Damiano Defence

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

The Damiano Defense is an inferior chess opening characterized by the opening moves

1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 f6?

Black's 2...f6? is a poor move that exposes Black's king, weakens Black's king-side and takes away his knight's best square. 3.d4 and 3.Bc4 are strong replies; I.A. Horowitz, in Chess Openings: Theory and Practice, page 227 note 31, wrote (substituting algebraic notation for Horowitz's descriptive chess notation), "Simple and potent is 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 Nc6 5.c3, after which Black chokes to death."

Most forceful, however, is the knight sacrifice 3.Nxe5! Taking the knight with 3...fxe5 exposes Black to a deadly attack after 4.Qh5+ Ke7 (4...g6 loses to 5.Qxe5+, forking king and rook) 5.Qxe5+ Kf7 6.Bc4+ d5! (6...Kg6 7. Qf5+ Kh6 8.d4+ g5 9.h4! is crushing) 7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.h4 h5 9.Bxb7! Bd6 (9...Bxb7 10.Qf5+ Kh6 11.d4+ g5 12.Qf7! mates quickly) 10.Qa5!, when Black's best is 10...Nc6 11.Bxc6 Rb8, when White can play 12.Qxa7, with five extra pawns, or continue developing his pieces, remaining four pawns up -- in either case with a clearly winning position.

Since taking the knight is fatal, after 3.Nxe5 Black should instead play 3...Qe7! 4.Nf3 (4.Qh5+? g6 5.Nxg6 Qxe4+ 6.Be2 Qxg6 leaves Black ahead a piece for two pawns) Qxe4+ 5.Be2. Black has regained the pawn but has lost time and weakened his kingside, and will lose more time when White chases the queen with Nc3, or with 0-0 and Re1(once the Bishop on e2 is moved).

The fact that Black can only regain the pawn with 3...Qe7! shows that 2...f6? did not really defend the e-pawn at all. Indeed, even a relatively useless but non-weakening move like 2...a6? would have been better than 2...f6? After 2...a6? 3.Nxe5, Black could still regain the pawn with 3...Qe7 4.d4 d6, and would not have weakened the king-side and deprived the king knight of its best square.

Ironically, the opening is named after the Portuguese master Pedro Damiano (1480-1544), who correctly condemned it as weak.

The ECO code for the Damiano Defence is C40 (King's Knight Opening).

This opening is never seen in top-level play today. Perhaps the only chess expert to play the black side of it is Sam Sloan. Sloan has no significant improvement on the main line, however, and plays into it hoping that White doesn't know the line. After 3.Nxe5!, Sloan plays 3...fxe5? 4.Qh5+ Ke7 5.Qxe5+ Kf7 6.Bc4+ d5! 7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.h4 h6 - see the diagram below (8...h5, with similar play, is "book");

when now 9.Bxb7! Bd6 10.Qa5! Nc6 11.Bxc6 leaves White with a won position.

The greatest player to play the Damiano in serious master competition was Mikhail Chigorin, who played the 3...Qe7 line in a match with Emmanuel Schiffers in Saint Petersburg 1897. Chigorin lost his queen on move 10, but Schiffers played so weakly that Chigorin later missed a brilliant forced mate and only drew^[1]. Robert McGregor played the Damiano in a 1964 simultaneous exhibition against Bobby Fischer, essaying 3...Qe7 4.Nf3 d5 5.d3 dxe4 6.dxe4 Qxe4+ 7.Be2 Bf5, and drew, although Fischer did not play the best moves.[1]

[edit] References

1. ^ The Richter riddle. OPEN CHESS DIARY (scroll down to No. 222). Retrieved on 2006-03-20.