Chigorin Defence: free opening course

Key ideas

• Pieces first. The knight on c6 and the bishop on g4 hit d4 right away, before White is fully developed.
• Do not fear giving the g4 bishop for the f3 knight. The f3 knight is White's best defender of d4.
• Strike in the centre with ...e5. It opens lines for your pieces and challenges White's d4 pawn.
• Your queen often comes to d5 early. Keep it active, but have a safe square ready when a knight or pawn attacks it.
• Against 3.Nc3, take on c4 and then develop fast. If White pushes d5, the knight jumps to e5 and stays in the centre.

The 6 variations in the course

• 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.cxd5: main line: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. cxd5 Bxf3 5. gxf3 Qxd5 6. e3 e5 … — Black pins the f3 knight and trades it after 4.cxd5. White takes back toward the centre with the g-pawn and gets the bishop pair. Black wins the d5 pawn back and strikes with ...e5. A trade on c3 leaves White with weak pawns.
• 4.cxd5 Bxf3 5.dxc6: the sharp return: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. cxd5 Bxf3 5. dxc6 Bxc6 6. Nc3 e6 … — White takes the knight on c6 instead of the bishop. Black takes back on c6 and keeps the pieces level. Black then pins the c3 knight, checks on h4 and castles long with good play.
• 3.Nf3 Bg4 4.e3 e5: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nf3 Bg4 4. e3 e5 5. cxd5 Qxd5 6. Nc3 Bb4 … — White calmly defends d4 with 4.e3. Black hits the centre with 4...e5, takes back on d5 with the queen and pins the c3 knight. After the trade on c3 Black pushes ...e4 and gains space.
• 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.Nf3 Nf6: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. Nf3 Nf6 5. e4 Bg4 6. Be3 e6 … — Against 3.Nc3 Black takes the c4 pawn. After 4.Nf3 Black develops the knight first. When White builds a centre with e4, Black pins with ...Bg4 and ...Bb4 and castles.
• 3.Nc3 dxc4 4.d5 Ne5: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. Nc3 dxc4 4. d5 Ne5 5. e4 e6 6. Bf4 Ng6 … — White pushes 4.d5 and chases the knight. The knight jumps to e5 and stays in the centre. Black hits the d5 pawn with ...e6, puts the knight on g6 and castles. White wins the c4 pawn back, but Black has a solid game.
• 3.cxd5 Qxd5 4.e3 e5: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6 3. cxd5 Qxd5 4. e3 e5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3 … — White trades on d5 at once, and Black takes back with the queen. After 4.e3 Black hits the centre with ...e5 and pins the c3 knight. Black trades on c3, castles and gets a good game. The 3.e3 e5 move order often leads here too.

Traps you will learn (3)

• 4.Nc3? Qxd4 5.Qxd4 Nxd4 6.e3?? Nc2+ — After 3.cxd5 Qxd5 4.Nc3 Black grabs the d4 pawn. If White trades queens, the knight lands on d4 and eyes c2. One careless move, and the knight forks the king and the a1 rook.
• 4.d5 Ne5 5.e4 e6 6.f4 Nd3+: the d-file pin — In the 4.d5 line White pushes f4 too early, and the knight checks on d3. After the trades the d-file opens. If the knight takes back on d5, a pawn attacks it. The knight is pinned to its queen.
• 4.e3 e5: 8...e4 9.h3?? exf3 — In the 4.e3 line Black pushes ...e4 and attacks the f3 knight. White's h3 looks like it wins time on the bishop. But Black takes the knight, and after hxg4 the pawn takes on g2 and hits the h1 rook.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.