The Classic Defense

There are three major variations to the classic opening. This is probably the best for white. I will go through them step-by-step. The classic opening goes as so: 1. e4, e5 2. Nf3, Nc6 3. Bc4.

The first variation goes by the name, "Fried Liver" or "Fegatello" attack. This is better known as the two knights defense. If you set this up on your board, you will see what happens is not very safe for black. 3...Nf3. You must understand the fried liver attack in order to understand why there are variations. All of these variations are for avoiding the fried liver attack.

The set-up for the Fried Liver Attack

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Some of the quickest checkmates in history are done with this simple move: 4. Ng5. You will notice that there is only one way to defend f7: 4...d5. This threatens the white bishop. Your immediate reaction should be 5. pxp.

Position reached after white's move 5

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Most people that you play will not find this move because they are so anxious to retake the pawn, but black has a way out by playing 5...Na5. Instead, more commonly, black plays 5...Nxp. White has two Fried Liver Attack choices: to take on f7 right away (you will soon see why) or to push a pawn for quite a few reasons. We will start with 6. d4. Once again, black will be eager to take, but he can still get out of it. Getting out of it won't help him much at this point (one move too late) if white plays his best. If Nxp, c3 wins white a knight. But if 6...pxp, white gets a checkmate or a rook for a knight.

Position reached after black's move 6

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White has just accepted the gambited pawn, but will get it back immediately. White plays 7. Nxf7. What? What the heck is white doing? But wait, there is a trick. After 7...KxN, white plays Qf3+!! This is where the gambited pawn and knight cash in. If Kg8, checkmate in 3 moves by taking the knight. But if Ke6 to try to save the knight, it will result in checkmate. Play these out for yourself. 9. Qe4+, Kd6 10. QxN+, Ke7 11. Bg5+, Ke8 12. Qf7#

The second variation goes by the name, the Berlin Defense. You start out with the same basic moves: 1. e4, e5 2. Nf3, Nc6 3. Bc4, h6. This is for people scared of the Fried Liver Attack. They push a lousy pawn to make sure the knight doesn't go to g5. However, this is relatively easy to beat. If you play this game right, you normally win within 20-30 moves. One of the best things you can do here is castle queenside. If you play it right, a hole will be open in a pseudo-powerful spot. Black will try to go after the queenside defense. However, this distracts his pieces and lets your queen and rook to double up to get a checkmate on him. Plus, the attacks on your queenside should be very easy to parry.

The Berlin Defense

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The Berlin Defense is as shown on the left with white to move. The best thing to play here is a variation of the Scotch Game. White should play 4. d4. The best thing for black to do is take: 4...pxp. The follow-up is of course 5. Nxp. This is where the other variations of this can kick in, but most commonly played is 5...NxN. Then of course, 6. QxN.

Position reached after white's move 6

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This should be the position you reach after you follow those moves. Now admire this: 2 developed pieces to 0, 1 pawn in the center to 0, and a queen that cannot be nicely chased away. All black has is a bad pawn on h6. It is true that it's his move, though. In cases where the opposing side has neglected development, it is normally good to castle queenside. Not only does it force you to develop your queenside to accomplish this, but it gets your rook in a centralized place where is is backing up your queen. In these games, I normally see a doubled pawn on c6 and a hole on the B rank.

A few moves later (black to move)

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People think that the B rank is a good place to attack the queenside castle. This is normally false! The vulnerable spot on the queenside castle is the A rank. It is normally good to have that pawn pushed to a3. After a few moves, the game should look like this on the left. White is clearly ahead in development, black can't move his light bishop or white moves Qxpb7. Black has no square to put the knight on, black's queen is useless because it needs to stay to defend check on f7, and worst of all, black cannot castle yet. The reason you develop your pieces is to attack the uncastled king. This is a perfect opportunity for white to attack.

This is the Bishop Variation. This is the most common and least dangerous for black, but if you know what to do, you can knock it down. There are many attacks on it including the Evan's Gambit, The Italian Game, and many uncommon variations. The Bishop Variation is shown below. It goes 1. e4, e5 2. Nf3, Nc6 3. Bc4, Bc5.

The Bishop Variation

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This is the most common played defense. There are many ways to knock it down. I will first start with the Evan's Gambit. The point of this gambit is to trade a pawn for a pawn center. It goes 4. b4, Bxp 5. c3 (making a pawn lever to swing onto d4), Bc5 6. d4. That is the main line. However, the Evan's Gambit is VERY EASY to defeat if you recognize it and know what you are doing. The whole point of this is to get a pawn center, so what you have to do is not let him. After 4. Bxp 5. c3, do not go Bc5. Instead go to Ba5! This prevents a d pawn push immediately.

Evan's Gambit after black's move 6

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This is what it should look like with white to move. Should he push the d pawn? No!!! If he does, white gets his queen out to early and has two isolated pawns. However, WHite can castle, but the point of the Evan's Gambit is to gain momentum, not slow tdown to have to castle. Black is in an excellent position. Moving on, the other idea is the Giucco Piano or the Italian Game. Giucco Piano literally means the quiet game. This is a very good idea for white. If you look back at the Bishop Variation, you might notice a slight flaw in black's defense. What happens if you push 4. c3 right away without the Evan's gambit? Take a look.

The best option for white

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The flaw in Black's defense is that he cannot prevent white's next move: d4. There are many bizarre variations to this. Commonly, there are horrible responses like a6, h6, d6. The best response for black is to move his knight out 4...Nf6. After that, white's best move is to push 5. d4, pxp 6. pxp, Bb4+ 7. Bd2, Nfxep. White has a sneak attack here. Black thinks that he has won a pawn. This is not so. 8. BxB, NxB 9. Bxf7+! It is an explosion on f7. The logical thing to do is 9...KxB 10. Qb6+! It's a fork! White gambits a bishop and a pawn only to get them right back. (The Italian Game)