Tarrasch Defense

Tarrasch Defense
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
e6 black pawn
c5 black pawn
d5 black pawn
c4 white pawn
d4 white pawn
c3 white knight
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
g1 white knight
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
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Moves 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5
ECO D32–D34
Named after Siegbert Tarrasch
Parent Queen's Gambit Declined

The Tarrasch Defense is a chess opening characterized by the moves:

1. d4 d5
2. c4 e6
3. Nc3 c5

The Tarrasch is a variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

With his third move, Black makes an aggressive bid for central space. After White plays cxd5 and dxc5, Black will be left with an isolated pawn on d5. Such a pawn may be weak, since it can no longer be defended by other pawns, but it grants Black a foothold in the center, and Black's bishops will have unobstructed lines for development.

The opening was advocated by the German master Siegbert Tarrasch, who contended that the increased mobility Black enjoys is well worth the inherent weakness of the isolated center pawn. Although many other masters, after the teachings of Wilhelm Steinitz, rejected the Tarrasch Defense out of hand because of the pawn weakness, Tarrasch continued to play his opening while rejecting other variations of the Queen's Gambit, even to the point of putting question marks on routine moves in all variations except the Tarrasch (which he awarded an exclamation mark) in his book Die moderne Schachpartie. (See chess punctuation.)

The Tarrasch Defense is considered sound. Even if Black fails to make use of his mobility and winds up in an inferior endgame, tied to the defense of his isolated pawn, he may be able to hold the draw if he defends accurately.

In the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, the Tarrasch Defense has codes D32 through D34.


Main line: 4. cxd5 exd5 5. Nf3 Nc6 6. g3 Nf6

abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
f8 black rook
g8 black king
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
e7 black bishop
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
c6 black knight
f6 black knight
c5 black pawn
d5 black pawn
d4 white pawn
c3 white knight
f3 white knight
g3 white pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white bishop
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
f1 white rook
g1 white king
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.g3 Nf6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.O-O O-O

In the main line, White will isolate Black's queen pawn with 4. cxd5 exd5 and attempt to exploit its weakness. The most common setup is to fianchetto his king's bishop in order to put pressure on the isolated d5-pawn, as 3...c5 has relinquished the possibility of protecting the point d5 by means of ...c6.

After 4.cxd5, Black may offer the Hennig-Schara Gambit with 4...cxd4. While this was once essayed by Alekhine, it has never achieved popularity at master level and is considered good for White.

On his third move White often plays 3.Nf3 instead (in part to avoid the Hennig-Schara), which after 3...c5 4.cxd5 exd5 5.Nc3 transposes to the main line.

7. Bg2 Be7 8. 0-0 0-0

In modern praxis, 9.Bg5 is most frequently played here, though there are other ideas of note, 9.dxc5 and 9.b3 being the main alternatives. (Other lines are 9.Be3, 9.Bf4, and 9.a3.)

Swedish Variation

abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
c6 black knight
d5 black pawn
c4 black pawn
d4 white pawn
c3 white knight
f3 white knight
g3 white pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
e2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Swedish Variation: 6...c4

The Swedish Variation (also called the Folkestone Variation) is a sharp line beginning 6... c4. Black now has a four to three queenside pawn majority, and will try to expand with ...b5, with White aiming for a central break with e4. The line is considered somewhat dubious, and is rarely seen nowadays.

The Swedish Variation has ECO code D33.

See also

References

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