The #PubChessBluffer was in full-on pub chess mode last night at a bar called Southern Cross , which is in the middle of Hiroshima, Japan.
The Bird Invitation
In one of the games I played with the black pieces, the opening moves were: 1.e4 e6 2. Bb5, which prevents the French Defence player’s ideal move of 2. …d5 as the d pawn is pinned to the King by the Bishop of b5.
This is known as the Bird Invitation after it was used as an innovation by Henry Edward Bird in a game against Maximilian Fleissig, which Bird won, in 1873.
If you are playing chess as Black, one solid way to respond if White opens with 1.e5 is 1…e6, the French Defence.
1. e4 d4 – the opening moves of the French Defence
As W. R. Hartston notes in The (now out of print) Penguin Book of Chess Openings, by playing 1. …e6,
Black announces his intention of playing [2]… PQ4 [d4], which White can hardly prevent.
The Penguin Book of Chess Openings, p. 136
How White might try to prevent Black from moving 2…. d4, and how Black can frustrate those attempts will be the topic of another blog post. Check it out here! (Ed.)
Heading Towards The Classical Variation…
The key tip in today’s blog post assumes a more classical development in the next two moves in the French Defence and looks at what to do if White develops his Bishop to g5 in the fourth move.
Simon Williams, aka “The Ginger GM,” has just published couple of videos and a 6-hour DVD about the Jobava London opening. It’s a relatively easy chess opening to learn as the White player because you almost always make the same two or three opening moves. That makes life a bit less complicated than is the case with other opening systems, which is why it might be the best chess opening for beginners playing white.
You may not have heard of the “Jobava London” opening, and that would be no surprise. The name for the opening has only just been coined by the Ginger GM himself for his new DVD about the opening.
As Simon explains,
It’s an opening which I’ve been very interested in for the last five years since I saw some top games by Baadur Jobava. He used this opening to beat some of the best players in the world. … I coined the name because I thought it should be named after the man himself because he’s the world’s leading practitioner.
Ginger GM: https://youtu.be/bPLrXjQyNFQ
Here’s the first of the Ginger GM’s two YouTube videos on the Jobava London opening:
Actually, most of the theory behind this chess opening moves video training and blog post is taken from A Strategic Chess Repertoire for White – it’s an excellent guide to anybody who favours the Queen’s Pawn openings and is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LPDCaf .
After 3. cxd5 Black has several options but I confine the video and this blog post to just ONE response, 3… Nxd5.
Finding the best starting moves in chess with W. R. Hartston’s Chess Openings & a can of Kirin Ichiban Shibori beer.
In searching for the best starting moves in chess, White is confronted with twenty possible first moves. White may move any one of his eight pawns one or two spaces forward. White may also move either of his knights onto the third row, to a3, c3, f3 or h3.
Of those twenty possibilities, the best starting moves in chess are those that attack the centre or help development. So forget about starting with your flanking pawns.
Also, do not start by moving one of your knights to the edge of the board.
e4 and d4: The Two Best Starting Moves in Chess
There are two options that most people agree are the best starting moves in chess. They are 1.e4 and 1.d4. That is, White begins by moving either the king’s pawn or the queen’s pawn two spaces forward. In either case, white is attacking the centre and preparing to develop his pieces.
The starting moves, 1.e4 and 1.d4 dominate opening theory. The Penguin Book of Chess Openings devotes 209 of the 252 pages of the book to those starting moves.
Why 1.d4… 2c4 Are The Best Starting Moves In Chess For White
