Fischer said that 1. P-K4 was "best by test". Any opinions on the best defense to 1.P-K4? I like the French Defense myself. The string of pawns from ...KB2 to ...Q4 forecloses on any radical attacks on the Black king. It's also as solid as Mae West on a cold day.

Yeah, but at the time he said it, the only other one he'd tested was 1. N-KB3. Not very scientific.



Eh. French, Caro-Kann and Petroff. Take your pick. If you allow the Ruy Lopez, you'd better expect the Spanish Inquisition, because that's what it will feel like. But the Sicilian will give Black the most winning chances.

Depends on the individual (taste, style, playing strength, willingness to study, etc.), of course.

Statistically, if one went to a massive database (eg Chessbase Megabase) and examined results for all "comparable" (eg IM-IM, GM-GM) pairs of opponents, I'm pretty sure the Sicilian would have the highest scoring percentage for Black. This would suggest (gasp) that Bobby was wrong...

But it all depends on the individual.

I'd rather talk about Mae West, but really, there are eight main replies to 1. P-K4: 1...P-K3, 1...P-K4, 1...P-Q3, 1...P-Q4, 1...P-QB3, 1...P-QB4, 1...N-KB3, and 1...N-QB3. I remember several times when I was engaged in long blitz sessions with somebody who only seemed to know one opening for each colour, when I'd play all eight of these moves in rotation, and then start the sequence again if we were still playing that long. All eight are playable, though the Center Counter and Nimzovich Defense are on the iffy side.

I could have added 1...P-KN3 into the rotation, but resisted it as it usually transposed into the Pirc. In fact, the Pirc used to be routinely referred to as the "Pirc/Robatsch Defense", but as with Sears and Roebuck, Robatsch's name has fallen off the opening in recent years.

One good question to ask: For each of these 8 moves, name a GM who has used it as their sole or primary defense to P-K4. It's easy to think of GMs who have relied on P-K4 and P-QB4. Uhlmann played the French exclusively for many years, and Botvinnik played it quite a lot. After that it gets hard. Not many play the Alekhine at all, but Alburt used it as his primary defense for a long time.

Caro-Kann? Well, they didn't play it anywhere near exclusively, but Seirawan and Karpov played it quite a lot. Maybe more than anything else. (Petrosian has some pretty famous Frenches and Caro-Kanns, but the Sicilian was still his primary defense.

How about the Pirc? Lots of people have played it, including Fischer (of all people) but what GM has made it their bread-and-butter defense? Suttles games are always fun to look at though, because he always used to play this weird-a$$ Pirc-like Hedgehog Defense with Black (which, if I had my way, would be named "The Maggotinot Line").

When it comes to 1...P-Q4 and 1...N-QB3, you're not going to find anyone. A few might trot the Center Counter out as a novelty weapon, but no GM has ever used it as the front line. And as for the Nimzovich Defense, I question whether any GM, including Nimzovich, has ever played it, ever. (And even if you showed me games, I might not believe it).

GM Anthony Miles was known as somewhat of a specialist in the Nimzovich (1. e4 Nc6) Defense. You can find plenty of games. His book It's Only Me contains several, as well as references to games featuring other GMs.

And doesn't GM Sergei Tiviakov employ the Center Counter 1. e4 d5 2. e:d5 Q:d5 3. Nc3 Qd6 as one of his main defenses?

Oh, wait, it's Chess Ninja...only (Classical) World Championship contenders count as "GMs"....

Interestingly, the few times I've played the Nimzovich Defense myself, the most common reply was 2. N-KB3, which I dubbed "The Forgive and Forget Variation" (I'm sure it has another name). White offers to allow Black to transpose into something normal with 2...P-K4 and forget his impertinence in playing something so offbeat.

I remember years back the USCF catalog had a pamphlet about that opening, that I almost wish I'd bought. Their blurb tried to sell it as a reasonable defense (Hey, it develops a piece and doesn't create any weaknesses!), but I don't think many readers bought either the idea or the book. It just doesn't pay to block the QB pawn that way without a strong central presence. But I did buy their pamphlet on Alapin's Opening, which is at least equally offbeat.

Horowitz and Reinfeld both included it in their manuals. I seem to remember Reinfeld showing 1. P-K4 N-QB3, 2. P-Q4 PxP 3. P-Q5! and the Knight gets kicked around a bit (a lot). I think the line after 2...P-K4 was a bit better, and resembled a kind of Old Indian formation.

I remember in Grade School, playing a game with a then-fellow Patzer that went 1. P-K4 N-QB3 2. P-Q4 P-Q4 3. N-QB3 PxP 4. NxP?? QxP, but you can't count on anyone rated over about 850 giving you presents like that.

At the risk of admitting that I sometimes still look at Chess Life (oh, the shame of it ) Soltis' column this month is about the Petroff, and Grischuk almost coming to hate chess from trying to find a way to break through it. (And of course we remember how even the threat of the Petroff drove Anand to 1. P-Q4). That may be the "best" defense in the sense of being the hardest to beat, although the Sicilian is still better if you might want to maybe actually win the game or something. (It's hard to remember that the Petroff was a favorite of a player like Frank J. Marshall.)


Ed, when you play the French, would you rather face 3. N-QB3 or 3. N-Q2? The Winawer is nice, and quite playable, but it doesn't quite meet your "tighter than a floozy's skirt" (or whatever salty metaphor you used) definition. If White plays the Q-N4 lines, Black's Kingside and White's Queenside seem on the verge of collapse the whole game. Fun, but not exactly safe.

The Burn/Rubinstein lines are safer but even then, if White Castles Queenside and starts pushing the KRP, it can get exciting.

Speaking of the French and Uhlmann, here's a recent (Yes, recent!) example of someone trying to get past him with the old Blood and Gutless Exchange Variation and not quite making it.

[Event "7th European Senior Championship"]
[Site "Hockenheim GER"]
[Date "2007.06.10"]
[EventDate "2007.06.02"]
[Round "9"]
[Result "0-1"]
[White "E Rotstein"]
[Black "Wolfgang Uhlmann"]
[ECO "C01"]
[WhiteElo "2371"]
[BlackElo "2419"]
[PlyCount "108"]

1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 exd5 4. Bd3 Bd6 5. c3 Nf6
6. Bg5 O-O 7. Ne2 Re8 8. Qc2 h6 9. Bh4 Nbd7 10. Nd2 c5
11. Nf3 c4 12. Bh7+ Kh8 13. Bf5 Qe7 14. Bg3 Bxg3 15. hxg3 Nc5
16. Bxc8 Nd3+ 17. Kf1 Raxc8 18. Nf4 Qe4 19. Nxd3 cxd3 20. Qd2 Qe2+
21. Qxe2 Rxe2 22. Ne5 Rxb2 23. Nxd3 Rc2 24. Ne5 R8xc3 25. Nxf7+ Kg8
26. Nd6 Ng4 27. Rh4 Nxf2 28. Re1 Rxg3 29. Re8+ Kh7 30. Rf4 Nd3
31. Rf3 Rxf3+ 32. gxf3 Rxa2 33. Re7 Rf2+ 34. Kg1 Rxf3 35. Rxb7 Rf6
36. Nc8 a6 37. Rd7 Nb4 38. Kg2 Rf4 39. Rb7 Rxd4 40. Kg3 h5
41. Nd6 Rg4+ 42. Kh3 Nd3 43. Ra7 Nf4+ 44. Kh2 Rg2+ 45. Kh1 Rg6
46. Nf5 h4 47. Kh2 Rg2+ 48. Kh1 Rg5 49. Nd4 Rg6 50. Nf5 h3
51. Kh2 Rg2+ 52. Kh1 Nh5 53. Rxa6 Ng3+ 54. Nxg3 Rxg3 0-1


It's always bad losing with White, but there's nothing quite so embarrassing as losing as White with this variation.

Just had a look at Tiviakov. He seems to play mostly Sicilians, but he has got quite a lot of Center Counters to his credit (not sure if "credit" is quite the right word, but still...).

My favorite French lines, Petro? That's like asking Hugh Hefner to pick his favorite centerfold.

I've played just about all lines of the French. Against the Tarrasch, I'll play the Guimard (3.N-Q2 N-QB3) if I've got a lot of time to prepare it. I'll also play the Eliskases Variation (3. N-Q2 P-QB4, 4. KPxP QxP) as a regular line. If I'm out of shape (which is all the time these days) I'll play 3...N-KB3.

Against 3. N-QB3, I'll play the Classical, the MacCutcheon, the Tartakower, and the Heidenfeld (3. N-QB3 N-KB3, 4. B-N5 B-K2, 5. P-K5 N-N1). I play the Winawer, but not too often. If I do I play the Modern Winawer.