Damiano Defence

Damiano Defence
Damiano Defence
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
8  black rook  black knight  black bishop  black queen  black king  black bishop  black knight  black rook 8
7  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black king  black king  black pawn  black pawn 7
6  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black pawn  black king  black king 6
5  black king  black king  black king  black king  black pawn  black king  black king  black king 5
4  black king  black king  black king  black king  white pawn  black king  black king  black king 4
3  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  white knight  black king  black king 3
2  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn  black king  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn 2
1  white rook  white knight  white bishop  white queen  white king  white bishop  black king  white rook 1
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
Moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6
ECO C40
Named after Pedro Damiano
Parent King's Knight Opening
Chessgames.com opening explorer

The Damiano Defence is a chess opening characterized by the opening moves

  1. e4 e5
  2. Nf3 f6?

The ECO code for the Damiano Defence is C40 (King's Knight Opening).

Details

Black's 2...f6? is a weak move that exposes Black's king, weakens Black's kingside and takes away his knight's best square. The moves 3.d4 and 3.Bc4 are strong replies; I.A. Horowitz wrote (substituting algebraic notation for his descriptive notation), "Simple and potent is 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 Nc6 5.c3, after which Black chokes to death."[1]

Most forceful, however, is the knight sacrifice 3.Nxe5![2] Taking the knight with 3...fxe5? exposes Black to a deadly attack after 4.Qh5+ Ke7 (4...g6 loses to 5.Qxe5+, forking king and rook, after which White should have an easy game) 5.Qxe5+ Kf7 6.Bc4+ d5! (6...Kg6?? 7. Qf5+ is devastating and leads to mate shortly after) 7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.h4 (8.d4? Bd6!) h5 9.Bxb7! Bd6 (9...Bxb7 10.Qf5+ Kh6 11.d4+ g5 12.Qf7! mates quickly) 10.Qa5!, when Black's best is 10...Nc6 11.Bxc6 Rb8, and now 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13.Qxa7 leaves White with five extra pawns. Bruce Pandolfini notes that Black's opening is thus sometimes described as "the five pawns gambit".[3] Alternatively, White can continue developing his pieces, remaining four pawns up. In either case, White has a clearly winning position.

Since taking the knight is fatal, after 3.Nxe5 Black should instead play 3...Qe7![4](Other Black third moves, such as 3...d5, lead to 4. Qh5+! g6 5. Nxg6!) After 4.Nf3 (4.Qh5+? g6 5.Nxg6 Qxe4+ 6.Be2 Qxg6 leaves Black ahead a piece for two pawns)[4] Qxe4+ 5.Be2, Black has regained the pawn but has lost time and weakened his kingside, and will lose more time when White chases the queen with Nc3, or 0-0, Re1, and a move by the bishop on e2. Nick de Firmian in Modern Chess Openings analyzes instead 4...d5 5.d3 dxe4 6.dxe4, when White had a small advantage in Schiffers-Chigorin, St. Petersburg 1897.[5]

The fact that Black can only regain the pawn with 3...Qe7! shows that 2...f6? did not really defend the e-pawn at all. Indeed, even a relatively useless but non-weakening move like 2...a6?! would have been less risky than 2...f6?. After 2...a6?! 3.Nxe5, Black could still regain the pawn with 3...Qe7 4.d4 d6, and would not have weakened the king-side and deprived the king knight of its best square.

History

Ironically, the opening is named after the Portuguese master Pedro Damiano (1480–1544), who condemned it as weak. In 1847, Howard Staunton wrote of 2...f6, "This move occurs in the old work of Damiano, who gives some ingenious variations on it. Lopez, and later authors, have hence entitled it 'Damiano's Gambit.' "[6] Staunton's contemporary George Walker instead, more logically, reserved the term "Damiano Gambit" for the knight sacrifice played by White on the third move: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5.[7] Staunton referred to 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6, a highly respected move then and now, as "Damiano's defence to the K. Kt.'s opening".[8]

Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
8  black rook  black knight  black bishop  black queen  black king  black bishop  black knight  black rook 8
7  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black king  black king  black king  black pawn  black king 7
6  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black pawn 6
5  black king  black king  black king  white bishop  white queen  black king  black king  black king 5
4  black king  black king  black king  black king  white pawn  black king  black king  white pawn 4
3  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king 3
2  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn  black king  white pawn  white pawn  black king 2
1  white rook  white knight  white bishop  black king  white king  black king  black king  white rook 1
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
Position after 8...h6. After 9.Bxb7!, 9...Bxb7? falls into 10.Qf5#.

The Damiano Defence is never seen today in top-level play. Perhaps the only chess expert to play the black side of it is Sam Sloan.[9] Sloan plays into the main line (3...fxe5?), hoping that White does not know the line, then plays 8...h6 (see diagram), rather than 8...h5, as analyzed above. White wins material in the same way with 9.Bxb7! Bd6 10.Qa5! Nc6 11.Bxc6 Rb8.[3][10]

The greatest player to play the Damiano in serious master competition was Mikhail Chigorin. As noted above, he played the 3...Qe7 line in a game against Emmanuel Schiffers at Saint Petersburg 1897. Chigorin lost his queen on move 10, but Schiffers played so weakly that Chigorin later missed a brilliant forced mate and only drew.[11] Robert McGregor played the Damiano in a 1964 simultaneous exhibition against Bobby Fischer, essaying 3...Qe7 4.Nf3 d5 5.d3 dxe4 6.dxe4 Qxe4+ 7.Be2 Bf5, and drew, although Fischer did not play the best moves.[12]

References

  1. ^ I.A. Horowitz, Chess Openings: Theory and Practice, Simon and Schuster, 1964, p. 227 n. 31.
  2. ^ Understanding the Chess Openings, Sam Collins, 2005, p. 28.
  3. ^ a b Bruce Pandolfini, Chess Openings: Traps and Zaps, Simon & Schuster, 1989, p. 92. ISBN 0-671-65690-2.
  4. ^ a b Pandolfini 1989, p. 91.
  5. ^ Modern Chess Openings, 15th Edition, Random House Puzzles & Games, 2008, p. 156. ISBN 978-0-8129-3682-7.
  6. ^ Howard Staunton, The Chess-Player's Handbook, Henry C. Bohn, 1847, p. 60.
  7. ^ Walker wrote of the knight sacrifice, "This constitutes the Damiano Gambit." George Walker, The Art of Chess-Play: A New Treatise on the Game of Chess (4th ed. 1846), Sherwood, Gilbert, & Piper, p. 236.
  8. ^ Staunton, p. 64.
  9. ^ Michael Thaler vs Sam Sloan. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2009-04-03.
  10. ^ Tim McGrew, Tactics of Mistake, the Gambit Cartel. Chesscafe.com, 2003. Retrieved on 2009-04-03.
  11. ^ "The Richter riddle". OPEN CHESS DIARY (scroll down to No. 222). http://www.xs4all.nl/~timkr/chess2/diary_12.htm. Retrieved 2006-03-20. 
  12. ^ Bobby Fischer and Damiano's Defense. Chessstuff.blogspot.com. Retrieved on 2009-04-02.

Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать реферат

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Pedro Damiano — Infobox chess player playername = Pedro Damiano caption= birthname = Pedro Damiano country = POR datebirth = 1480 placebirth = Odemira,Portugal datedeath = 1544 placedeath =Pedro Damiano (in Portuguese, Pedro Damião; Damiano is the Italian form,… …   Wikipedia

  • Chess theory — The game of chess is commonly divided into three phases: the opening, middlegame, and endgame.[1] As to each of these phases, especially the opening and endgame, there is a large body of theory as how the game should be played. Those who write… …   Wikipedia

  • Index of chess articles — Contents 1 Books 2 General articles 2.1 0–9 2.2 A …   Wikipedia

  • Göttingen manuscript — The Göttingen manuscript is the earliest known work devoted entirely to modern chess. It is a Latin text of 33 leaves held at the University of Göttingen. A quarto parchment manuscript of 33 leaves, ff. 1–15a are a discussion of twelve chess… …   Wikipedia

  • List of chess openings — This is a list of chess openings, organized by the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO) code. In 1966, Chess Informant categorized the chess openings into five broad areas ( A through E ), with each of those broken down into one hundred… …   Wikipedia

  • Outline of chess — A game of chess, in the starting position. See also: Glossary of chess and Index of chess articles The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess: Chess – two player board game played on a chessboard, a square …   Wikipedia

  • King's Knight Opening — Chess diagram|= tright| = rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd|= pd|pd|pd|pd| |pd|pd|pd|= | | | | | | | |= | | | |pd| | | |= | | | |pl| | | |= | | | | |nl| | |= pl|pl|pl|pl| |pl|pl|pl|= rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl| |rl|=|The King s Knight Opening is a chess opening… …   Wikipedia

  • Open Game — a b c d e f …   Wikipedia

  • Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry — Badge of the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry Active …   Wikipedia

  • Aperturas de ajedrez — Anexo:Aperturas de ajedrez Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Esta es una lista de aperturas de ajedrez, organizada por el código Enciclopedia de aperturas de ajedrez (ECO). En 1966, el Informador ajedrecístico categorizó las aperturas de ajedrez en… …   Wikipedia Español

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”