Hi Chess Friends,
In the recent World Championship match, after drawing 12 classical games Carlsen broke through by winning the first rapid game. He gained a large advantage on the board and the clock, and even after some mistakes he still won. He won the next two games to finish the match and retainb his title. With everything on the line, Carlsen went for the Botvinnik English setup, that's where white puts pawns on c4 and e4, knights on c3 and e2 and a bishop on g2. Here's the key game.
The opening worked well for Carlsen and is a great fast time control weapon for many reasons. White can place pieces on the same squares against most responses and has a few key ideas to know to get good attacking chances. I've used it very successfully the last couple years and want to share what I've learned. Mihail Marin covers the line somewhat in his series on the English, but I haven't seen it much elsewhere. This post is based primarily in my experience playing the opening online and in a few tournaments.
The basic set-up
Against most of black's methods of development you can go for this setup. c4, Nc3, e4, g3, Bg2, Ne2, d3, 0-0. Afterwards the dark square bishop heads to e3, and the queen to d2. If you need to prevent black's Ng4, then you'll play h3 and if you need to prevent b5, you'll play a4. The c3 knight is typically very strong on d5 and may be backed up by the e2 knight heading to c3 or f4.
Now why is this setup so powerful in fast games? First, you can play quickly because it's easy to tell where your pieces go. Next, there are a few powerful attacking ideas that are deceptively hard to defend against, even for strong players.
Attacking idea 1 - Qh6 and mate on g7 or h7.
This is a very common attacking plan. This is a 1 minute game, so black's mistakes are forgivable, but it's still rare to beat a Super-GM like Vallejo Pons so quickly.
Here's another very similar game against GM Awonder Liang.
The next game was played in over the board blitz. I don't recommend white go for this setup when black can play symmetrically like this, but it can work out. Black was doing fine until allowing the exchange sac on e5. In serious games I only recommend playing e4 if black has committed to Nf6 already.
The position below is from the final round of the Maryland state Quick Chess Championship in 2016. I won on time eventually to take the title (easy opening to play fast!) but I missed a wonderful tactic here that would have been a more fitting way to end the game. Can you find white's knock-out move?
Attacking idea 2 - Pawn-storm to fence in the bishop on g7
Even without the heavy pieces, pawn advances can cause black serious problems as he runs out of space on the kingside. Here's an extreme example.
If you can use pawns to block in the g7 bishop, you don't actually need to win with a direct attack. Black's essentially a piece down at that point and any ending should be good for white.
Attacking idea 3 - Space advantage on the center and queenside
Although white's piece placement in the Botvinnik lines is similar to the Closed Sicilian, we're not fully committing to kingside play here. White has a space advantage in the center and can play for advantage on any part of the board. This opening typically isn't about kingside play against a queenside initiative. Whoever plays better, may well dominate the whole board. When black thinks early activity on the queenside will pay off, you can be ready for him.
This next one is bullet, but shows that even GM Mamedyarov can struggle to place his pieces on the black side.
Attacking idea 3 -Unleash the g2 bishop.
The g2 bishop frequently spends a long time blocked in by the e4 pawn in this setup, but you should always be on the lookout for it to escape. A lot of my opponents have missed a free pawn on b7 even in longer time controls.
In my first classical tournament game in this line the bishop didn't come out until near the end, but you'll find some lines where I could have activated it earlier in the notes. Note black's consistent problems on the dark squares throughout this game.
What to watch out for - Don't lose control of d4.
Here's black's dream setup in this system
In my first over the board blitz tournament with the English I mixed up my move order and reached a position very similar to this one. Black's already doing well and then I blundered with the sloppy move h3, allowing Bxh3! White can't recapture because of Nf3+ and I soon lost.
Fortunately, white should be able to avoid this specific position by making sure that he always has Be3 played in time to support d4 before black can control it with Ne6.
Here's a more complicated game, where GM Grischuk was able to dominate d4 against me. He blundered a perpetual later, but black was better throughout the game. Again, I don't really recommend playing this line until black has committed the king's knight to f6. When it's on e7, it's easy for black to put one knight on d4 and back it up with another on c6.
Move order notes
The Botvinnik setup is most effective with the opening moves 1. c4 2.Nc3 3.e4. I recommend it against 1...c5, 1...Nf6 and 1..g6. It's less effective against an early e5 for black followed by Nf6, when the bishop can still come out to either b4 or c5. After black's played g6, then he has fewer options and e4 makes more sense. That said, Carlsen didn't mind going for the setup with a black bishop on e4, so it's totally playable. I also don't suggest playing e4 when black hasn't committed to Nf6 yet, although it's not worse for white and I'll occasionally venture it in fast games. The main downside is that you can reach totally symmetrical positions.
Another key idea is that black will frequently play Nf6-e8-c7-e6. It's a long plan but a logical way to dominate the d4 square. You want to always be ready to meet Nc7 with d3-d4 so that you can fight for d4 too.
Summary
The Botvinnik set-up is easy to learn and gives white good attacking chances, particularly in fast time controls. As you can see above I've done well in fast time control games against players who are typically much stronger than I am. You want to make sure to keep each of the above ideas in mind when you play because black can focus on defending against most of these ideas, but it's difficult to prevent all of them at once if white stays flexible.
Want more?
If you liked this blog you can find more of my work in a couple places.
I have a video on active piece play
here.
You can find my book
here. All profits from the book go to support the children of the late Sevan Muradian.
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