The defense of two horses in chess is one of the most popular openings today. This is an old open debut. The first records found were made by Italy's largest chess player and theorist of the 16th-17th centuries Polerio, who was considered the most powerful in Rome. Due to the numerous possibilities of the two sides, the debut to this day is often found even at the professional level of the chess game. It was used with great success by the strongest chess players of different eras. Contribution to the development of the debut was made by Mikhail Chigorin.
Debut Features
Its advantage is that since the beginning of the game Black has been trying to seize the initiative, in some cases even donating material. When playing most of the options for protecting two horses on the board, complex double-edged positions are obtained in which either side can easily get an advantage. Analytical analysis has been devoted to this beginning for several centuries. Some of the modern options worked out on 25 moves.
The theory of defense of two horses
It starts with the movement of the white pawn on e4. The opponent answers the same on e5. In the second move, White makes a logical maneuver with the knight on f3, immediately attacking the pawn that has just entered the game. Black defends her, taking his mount to c6, developing a piece along the way. On the third move, White leads the white-squared bishop to c4, preparing to castling the king in the short direction, and Black develops the second knight, leading him to f6. This ends the defense of the two horses.
Continuation of Kf3 - Kg5
There are different options for protecting two horses, but this one is probably the oldest that is still being played. With this maneuver, White is trying to exploit the weakness of f7. There may be different continuations, but the main thing is the pawn move on d5. In this move, Black blocks the diagonal for the white-field officer, thereby prohibiting White from immediately attacking f7.
The fifth move, White takes the d5-pawn of his own, attacking the knight at the same time, and Black takes him to a5, counterattacking the White's bishop. Then the officer checks the king with b5, and Black blocks the way, taking the pawn to c6. In the seventh move, White takes the c6-pawn with d5, and the opponent, in turn, takes its counterpart from the opposite camp with the b7-pawn, while attacking the white bishop. Further, the best retreat for the officer is point e2.
Black immediately offers the enemy horse to decide on a new parking lot by attacking him with a pawn from h6. The white knight retreats to f3, and Black immediately attacks again by moving the pawn to e4. On the tenth move, he has to do the fourth maneuver in the game, which adversely affects the development of chess player figures. He takes up a new parking lot at point e5, and Black takes the dark-squared bishop to c4, taking aim at the weakened point f2, which covers the enemy commander.
The computer evaluates this position in the defense of two knights as equal, but everything changes in one wrong move by White, because they are far behind in development, and Black, on the contrary, has no problems. The figures are active, they have space for further maneuvers and the ability to attack the king in the future. White has an extra pawn.
Gambit Ponziani - Steinitz
A very sharp continuation, in which Black, on the fourth move, instead of defending the diagonal from the white-winged bishop of White and point f7, counterattacks White, taking the pawn to e4. On the fifth move, there are three main options for the development of the party:
- White can take Black's knight with his own and offer Black to go on a d5-pawn with the ability to play the piece back.
- They can take on e7 an elephant that will declare a check to the black king and will be invulnerable, which will force him to move and lose his castling.
- Or a greedy option is to take the knight to f7 with the further plan to win quality over the opponent. But this option is the most dangerous, because Black, leading the queen to h4, starts a dangerous counterplay.
It is necessary to play the defense of two knights for white carefully, because one wrong maneuver can make your position defenseless.
Option with taking a pawn with a knight on f7 in the gambit Ponziani - Steinitz
White takes the pawn to f7, and Black takes the queen to h4, threatening obscenities! The naked eye, not knowing the theory in this position, can choose from good moves, the most greedy of which is to pick up a rook with a horse, which cannot be done because of the mat described above. If White takes the queen to e2, Black places the second horse on d5, threatening with a fork on c2.
The best seventh move in this variation is for g3 with a queen counterattack, after which Black goes to exchange the queens, taking away the enemy. After this there is a series of simple moves, during which the opponents take one rook from each other. As a result, both have one heavy piece, three light each, and Black has one extra pawn and an advantage in position.
Variant of the Gambit Ponziani - Steinitz with the capture of a horse on e4
The most reliable continuation of this gambit. You simply take away the enemy horse with yours, after which the opponent moves the pawn to d5, declaring a fork for you, and you are forced to leave one of your easy pieces. Today the computer shows that it is necessary to take this pawn as an officer in order to get a better position. Material equality and approximate equality in position will remain on the board. Thus, Black simplifies the game by removing a couple of easy pieces from the board, and gets a good and easy position for further play. After poking d5, you can declare a check with f6, forcing you to take your knight and double your pawns along the f line, while retaining your strong white-field officer. He will have an extra pawn, but it will be doubled, and weaknesses will appear in his camp due to the new structure.
Playing defense of two knights for Black is very convenient. Especially if the opponent is poorly versed in theory. If you like a sharp attacking game that starts from the very beginning of the game, with mutual chances, then this debut will suit you. But before you start using it, it's best to learn the theory, at least for five to ten moves.