Chessmate

English Defense · Black

Undermine the Broad Center (A40)

White replies…

White replies… d4

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Practice this line from memory on the free trainer

All lines in this course

ECO A40

Every one of these lines is explained move by move in the app — with recall practice and spaced review.

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  1. Undermine the Broad CenterSample

    1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. e4 Bb7 4. Nd2 g6 5. Bd3 Bg7 6. Ne2 Ne7 7. O-O O-O 8. f4 c5 9. d5 b5 10. d6 Nc8 11. e5 f6 12. cxb5 fxe5

  2. Bishop Check and Central Break

    1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. e4 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 Bxd2+ 5. Nxd2 Ne7 6. Bd3 O-O 7. Ne2 d5 8. cxd5 exd5 9. Qc2 Ba6 10. e5 Bxd3 11. Qxd3 c5 12. f4 Nbc6

  3. Direct `...b6` and the `...e5` Center

    1. d4 b6 2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 d6 4. e4 Nd7 5. Nf3 e5 6. Be2 g6 7. O-O Ngf6 8. Qc2 Bg7 9. dxe5 Nxe5 10. Nxe5 dxe5 11. Be3 O-O 12. c5 Qe7

  4. Quiet Setup and Pressure on `d4`

    1. d4 b6 2. Nf3 Bb7 3. e3 Nf6 4. Be2 g6 5. O-O Bg7 6. b3 c5 7. Bb2 cxd4 8. exd4 O-O 9. Nbd2 Nc6 10. a4 e6 11. Nc4 Ne7 12. a5 Nf5

  5. Early `...f5` and Opposite Castling

    1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. a3 f5 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Bf4 h6 7. h4 d6 8. e3 Nbd7 9. Qc2 g6 10. Bd3 Bg7 11. O-O-O Qe7 12. e4 O-O-O

  6. Main `Nc3` Pin and `...e5`

    1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nc3 Bb7 4. Bf4 Nf6 5. e3 Bb4 6. Ne2 O-O 7. a3 Be7 8. Rc1 d6 9. h3 Nbd7 10. Bh2 Re8 11. Nf4 e5 12. dxe5 dxe5

  7. Meet Early `a3` with `...c5`

    1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. a3 Bb7 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Bf4 g6 6. Qc2 Bg7 7. e4 O-O 8. Nf3 d6 9. Be3 c5 10. d5 exd5 11. cxd5 a6 12. a4 Re8

  8. Bishop Exchanges against `g3`

    1. d4 e6 2. c4 b6 3. Nf3 Bb7 4. g3 Bb4+ 5. Bd2 Bxf3 6. exf3 Bxd2+ 7. Qxd2 c6 8. Nc3 d5 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Bb5+ Nd7 11. O-O Ne7 12. Rac1 O-O