Keres Defence
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- This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.
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The Keres Defence (also known as the Kangaroo Defence) is a chess opening characterized by the opening moves:
- 1. d4 e6
- 2. c4 Bb4+
The opening is named for Estonian grandmaster Paul Keres.
White can respond 3.Nc3, 3.Nd2 or 3.Bd2 (the only other legal move, 3.Qd2??, loses the queen). The game often transposes to a Dutch Defence, a Nimzo-Indian Defence, a Bogo-Indian Defence, a Queen's Indian Defence, an English Defence, or a Queen's Gambit Declined. 3.Nc3 is likely to transpose into one of those openings: 3...Nf6 (Nimzo-Indian Defence), 3...f5 Dutch Defence, 3...d5 (a slightly unusual sort of Queen's Gambit Declined), or 3...b6 English Defence. Black has the same options after 3.Nbd2, except that 3...Nf6 4.Nf3 is a Bogo-Indian Defense.
Although unusual, the opening is fully sound. Perhaps the only reason it is not seen more often is that most players of the Nimzo-Indian, Queen's Gambit Declined, and Dutch prefer not to give White the option, after 1.d4, of playing 2.e4, so they will tend to play 1...Nf6, 1...d5 or 1...f5 respectively. After 1.d4 e6 2.e4, Black must decide whether to play 2..d5 (the French Defence), 2...b6 (Owen's Defence), 2...c5 (the Franco-Benoni), or 2...f5 (the Kingston Defence).
