Time For The Tarrasch

One of the tricky things about chess is that there are tons of move orders to deal with. You might feel comfortable with 1...e5 against the English, but what happens if White plays 1.Nf3? You might like the Benko Gambit, but you're only going to get it if White plays 1.d4 and 2.c4. If not, you're out of luck. That's one of the reasons I just released a course, along with GM Josh Friedel, on an opening I've been playing for 25 years, the Tarrasch Defense. With the Tarrasch Defense you have a setup that works against literally every opening except for 1.e4.

The Tarrasch features a plan with pawns on d5, e6 and c5 against anything White throws at you.

Most of the time Black will get an isolated d-pawn, which could eventually be weak in the endgame, but for most of the game gives Black active pieces and a strong initiative. I've been playing the lines in the course for years and having a great time! Notice that if Black stays active the isolated d-pawn is more of a strength than a weakness.

I found some great improvements for Black when researching the course. 11...Bc5 here is one of my favorites and I've won several games with it recently.

This was another fun example.

If this sort of play looks fun, please check out our course, Starting Out: Tarrasch and let us know what you think. I'm also happy to answer any questions here. Thanks for reading!