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Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c6/2. d4/2...d5/3. Nc3/3...dxe4/4. Nxe4/4...Nd7

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Smyslov/Karpov Variation
a b c d e f g h
8a8 black rookb8 black kingc8 black bishopd8 black queene8 black kingf8 black bishopg8 black knighth8 black rook8
7a7 black pawnb7 black pawnc7 black kingd7 black knighte7 black pawnf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawn7
6a6 black kingb6 black kingc6 black pawnd6 black kinge6 black kingf6 black kingg6 black kingh6 black king6
5a5 black kingb5 black kingc5 black kingd5 black kinge5 black kingf5 black kingg5 black kingh5 black king5
4a4 black kingb4 black kingc4 black kingd4 white pawne4 white knightf4 black kingg4 black kingh4 black king4
3a3 black kingb3 black kingc3 black kingd3 black kinge3 black kingf3 black kingg3 black kingh3 black king3
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 white pawnd2 black kinge2 black kingf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 black kingc1 white bishopd1 white queene1 white kingf1 white bishopg1 white knighth1 white rook1
a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN)
Moves: 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7

Smyslov/Karpov Variation

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4...Nd7

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By developing his Knight rather than the Bishop, Black aims to trade for White's central Knight, without compromising his pawn structure.

At one time named after the first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, nowadays the variation is more often referred to as the Smyslov Variation after the seventh world champion Vasily Smyslov who played a number of notable games with it, or the Karpov Variation, after the twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov, in whose repertoire it appeared quite often. The short-term goal of 4...Nd7 is to ease development by the early exchange of a pair of Knights without compromising the structural integrity of his position. Play is similar to the Classical Variation except that Black has more freedom by delaying the development of his bishop, and is not forced to play it to the g6 square. However, this freedom comes at a cost as White enjoys added freedom in taking up space in the center, and often plays the aggressive 5.Ng5!? where Black's development is brought into question as well as the positional weakness of the f7-square. The famous last game of the Deep Blue-Garry Kasparov rematch where Kasparov committed a known blunder and lost was played in this very line.

Theory table

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For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation..

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7

5 6
Nf3
Ngf6
Nxf6
Nxf6
+=
Bc4
Ngf6
Ng5
e6
=
Ng5
Ngf6
Bc4
e6
=
Bd3
Ngf6
Ng5
e6
=
Ne2
Ngf6
N2g3
Nxe4
=
c3
Ngf6
Nxf6
Nxf6
=
Qe2?!

Ndf6

Nf3

Nxe4

=

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References

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  • Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.