc6 10.Nh3 d5 11.exd5 O-O-O 12.Bg5 Rhe8 13.Bxf6 gxf6 14.Nf4 Qe5 15.Qd2 Bxc3 16.bxc3 Nb4 17.Kf2 Nxd5 18.Nd3 Nxc3 0-1 [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1130474]

Notes

References

*cite video | people=Plaskett, James | title=Foxy Openings Volume 22: English Defence | medium=DVD
*cite web | url=http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=3484 | title=English Defense: be the victor, not the victim! | last=Monokroussos | first=Dennis | publisher=Chessbase.com | accessdate=2006-11-17