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That Darned Berlin Defense

I've recently come to admire the black defense after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 d6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Bd7, inviting white to double the c pawns via N or Bxc6 bxc6, opening the b file for black as well as the attacking options against the white kingside. I had always avoided playing these kinds of defenses because I thought the doubled c pawns were too weak for black, and I also prefer to keep a pawn on e5 for as long as possible. However, after experimenting with b-pawn sacrifices early on in my white repertoire I find that doubling the c pawns isn't as bad as I thought.

Here is a series of two games in which my opponent was white and both times insisted on attacking the center as quickly as possible, with 0-0, Rf1-e1, e4-e5, etc... however, in the first game I discovered a fundamental weakness in white's position, the h2 and f2 pawns are extremely vulnerable. Enjoy.

Now in the second game White tries the same continuation with Rf1-e1 and e4-e5. Again the bishop is played to a4 and is neglected, however the main difference in this game is the move g2-g3 to defend against the attack on h2 via Nf6-g4.

Comments


  • 17 months ago

    LaCiCaDa

    @milestogo2 yes I realize that. I had just watched a video with Seirawan talking about hating the Berlin Defense, and so I usually just refer to ..e5 Nc6 d6 Nf6 and so as that. It's to save time because I'm obviosly horrible at remembering these kinds of things. But I'll make sure to clean it up next time round. 

  • 18 months ago

    milestogo2

    Um, the first game is a Steinitz defense to the Ruy, the second is a Scotch Game. Got to keep the classification accurate!Wink

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