Semi-Closed Game

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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Dutch Defense

Benoni Defense

A Semi-Closed Game (or Semi-Closed Opening) is a chess opening in which White opens with the queen's pawn 1.d4 but Black does not make the symmetrical reply 1.d5. (The openings starting 1.d4 d5 are the Closed Games.)

By far the most important category of the semi-closed openings are the Indian systems, which begin 1.d4 Nf6. As these defenses have much in common and have a great deal more theory than all the remaining semi-closed openings put together, they are treated in a separate article; see Indian defense for details.

Of the defenses to 1.d4 other than 1...d5 and 1...Nf6, the most important are the Dutch Defense and the Benoni Defense.

The Dutch, an aggressive defense adopted for a time by World Champions Alekhine and Botvinnik, and played by both Botvinnik and challenger David Bronstein in their 1951 world championship match, is still played occasionally at the top level by Short and others. Another fairly common opening is the Benoni Defense, which may become very wild if it develops into the Modern Benoni, though other variations are more solid.

The remaining semi-closed openings are uncommon. The Polish Defense has never been very popular but has been tried by Spassky, Ljubojevic, and Csom, among others. The Keres Defence (also known as the Kangaroo Defence), is fully playable, but has little independent significance, since it often transposes into the Dutch, Nimzo-Indian, or Bogo-Indian. The Queen's Knight Defense is an uncommon opening that often transposes to the Nimzowitsch Defense after 1.d4 Nc6 2.e4 or the Chigorin Defense after 2.c4 d5, although it can lead to unique lines, for example after 1.d4 Nc6 2.d5 or 2.c4 e5. The Englund Gambit is a rare and dubious sacrifice.