The Owen Defense Part 2

The Austrian Attack

The Pirc Defense

The Owen Defense

    The Austrian Attack is based around controlling the e5 square. In the Pirc Defense, this is supposed to contest black's control of the e5 square, but in the Owen Defense, this is simply an aggresive moved aimed at controlling e5 and attacking the kingside later in the game. This move order does not contest black's control of the light squares e4 and d5. Also, the pawn on f4 may be overextended since it cannot retain the possibility of defending e4 on f3.

     At the end of Part 1, I said that Black in the Owen Defense needs to know when to play specific moves. This is one of those positions. After White play Bd3, what should Black respond with? Here is a game when I was learning the Owen when I mixed up variations and played incorrectly.

    After 8...Re8, white should have played 9.Qf2 and if 9...Rxe6+, 10.Nge2 and white would have retained the pawn and had an advantage.

    The correct move for black was 5...Nf6.

If any of you would like to look at my games further or the tournament itself, go to the Idaho Chess Association Website at www.idahochessassociation.org. It is a great website with lots of material.