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The Great Pawn Hunter
Chess Tutorial

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Ruy Lopez closed defense - Chigorin Variation

In the Ruy Lopez Closed pawn structure, Black tries to compel white to advance the Pawn on d4 to d5 which releaves the tension in the center. He does this by attacking the center with a (c5) lever during the opening phase of the game.

Once the white d4 pawn has advanced, the Black pieces are free to move to whatever side of the board they want to, but so are the White pieces. There is no tension so things are more easily defendable and harder to attack. For both sides, when you relax the tension in the center, you give freedom to your opponent's pieces.

For the attacker, only relax the tension in the center when you think your advantage in a certain area of the board is great and you need to move more of your forces to that area of the board in order to attack overwhelmingly. This requires raw nerves and a calculating mind.

For the defender, you want the tension to be relaxed so that you can deploy your forces to the right squares for defense. However, in the opening, the object of attack is the center. Both sides are the aggressors for it. A mistake made by either side in the center, can decide who should attack and who should defend. So, the tension should be maintained by both sides until the situation is cleared up on the chessboard.

In the diagram, now that the white (d) pawn has advanced, White can try to attack on the kingside. However, the Black pieces are also free to move to the kingside as well. The defender knows that an attack by aggressive forces is more easily carried out with the center closed. So, Black will try to make a pawn lever such as f5 to destroy the White Pawn on e4. For the defender, the idea is to destroy the White pawn center. Once the base pawn on e4 is destroyed, the foundation of the d5 pawn is weakened as well. When the defender has control of the center, he has the ability to counter attack the aggressor's side line advances.

11. ... Qc7
12. Nbd2 cxd4
13. cxd4 Bb7
14. d5
The Black bishop and knight have such great attacking potential that White advances the (d) pawn to d5. With this move, he blocks the attack on his e4 pawn. Now, since White has relaxed the tension in the center, he must shift his play to the Kingside for an attack.

14. ... Rac8
15. Bb1 Nd7
16. Nf1 f5
But Black does not wait for White to carry out his attack. Black implements his own attack to destroy the White pawn Chain on e4 and d5. He uncovers his f7 pawn by moving his knight from f6 to d7. Then, he pushes his lever pawn to f5!. Again, He does this to stake out his own territory in the center. If he gets control of the center, he will be better able to counter attack White's plans on the kingside. Do you notice that Black has a pawn duo on e5 and f5?

17. exf5 Nf6
18. Ng5
Black jumps his knight back to f6 and attacks White's d5 pawn with both bishop and knight. But White has a trump in the position as well. There is an outpost square on (e6). If his knight can get there then his knight will be deep in the heart of the enemy territory.

18. ... Bxd5
19. Ne3 Qb7
White attacks the defender of the e6 square, the black bishop, by moving his knight to e3. With Qb7, the bishop is defended by Black's knight and Queen.

In a game Shirov vs. Alda, Bordeaux 1998, White continued with:
20. b3 Rfe8?!
21. Bd2 Bd8
22. Bb4
with chances for both sides.

In this example, White's center was dissolved with aggressive play by Black. I hope that you got a good sense of using levers in the opening. It goes without saying that You must not sit idly by and watch your opponent attack you. Instead, counter attack. Stake your own ground in the opening using the levers that you have in the position.