| This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves. |
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| Moves | 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ECO | C40 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Named after | Pedro Damiano | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent | King's Knight Opening | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chessgames.com opening explorer | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Damiano Defence is a chess opening characterized by the opening moves
The ECO code for the Damiano Defence is C40 (King's Knight Opening).
Black's 2...f6? is a weak move that exposes Black's king, weakens Black's kingside and takes away his knight's best square. The moves 3.d4 and 3.Bc4 are strong replies; I.A. Horowitz wrote (substituting algebraic notation for his descriptive notation), "Simple and potent is 3.Bc4 d6 4.d4 Nc6 5.c3, after which Black chokes to death."[1]
Most forceful, however, is the knight sacrifice 3.Nxe5![2] 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, after which White should have an easy game) 5.Qxe5+ Kf7 6.Bc4+ d5! (6...Kg6?? 7. Qf5+ is devastating and leads to mate shortly after) 7.Bxd5+ Kg6 8.h4 (8.d4? Bd6!) 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, and now 12. Bxd7 Qxd7 13.Qxa7 leaves White with five extra pawns. Bruce Pandolfini notes that Black's opening is thus sometimes described as "the five pawns gambit".[3] Alternatively, White can continue developing his pieces, remaining four pawns up. In either case, White has a clearly winning position.
Since taking the knight is fatal, after 3.Nxe5 Black should instead play 3...Qe7 After 4.Nf3 (4.Qh5+? g6 5.Nxg6 Qxe4+ 6.Be2 Qxg6 leaves Black ahead a piece for two pawns)[4] 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 0-0, Re1, and a move by the bishop on e2. Nick de Firmian in Modern Chess Openings analyzes instead 4...d5 5.d3 dxe4 6.dxe4, when White had a small advantage in Schiffers-Chigorin, St. Petersburg 1897.[5]
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 less risky 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 condemned it as weak. In 1847, Howard Staunton wrote of 2...f6, "This move occurs in the old work of Damiano, who gives some ingenious variations on it. Lopez, and later authors, have hence entitled it 'Damiano's Gambit.' "[6] Staunton's contemporary George Walker instead, more logically, reserved the term "Damiano Gambit" for the knight sacrifice played by White on the third move: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6 3.Nxe5.[7] Staunton referred to 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6, a highly respected move then and now, as "Damiano's defence to the K. Kt.'s opening".[8]
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h |
The Damiano Defence is never seen today in top-level play. Perhaps the only chess expert to play the black side of it is Sam Sloan.[9] Sloan plays into the main line (3...fxe5?), hoping that White does not know the line, then plays 8...h6 (see diagram), rather than 8...h5, as analyzed above. White wins material in the same way with 9.Bxb7! Bd6 10.Qa5! Nc6 11.Bxc6 Rb8.[3][10]
The greatest player to play the Damiano in serious master competition was Mikhail Chigorin. As noted above, he played the 3...Qe7 line in a game against Emmanuel Schiffers at 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.[11] 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.[12]