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Chances are, you have something better to do than to study openings all day (or at least something you have to do, like work). Many players deal with this time shortage in the wrong way. They employ an array of trick openings that blow up in their face if the opponent is on the ball, or they play anti-positional junk just to get the game out of theory. Good news for you people: You can play sound, principled chess without learning 25 moves of theory. Follow my “Opening Shortcuts” and you will develop weapons of chess destruction.

The Black (or Two) Knights Tango is a Queen Pawn Defense that borders on mainstream acceptance. It often leads to mainstream Nimzo-Indian or Bogo-Indian positions (hey, it’s a shortcut, it’s not a free lunch), but also trips up unsuspecting victims. The first few moves are: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6!?

WHAT, NO PAWN MOVES?

I certainly didn’t invent this stuff, and I saw Yermolinsky and Orlov trot it out before me (now you can steal from me as I stole from them). But I have had very good results, and have realized a few things along the way:

1) Opponents under 2200 tend to be a bit confused. They aren’t programmed to meet this move; they can’t pull something out of their repertoire. [Though if they are reading this stuff too, they will be more ready next time] Opponents who favor playing into the Nimzo-Indian are likely to respond 3.Nc3. Though this is a perfectly good move (Karpov played it once), I do not believe it is the best one. Black is able to hit in the center straight off with 3…e5. After 3.d5 (3.Nf3 exd4 4.Nxd4 Bb4 is a position from the English, but if the guy wanted to play the English, he would have opened with 1.c4) 3…Ne7 4.e4 (the cunning 4.h4 can be met by the surprising 4…Neg8!?; the knight will return to e7 after the bishop is developed) 4…Ng6 the knight has been conveniently redeployed, with the bishop set to follow on the next move to c5 or b4. White cannot prevent both of these moves. If Black should swap his dark-square bishop (highly likely), he will have a dark square pawn structure with light squared bishops on the board. White will have a light square pawn structure with a light squared bishop. If you haven’t taken Pawn Structure 101 at Positional U., this is GOOD FOR BLACK. [Now read one of Jeremy’s books]  Black also has an eventual break with …f7-f5, while White may not have the same counterplay on the other side. Here is a practical example:

Stephen Brudno-Joel Benjamin [A50]

U.S. Open Framingham, 2001

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.d5 Ne7 5.e4 Ng6 6.Be3 Bb4 7.f3 Bxc3+

This is important: DO NOT hang your bishop with 7…d6 8.Qa4+.

8.bxc3 d6 9.c5

This undoubles White’s pawns before Black can fix them, but now Black actually gets play on that side, too.

9…0-0 10.Bd3 Nd7 11.cxd6 cxd6 12.Ne2 Qa5 13.0-0 Nc5 14.Bc4 Bd7 15.Bb3 Rac8 16.g3 f5 17.Bc2 fxe4 18.fxe4 Rxf1+ 19.Kxf1 Bh3+ 20.Kg1 Rf8 21.Qd2

BLACK TO MOVE AND WIN

21…Qxa2!

I confess, I had seen this before. But it’s still a good one.

22.Re1 Qc4 23.Bf2 a5 24.Nc1 Rf3 25.Ne2 a4 26.Qg5 Nxe4, 0-1.

While White’s play was not particularly strong, it was plausible. In fact, the position after move 21 is identical to Spiller-Orlov, Los Angeles 1991 (A few extra moves were played in my game). The finish there was a bit more aesthetic – 22.Rb1 Qxb1+ (actually move nineteen) 0-1.

But even a stronger player can be unnerved by the Tango. Witness how a Women’s World Champion is brutally assaulted by Larry Christiansen:

Zhu Chen (2535) – Larry Christiansen (2565) [A50]

US-China Summit, Seattle USA, 2001

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nc3 e5 4.d5 Ne7 5.g3

“Hey Joel, isn’t my knight on g6 stupid now? You call that ‘conveniently redeployed’?”  Relax, it’s not the end of the world. Read on.

5…Ng6 6.Bg2 Bc5 7.e3

Now Zhu Chen shuts down another piece. Is Larry getting positionally refuted? [Not that he would care; he would checkmate her anyway, somehow] No – the White position isn’t active enough to really trouble Black. Note that the c1-bishop, an important piece in this structure, now has nothing to do.

7…0-0 8.Nge2 a6

Not only preserving his bishop, but preparing active play on the queenside. Zhu Chen reacts too optimistically.

9.0-0 d6 10.Bd2

Perhaps 10.a3, 11.b4 and 12.Bb2 would be a better plan.

10…Bd7 11.Rb1 b5 12.b4 Bb6 13.a4 bxc4 14.a5 Ba7 15.b5 axb5 16.Nxb5 Bf5 17.Ra1 Bc5 18.Nec3 Bd3 19.e4

WHAT WOULD LARRY DO?

19…Qd7!

If Black grabbed the exchange, White would get back a pawn and have fair compensation.

20.Re1 Rfb8 21.Qa4 Ng4 22.Be3 Nxe3 23.fxe3 h5!

Larry sure has a flair for attacking. He should write a book about it, or something.

24.Bf1 h4 25.Bxd3 cxd3 26.Kg2 hxg3 27.hxg3 d2 28.Re2 Qg4 29.Rh1 Nf4+!

This very pretty sacrifice collapses White’s position.

30.exf4 exf4 31.Rxd2 Qxg3+ 32.Kf1 Qf3+ 33.Ke1 Qxh1+, 0-1.

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