1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 Bg4

[James Pratt]

What justification is there for calling 1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 Bg4 after Tartakower? Who has played it most? It might even be Tony Miles. Keene/Levy give this label with Old Indian in 'An Opening Repetoire for the Attacking CP', an influential book in its time.


http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/chessparrot/



James Pratt (Basingstoke!)

[James Coleman]

Interesting, I always thought that was called the Wade Defence !

[Jon Mahony]

IM Andrew Martin does refer to this as the Wade Defence, on his DVD on the Czech Pirc (not one of his best efforts – he compleatly misses out the fact that White can play an early h6, stopping several of his reccomended lines!) but I think I’ve only seen one or two games where Bob actually played it.

The whole thing looks a bit passive to me, personally I’d never play 1...d6 against d4 because you’re opponent doesn’t have to play 2.e4 and what happens then? Attempt to get into a KID I suppose. If you must play a Pirc save it for e4 players

[Roger de Coverly]

The earliest example I can find is Tartokower v Spielmann in 1938. In the fifties and sixties there are a few games on record from Simagin and Stein.

The first British example to have survived to the databases is Fuller v Keene from the British at Coventry in 1970. Recorded examples of Bob Wade playing this defence are later, although I think his name was associated with the line even in 1970.

The sequence 1 d4 d6 was moderately popular in the early seventies, the idea being to either tempt White into a Pirc or an early Nf3 against the Kings Indian. Later it became apparent that the 150 attack was seriously dangerous to Black and it was White that should provoke a Pirc. One of Mark Hebden's sequences goes 1 d4 Nf6 2 Nf3 g6 3 Nc3 Bg7 4 e4 with Be3 and Qd2 to follow.

Tony Miles and Julian Hodgson played it in its Wade defence form from time to time.

[E Michael White]

I have 5500 games after 1 d4 d6 2 Nf3 Bg4. The earliest 3 games are all in 1938 :- Tegelaar v Spielmann , Appel v Tartakover, Tartakover v Spielmann. Which one came first I do not know.

This line was played most often by J M Hodgson 68 times and A Czerwonski 54, all as black. A J Miles played 41 as black and 8 as white.

[John Upham]

New in Chess Yearbook 90 (page 234) has a very recent review of the Wijk aan Zee Defence (as they call it) written by Lars Bo Hansen.
They classify it with the NIC Code of RE20.4 (Rabar A41) coming under the Reti Opening umbrella.

As well as the Wade Defence it has been called the Sidestep Defence by James Plaskett (See Foxy DVD 47)

As played by Nigel Short against Garry Kasparov - 1.d4 d6 2.Nf3 Bg4 is a relatively new system with some high-class adherents. Completely sound, it leads to dynamic and unbalanced middlegames. The defense has the considerable merit of sidestepping standard theory, and is a favorite of Anand and Speelman. GM James Plaskett analyses Black's best plans against all possible White set-ups.

As alluded to previously, Andrew Martin covers the Wade Defence in Foxy Openings Volume 57: Win with 1...d6 Part 2

There is also very good coverage in "An Explosive Chess Opening Repertoire for Black" by Jouni Yrjölä & Jussi Tella in which they refer to the Wade Defence as the Hodgson Variation.

[Ben Purton]

Can I just say that Andrew Martin's Czech DVD has been disrespected on here as "not one of his best efforts"

Which to say you don't have a clue really doesnt quite cut it, that DVD is great for teaching the czech pirc. It goes in to nearly every sub-line of the opening.

Its the best material on the opening.

Ben

[Ben Purton]

Jansa has written some articles on it, but only specific lines.

[John Upham]

There are two books on the Czech System that I know of :

1. How to Play the Pirc - A New System for Black! by Jansa and Priybl, Chess Enter Prises Inc., 1988, Munster International, 79 pages

2. Czech Defense, 796 Selected Games by FM Fred Lindsay, Lindsay Chess Supplies, 1996,

1. contains analysis and 2. is more or less a database dump.

I obtained both of these via the excellent http://www.abebooks.co.uk/

and there is Andrew Martins Foxy DVD : Volume 56: Win with 1...d6 Part 1

The first of two videos on systems with 1...d6, this one based on the flexible Czech System (1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 c6).
The Czech System introduces a fascinating area of opening play,
where with well-timed counter-measures Black aims to destabilize the whole White set-up. The Czech is much less susceptible to direct attack than a regular Pirc Defense.

about which I totally agree with Ben that this is a splendid video about a system that deserves more outings.

[Jon Mahony]

Can I just say that Andrew Martin's Czech DVD has been disrespected on here as "not one of his best efforts"

Which to say you don't have a clue really doesnt quite cut it, that DVD is great for teaching the czech pirc. It goes in to nearly every sub-line of the opening.

Its the best material on the opening.

Ben

I suppose it’s just what you like playing at the end of the day, I’m more of a Sicilian man personally

I will agree that Martin’s lines against the Austrian attack are very well analysed and the traps are great, I’ve used it in Correspondence quite a few times.

It’s when he gets into the ‘Classical Line’ things get a bit sketchy - I think his statement that White has nothing if he plays it is a tad bias to say the least. He misses the simple 1.e4, d6 2.d4, Nf6 3.Nc3, c6 4.h3 (rather than Nf3) this stops the light squared Bishop coming out to a decent square and hinders the building of the Black centre. Though I do agree that if White co-operates and plays 4.Nf3 Martin’s lines are very nice to play.

It’s when he tries to make the Czech a ‘System’ with the part 2 DVD against the English and 1.d4 that things really start to go down hill. I confess I’ve not watched the DVD in a year or more so I can’t remember many specifics, but I always got the impression Andrew had a bit of a day off with that one.

At the end of the Day he’s and IM and I’m a club player, and Andrew Martin has made many fabulous Foxy and Chess Base DVD’s so who am I to judge. It’s simply that I played the Czech (against 1.e4) for a good 8 months - it would nearly always go into the ‘Classical Line’ and 7 out of 10 times my opponents would play the line I pointed out. I’m just stating my experiences

[Ben Purton]

The best line which isnt the advanced mainline . Is 4 a4

Thats a fact.

Ben

[Simon Spivack]

I think I’ve only seen one or two games where Bob actually played it.

I have the following games:


[Event "EU-chT Seniors 5th"]
[Site "Dresden"]
[Date "2003.02.23"]
[Round "1.3"]
[White "Neumann, Horst"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "0-1"]

[Event "Wch Seniors"]
[Site "Bad Woerishofen"]
[Date "1991.??.??"]
[Round "9"]
[White "Drechsler, Hans"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "0-1"]

[Event "Tallinn"]
[Site "Tallinn"]
[Date "1971.02.27"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Smejkal, Jan"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1-0"]

[Event "Birseck"]
[Site "Birseck"]
[Date "1971.??.??"]
[Round "5"]
[White "Tatai, Stefano"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1-0"]

[Event "Hastings 7273"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1972.??.??"]
[Round "2"]
[White "Barcza, Gedeon"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[Event "Hastings 7273"]
[Site "Hastings"]
[Date "1972.??.??"]
[Round "6"]
[White "Smyslov, Vassily"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1-0"]

[Event "Capablanca mem-B"]
[Site "Cienfuegos"]
[Date "1975.??.??"]
[Round "11"]
[White "Fraguela Gil, Jose Miguel"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[Event "Wch Seniors"]
[Site "Bad Woerishofen"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Taimanov, Mark E"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1-0"]

[Event "Wch Seniors"]
[Site "Bad Woerishofen"]
[Date "1992.??.??"]
[Round "7"]
[White "Fluegel, Wilhelm"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "0-1"]

[Event "Wch Seniors 5th"]
[Site "Bad Liebenzell"]
[Date "1995.11.13"]
[Round "1"]
[White "Schueller, Paul"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "0-1"]

[Event "Wch Seniors 5th"]
[Site "Bad Liebenzell"]
[Date "1995.11.15"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Taimanov, Mark E"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1-0"]

[Event "BCF-chT 9899 (4NCL)"]
[Site "England"]
[Date "1998.11.22"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Pritchett, Craig William"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[Event "04sen. EMM Europa"]
[Site "Dresden (25.02.-02.03)"]
[Date "2002.03.02"]
[Round "7.3"]
[White "Landgraf, Siegfried"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

[Event "Athenaeum Summer Tournament"]
[Site "London"]
[Date "2004.09.01"]
[Round "3"]
[White "Van der Griendt, Jan Willem"]
[Black "Wade, Robert Graham"]
[Result "1/2-1/2"]

In addition to which Bob played this line many times in evening matches. What he told me was that he would play this opening if he thought his opponent had little knowledge of it. I presume this only applied to games against amateurs, although I did not clarify this point with him.

Switching openings: Bob was pleased that he never lost a serious game in which he chose Breyer's Defence in the Closed Lopez. It was rather brave of him to put this record at risk when he played Murray Chandler in New Zealand. I hasten to add that I have never verified this assertion of Bob's.

[Jon Mahony]

The best line which isnt the advanced mainline . Is 4 a4

Thats a fact.

Ben

That wasn't the point I was making, I was simply saying the Martin DVD misses an important White 4th move in a regularly played line.

And who actually says it's a fact 4.a4 is the best move? I think that's just more your opinion. And untill a load of GM's agree with you up I wouldn't be so pushy with it if I were you - you might end up looking stupid! Personally I don't think I've ever seen that move given as an option in anything I've seen on the Czech Pirc, though it's certainly interesting.

[Ben Purton]

????? thats laughable. Ive played this opening literally my whole chess "career", Mcshane plays a4, as do around 40-50% of my games V titles on the icc. I must play around 3-4 games in czech system a day on average on there.

a4 hasnt been heard of? is a shocking statement, its played alot more often than h3 at a proper level.

[James Coleman]

Actually I heard Andrew Martin himself say a few years back that he liked the Czech Pirc as a system but was more uncomfortable against 4.a4 than anything else...