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English Opening: Beating The Popular 4 Bc5 System
English Opening: Beating The Popular 4 Bc5 System
Bc5 System
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The English Opening is one of whites most solid start choices. It usually leads to closed
positions with very few exchanges on the board. The battle is tense from the very beginning and
there arent much forced lines for any side. In his prime, Garry Kasparov used the English
Opening quite often, achieving remarkable wins and doing a great contribution to the theory of
this opening.
The fact that this was the main choice of Kasparov reveals that the move 1.c4 is also full of
dynamism and opportunities of developing an aggressive game against black. If we look into the
obscure, secondary lines of this opening, away from the main recommendations, we can find
very interesting plans with excellent chances to set up difficult problems for our opponents. This
is the subject of the present article, as we are going to discuss one non standard way to deal with
the popular system in which black plays 4Bc5.
This development has become very popular in recent years. The idea for black is easy, to develop
all his pieces in a logical way, then aim for ruptures on b5 or d5, depending on how the game
goes. However, there are some drawbacks to this, the main one being the position of blacks dark
squares bishop that often ends up burried on a7. In fact, the main idea that has been suggested
for white is to build a strong pawn chain with a3-b4-e3-d4, gaining space and restricting the
bishop to the maximum.This is one way to play it.
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Another interesting idea for white is the rupture f2-f4. This plan is less known, however we rate
it very highly. Even if, objectively, it is not the best in terms of safety and control of the game,
the practical problems that it presents for black makes it worth playing. White opens the F file
against all forecast in order to start an attack on the kingside.
There are couple of points to keep in consideration when executing this idea:
White leaves the pawn on d2 (This one is obvious. After playing f2-f4, the e3 pawn is
supported best by another pawn rather than a piece.)
If black captures on f4, always recapture with a piece, it can be either knight or
rook. (In chess, the word always should never be taken literally, but you get the point)
The hidden assassin. Or, in other words, whites bishop on b2. Its one of the key pieces
on the position and we can say that freeing the a1-h8 diagonal is another main goal that
white wants to achieve with the f2-f4 pawn break.
The theory of this system is not too well developed yet. However, there have been already quite a
few interesting games and we are sure many more will follow.
In Granda,J-Castellanos,R Benasque 2006, white applied this idea quite fast and without much
preparation, achieving a very interesting position. See all the details in the game below.
This is the standard development for white and perhaps the most dangerous for black. White
plays with maximum flexibility, keeping all his options open.
We can see whites idea in action in the game between Movsesian and Soors. He played Nd5
first, then f4, achieving advantage on both flanks.
Our next game simply shows the amazing attack that can emerge if black is not careful. Here,
GM Potkin finishes the game in style with a beautiful rook sacrifice.
We hope you have enjoyed reading this article and the ideas presented here will serve you in
your practice. Good luck!
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