Should they ban the Berlin in chess tournaments?

In round 12 of the 2022 Candidates Tournament we saw yet another draw in GM-level tournament chess using the ‘drawing weapon’ the Berlin Defense, played by 2nd place hopeful Hikaru Nakamura against tournament leader Ian Nepomniatchi which ended in a draw after only 7mins causing many people once again calling for a ban on the Berlin Defense. So how is the Berlin Defense such an effective drawing weapon and why do people want it banned?

What is the Berlin?

The Berlin, was a Chess Opening thought to be bad for 100 years until a russian player, Vladimir Kramnik, famously revived it in the 2000 World Championship against Garry Kasparov. It arises from the starting moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6

How did their game play out?

In his YouTube analysis video Nakamura says he plays 1…e5 in response to Nepomniachtchi’s 1.e4 hoping he’d play the Italian Game (2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4) but, unsurprisingly to Nakamura, Nepomniachtchi instead plays the Spanish Opening not taking any chances. Nepomniachtchi then castles, Nakamura takes on e4 with the knight, Nepomniachtchi plays d4, Nakamura move 5…Nd6 attacking the bishop on b5 and then Nepomniachtchi takes on e5 (6. dxe5) essentially forcing a draw. So Nakamura takes the bishop, Nepomniachtchi plays a4 trapping the knight as it has no safe squares to move to and is being attacked, so Nakamura moves it to d4, Nepomniachtchi takes with his knight, Nakamura then trades knights on d4. He then plays pawn to d5 (9…d5) and here again he hoped to avoid the draw hoping Nepomniachtchi would avoid taking on d6 just as Grischuk had done when Nakamura played this with him, however Nepomniachtchi does take using the en passant rule, Nakamura takes back and Nepomniachtchi plays 11. Qe4+ forcing a repetition and drawing the game.

chess.com/events/2022-fide-candidates-chess-tournament/12/Nepomniachtchi_Ian-Nakamura_Hikaru 

Why is this position a forced draw?

Almost all openings starting 1. e4 e5 result in a draw with ‘perfect play’, the symmetry of the position often means that it takes a series of mistakes from black for white to achieve something substantial.

The end position in the Berlin draw has not much to play for. White’s options besides the three-fold repetition (draw) are to exchange queens or white can avoid the Queen trade with 11.Qe3+ instead of 11.Qe4+. both strategies are risky since Black is still able to develop easily and claim a small bishop pair advantage. Black options are also not good since their development is severely lagging and also their king is stuck in the middle with both central files totally open. Their only alternative options to defend, other than offering a queen trade, are some lines like 11…Be7, but this position is better for white without anything to play for.

So in the final position, draw is somewhat forced. You can only avoid it by accepting a lesser position.

What are white & black’s last chances to deviate from this opening line?

If white wants to avoid the line then they choose the more popular move 6. Bxc6. This line is so heavily theorised though that a draw is a common result in the ending also.

For black their last chance to deviate from the line is the move 7... d6 (as attempted in Nakamura-Carlsen CCT2020), however at this level, they often decide with black a draw is just a good result.

Is the Berlin the only position used as a “drawing weapon” in chess?

No, before Kramnik revived it, players used to use the Petroff to draw with black.

Why was it played?

According to Nakamura he was in a difficult position because in order to win the tournament by overtaking the leader, Nepomniachtchi, his opponent in this game who already had a 2 points lead on him in the standings, he would need to beat him then hope that Nepomniachtchi would then lose at least one more of his remaining two rounds which was a tall order. 

From Nepomniachtchi’s side he only wanted a draw and if Nakamura played for the win then Nepomniachtchi would be playing safe moves as white forcing him to play an extremely risky opening such as the Sicilian which in the past has not worked out well for other players playing as black in similar situations, needing a win against an opponent who’s playing to draw, eg. Anatoly Karpov who lost to Nigel Short in the final game of the 1992 Candidates Tournament with the Sicilian Richter-Rauzer ,Vladimir Kramnik who lost to Vishy Anand in game 11 of the 2008 World Championship with the Sicilian Najdorf, and also Fabiano Caruana who lost to Sergey Karjakin in their final tiebreaker playoff game in the 2016 Candidates tournament with the Sicilian Richter-Rauzer.

Also Nepomniachtchi had been playing very well in the tournament and was obviously well prepared leading up and also from the 2021 World Championship Match against Magnus Carlsen meant that Nakamura’s chance of winning in the Sicilian were even lower.

However because of the statements Magnus Carlsen had made about not playing in the next World Championship unless it was against Alireza Firouzja, which no longer was possible, that meant that 2nd place would get a “backdoor chance” at playing in the next World Championship match. So rather than risk playing for a win with the challenging Sicilian opening against a well prepared Nepomniachtchi where the risk of losing was high and hence allowed Ding Liren to leapfrog him in the standings to 2nd place and steal that other World Championship spot, he should instead play for a draw.

So that’s why in the game when facing Nepomniachtchi’s opening move 1.e4 he chose to avoid playing the Sicilian with 1…c5 and instead play for the draw hoping to get that “backdoor chance” at playing in the next World Championship match.

Why is it bad for chess?

I think the concern is if GM's could memorise and perfect a forced draw from move one, then chess would no longer exist at the professional level. Chess would become less popular but possibly still played a lot for fun at lower levels. Yet again, the same thing would happen.

So what conclusions can we make of all this?

The Berlin is not the only opening which players use as a drawing weapon in chess so to ban it would not prevent players using others, unfortunately we can’t just cherry pick, we must accept the whole package. One solution already incorporated in the Norwegan Chess tournament is to award a player with 2 points rather than the traditional 1 point for a win which encourages players to avoid drawing matches (even with black) and play for additional point. Here the risk is worth the reward.

This whole thing was a complete waste of time though since Nakamura later proceeded to lose the final round, playing as black again, against the very player he was attempting to steal 2nd place from, Ding Liren. Perhaps he should have played the Berlin against Ding too!