The Dutch Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
50-565: Black's 1...f5 stakes a claim to the e4-square and envisions an attack in the middlegame on White's kingside ; however, it also weakens Black's kingside to an extent (especially the e8–h5 diagonal). Like its 1.e4 counterpart, the Sicilian Defence , the Dutch is an aggressive and unbalancing opening, resulting in the lowest percentage of draws among the most common replies to 1.d4. Historically, White has tried many methods to exploit
100-479: A Category , based on the average rating of the contestants. For instance, it was decided that 'Category 1' status would apply to tournaments with an average Elo rating of participants falling within the range 2251–2275; similarly Category 2 would apply to the range 2276–2300 etc. The higher the tournament Category, the stronger the tournament. Another vital component involved the setting of meritorious norms for each Category of tournament. Players must meet or surpass
150-420: A passed pawn . Works mostly written before 1970. Grandmaster (chess) Grandmaster ( GM ) is a title awarded to chess players by the world chess organization FIDE . Apart from World Champion , Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. Once achieved, the title is held for life, though exceptionally the title can be revoked for cheating . The title of Grandmaster, along with
200-541: A GM or IM does not count for the purposes of this requirement if he had not had a GM or IM result in the five years prior to the tournament. In addition, no more than 50 percent plus one of the players can be from the same country for tournaments of 10 to 12 players, or no more than 50 percent plus two for larger tournaments. Seventy-four GM titles were awarded in 1951 through 1968. During that period, ten GM titles were awarded in 1965, but only one in 1966 and in 1968. The modern system for awarding FIDE titles evolved from
250-423: A concern in such middlegames, allowing lengthy maneuvers. Players attempt to strengthen their positions and weaken their opponent's. Both players need to be on the lookout for pawn breaks, and the possibility of taking advantage of the open files which may arise from them. Third, if one player has an overwhelming material advantage and is clearly winning, the stronger player can usually afford to violate several of
300-426: A favorable endgame is an important skill. The last thing that happens in the middlegame is the setup for endgame. Since many endgames involve the promotion of a pawn, it is usually good to keep that in mind when making trades during the middlegame. For example, World Champion Max Euwe considered a preponderance of pawns on the queenside (queenside majority) an advantage because this might be used to create
350-479: A good choice of opening for White in blitz tournaments where Black has little time to ponder the most accurate defense. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings ( ECO ) has twenty codes for the Dutch Defence, A80 through A99. Chess middlegame The middlegame is the portion of a chess game between the opening and the endgame . It is generally considered to begin when each player has completed
400-673: A grandmaster, and the term was also applied to a few other players. The Ostend tournament of 1907 was divided into two sections: the Championship Tournament and the Masters' Tournament. The Championship section was for players who had previously won an international tournament. Siegbert Tarrasch won the Championship section, over Carl Schlechter , Dawid Janowski , Frank Marshall , Amos Burn , and Mikhail Chigorin . These players were described as grandmasters for
450-430: A wide scope of action and targets to focus on. The concept is largely strategic in nature, and involves such concepts as space, pawn weaknesses (since weak pawns can compel pieces to defensive duties, reducing their mobility), and securing outposts for the pieces. The strategy required for middlegame play varies considerably. Some middlegame positions feature closed centres featuring maneuvering behind
500-541: Is A83. Of course, like any other opening in chess, there are countless varaiations and lines, but the above three are considered part of the main theory of the Dutch Defense. The Stonewall Dutch enjoyed a resurgence of interest in the 1980s and 1990s, when leading grandmasters (GMs) Artur Yusupov , Sergey Dolmatov , Nigel Short and Simen Agdestein helped develop the system where Black plays an earlier ...d5 and places his dark-squared bishop on d6. Termed
550-414: Is another important consideration: Fine notes that—if all other things are equal—any material advantage will usually be decisive. According to Fine, a material advantage will usually not give a direct mating attack unless the advantage is very large (a rook or more); rather, it can be used as a means of gaining more material and a decisive endgame advantage. To gain mobility is to ensure that the pieces have
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#1732772404054600-468: Is played after g3 and Bg2; c4 is played after Nf3; and c4 is played after 0-0. Examples: White has various more aggressive alternatives to the standard moves, including Black sometimes starts with the move order 1...e6 to avoid these lines, although Black must then be ready to play the French Defence if White continues 2.e4, rendering the Dutch no longer an option. The Staunton Gambit remains
650-535: Is possible to have a middlegame without queens. The endgame is often said to begin when the kings can safely play an active role. The Middle Game in Chess by Reuben Fine lists three major factors in the middlegame: king safety, force ( material ), and mobility, although not all of these factors are of equal importance. If king safety is a serious issue, a well-executed attack on the king can render other considerations, including material advantages, irrelevant. Material
700-613: Is sometimes called "International Grandmaster" (IGM), possibly to distinguish it from similar national titles, but the shortened form is far more common today. Titles were awarded by a resolution of the FIDE General Assembly and the Qualification Committee, with no formal written criteria. FIDE first awarded the Grandmaster title in 1950 to 27 players. These players were: Since FIDE did not award
750-580: The Modern Stonewall , this setup has remained more popular than the traditional early ...Be7. Magnus Carlsen has used the Stonewall to score wins against Viswanathan Anand and Fabiano Caruana . Simon Williams is one of the leading practitioners of the classical Dutch and wrote more than one book on the opening. The traditional move order involves White playing 2.c4. More commonly, White will start with 2.g3. Some common variations are: c4
800-468: The World Federation for Chess Composition (see List of grandmasters for chess composition ). The International Correspondence Chess Federation (ICCF) awards the title of International Correspondence Chess Grandmaster (ICCGM). Both of these bodies are now independent of FIDE , but work in cooperation with it. "Super grandmaster" is an informal term to refer to the world's elite players. In
850-627: The World Junior Championship , or the World Senior Championship , or a Continental Chess Championship, given that the player's peak FIDE rating is at least 2300. Current regulations can be found in the FIDE Handbook. FIDE titles including the grandmaster title are valid for life, but FIDE regulations allow a title to be revoked for "use of a FIDE title or rating to subvert the ethical principles of
900-627: The "Dorazil" proposals, presented to the 1970 Siegen Chess Olympiad FIDE Congress. The proposals were put together by Wilfried Dorazil (then FIDE Vice-President) and fellow Committee members Grandmaster Svetozar Gligorić and Professor Arpad Elo . The recommendations of the Committee report were adopted in full. In essence, the proposals built on the work done by Professor Elo in devising his Elo rating system. The establishment of an updated list of players and their Elo rating enabled significantly strong international chess tournaments to be allocated
950-509: The 1965 Congress in Wiesbaden FIDE raised the standards required for international titles. The International Grandmaster title regulations were: To fulfill requirement 2b, the candidate must score one GM norm in a category 1a tournament or two norms within a three-year period in two Category 1b tournaments, or one Category 2a tournament and one Category 1b tournament. The categories of tournaments are: Since FIDE titles are for life,
1000-743: The Dutch Defense The following are several known main variations which are important to know if one wants to really learn and understand the Dutch Defense. The Leningrad Dutch, in the Leningrad variation of the Dutch Defense, black fianchettos the dark-squared bishop. From g7, this bishop will not only be a good defender of the king, but also an active piece on the long diagonal. The game may proceed 1. d4 f5 2. c4 Nf6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. Nc3 0-0 6. Nf3 d6 7. 0-0 Qe8. The g2 bishop helps protect white’s king against black’s possible kingside aggression, and this bishop would possible be blunted by
1050-590: The FAV system, in recognition of the work done by International Judge Giovanni Ferrantes (Italy), Alexander (probably Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander ), and Giancarlo Dal Verme (Italy). Under the 1957 regulations, the title of International Grandmaster of the FIDE was automatically awarded to: The regulations also allowed titles to be awarded by a FIDE Congress on recommendation by the Qualification Committee. Recommendations were based on performance in qualifying tournaments, with
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#17327724040541100-469: The Grandmaster title posthumously, world-class players who died prior to 1950, including World Champions Steinitz , Lasker, Capablanca, and Alekhine, never received the title. A few strong still living players such as British India's Mir Sultan Khan , Germany's Paul Lipke and France's Eugene Znosko-Borovsky were not awarded titles. Sultan Khan was awarded the GM title posthumously in 2024. Title awards under
1150-469: The Stonewall variation of the Dutch Defense are A90 to A92 : The third variation is The Staunton Gambit, a fairly combative approach with Black's pawn sacrifice after 2. e4!?. The Staunton Gambit is an aggressive attempt by White to sacrifice a pawn in exchange for rapid development and attacking chances against Black's Dutch setup. The ECO code for the Staunton Gambit in the Dutch Defense
1200-749: The Stonewall), 6...d6, the Ilyin-Zhenevsky Variation (less popular today), or Alekhine's move 6...Ne4!? retaining the option of moving the d-pawn either one or two squares. The opening's attacking potential is shown in the Polish Immortal , in which Miguel Najdorf , using the Stonewall Variation, sacrificed all of his minor pieces to win by checkmate . Main Theoretical Variations in
1250-411: The actual score that participants must achieve to attain a GM or IM result (nowadays referred to as a norm ). To qualify for the Grandmaster title, a player needed to achieve three such GM results within a rolling period of three years. Exceptionally, if a player's contributory games totalled 30 or more, then the title could be awarded on the basis of two such results. There were also circumstances where
1300-401: The attack, and it can even be advantageous to lose pawns in front of the enemy king in order to open up lines for the rooks and queen. Second, positions where the pawn structure is static and locked can also feature mutual attacks, since players often elect to play on the side where they have more space (playing on the side of the board in which their pawns are pointing). Time is often less of
1350-467: The defence as the best reply to 1.d4 in his 1789 book Nouvel essai sur le Jeu des échecs, avec des réflexions militaires relatives à ce jeu . Siegbert Tarrasch rejected the opening as unsound in his 1931 work The Game of Chess , arguing that White should reply with the Staunton Gambit , with White being better after 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 c6 5.f3 ! exf3. White most often fianchettoes
1400-418: The development of all or most of their pieces and brought their king to relative safety, and it is generally considered to end when only a few pieces remain on the board. However, there is no clear line between the opening and middlegame or between the middlegame and endgame . At master level, the opening analysis may go well into the middlegame; likewise, the middlegame blends into the endgame . Theory on
1450-542: The f5 pawn if it were instead to develop to d3. The opening code for the Leningrad Dutch in the Dutch Defense is A87 to A89 in the ECO ( Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings ) classification system. The second variation is The Stonewall Dutch in which black plays …d5 in the opening and secures a tight grip of the e4 square. A possible example is 1. d4 f5 2. g3 Nf6 3. Bg2 e6 4. Nf3 d5 5. c4 c6. The ECO codes for
1500-639: The king's bishop with g3 and Bg2. Black also sometimes fianchettoes the king's bishop with ...g6 and ...Bg7 (the Leningrad Dutch ), but may instead develop the bishop to e7, d6 (after ...d5), or b4 (the latter is most often seen if White plays c4 before castling). Play often runs 2.g3 Nf6 3.Bg2 e6 4.Nf3 (4.Nh3 !? is also possible, intending Nf4–d3 to control the e5-square Black plays the Stonewall Variation ) 4...Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.c4 and now Black chooses between 6...d5 (the characteristic move of
1550-710: The kingside weaknesses, such as the Staunton Gambit (2.e4) and Korchnoi Attack (2.h3 and 3.g4). The Dutch has never been a main line against 1.d4 and is rarely seen today in high-level competition, although a number of top players, including Alexander Alekhine , Bent Larsen , Paul Morphy , Miguel Najdorf , Simon Williams, and Hikaru Nakamura have used it with success. Its most notable use may have been in 1951, when both world champion Mikhail Botvinnik and his challenger, David Bronstein , played it in their 1951 World Championship match . Elias Stein (1748–1812), an Alsatian who settled in The Hague , recommended
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1600-475: The lesser FIDE titles of International Master (IM) , FIDE Master (FM) , and Candidate Master (CM) , is open to all players regardless of gender. The great majority of grandmasters are men, but 42 women have been awarded the GM title as of 2024, out of a total of about 2000 grandmasters. There is also a Woman Grandmaster title with lower requirements awarded only to women. There are also Grandmaster titles for composers and solvers of chess problems , awarded by
1650-425: The lines, while other middlegames are wide open, where both players attempt to gain the initiative. Dan Heisman noted three features which can seriously alter the way the middlegame is played. First, if the kings are castled on opposite wings, and queens remain on the board, the position can be very violent, with both players aiming to assault the enemy king. Material considerations are often secondary to pursuing
1700-425: The middlegame is less developed than the opening or endgames. Since middlegame positions are unique from game to game, memorization of theoretical variations is not possible as it is in the opening. Likewise, there are usually too many pieces on the board for theoretical positions to be completely analyzed as can be done in the simpler endgames. Views vary on when the opening ends and the middlegame begins. In general,
1750-456: The normal middlegame principles in order to trade down to an endgame. For example, trading queens even at the cost of a ruined pawn structure may be a viable option. Not all games reach the endgame, since an attack on the king, or a combination leading to large material gains can end the game while it is still in the middlegame. At other times, an advantage needs to be pursued in the endgame, and learning how to make favorable exchanges leading to
1800-420: The number of registered players rated over 2200 had increased even faster. Since that FIDE congress, discussion of the value of the grandmaster title has occasionally continued. Starting from 1977, FIDE awarded honorary Grandmaster titles to 32 players based on their past performances or other contributions to chess. The following players have been awarded honorary Grandmaster titles. Marić and Honfi were awarded
1850-523: The old regulations, although a provision was maintained that allowed older masters who had been overlooked to be awarded titles. The new regulations awarded the title of International Grandmaster of the FIDE to players meeting any of the following criteria: After FIDE issued the 1953 title regulations, it was recognized that they were somewhat haphazard, and work began to revise the regulations. The FIDE Congress in Vienna in 1957 adopted new regulations, called
1900-423: The opening is defined as ending when the development of pieces is mostly complete. Similarly, there are differing opinions and criteria for when the middlegame ends and the endgame begins (see the start of the endgame ). Factors such as control of the center are less important in the endgame than the middlegame. In endgames the number of pieces and pawns is much reduced, though even after queens are traded , it
1950-591: The original regulations were subject to political concerns. Efim Bogoljubow , who had emigrated from the Soviet Union to Germany, was not entered in the first class of Grandmasters, even though he had played two matches for the World Championship with Alekhine. He received the title in 1951, by a vote of thirteen to eight with five abstentions. Yugoslavia supported his application, but all other Communist countries opposed it. In 1953, FIDE abolished
2000-412: The past this would refer to players with an Elo rating of over 2600, but as the average Elo rating of the top players has increased, it has typically come to refer to players with an Elo rating of over 2700. Super GMs, the number of whom has grown considerably over the years, have some name recognition in the world of sport and are typically the highest earners in chess. FIDE titles are only awarded at
2050-469: The purposes of the tournament. The San Sebastián 1912 tournament won by Akiba Rubinstein was a designated grandmaster event. Rubinstein won with 12½ points out of 19. Tied for second with 12 points were Aron Nimzowitsch and Rudolf Spielmann . By some accounts, in the St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament , the title Grandmaster was formally conferred by Russian Tsar Nicholas II , who had partially funded
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2100-508: The quarterly FIDE Council meetings. Players who have qualified for the GM title but have not yet been awarded it are informally referred to as "GM-elect". Usage of grandmaster for an expert in some field is recorded from 1590. The first known use of the term grandmaster in connection with chess was in the 18 February 1838 issue of Bell's Life , in which a correspondent referred to William Lewis as "our past grandmaster". Subsequently, George Walker and others referred to Philidor as
2150-431: The regulations. The subcommittee recommended that the automatic award of titles be abolished, criticized the methods used for awarding titles based on qualifying performances, and called for a change in the makeup of the Qualification Committee. Several delegates supported the subcommittee recommendations, including GM Miguel Najdorf who felt that existing regulations were leading to an inflation of international titles. At
2200-438: The relevant score to demonstrate that they had performed at Grandmaster (GM) or International Master (IM) level. Scores were expressed as percentages of a perfect maximum score and decreased as the tournament Category increased, thereby reflecting the strength of a player's opposition and the relative difficulty of the task. Tournament organisers could then apply the percentages to their own tournament format and declare in advance
2250-533: The required score depending on the percentage of Grandmasters and International Masters in the tournament. Concerns were raised that the 1957 regulations were too lax. At the FIDE Congress in 1961, GM Milan Vidmar said that the regulations "made it possible to award international titles to players without sufficient merit". At the 1964 Congress in Tel Aviv , a subcommittee was formed to propose changes to
2300-522: The system could be adapted to fit team events and other competitions. The full proposals included many other rules and regulations, covering such topics as: To become a grandmaster, a player must achieve both of the following: The Grandmaster title is also automatically conferred, without needing to fulfill the above criteria, when reaching the final 16 in the World Cup , winning the Women's World Cup ,
2350-582: The term grandmaster was sometimes informally applied to world class players. The Fédération Internationale des Échecs (FIDE, or International Chess Federation) was formed in Paris in 1924, but at that time did not award formal titles. In 1927, the Soviet Union's Chess Federation established the title of Grandmaster of the Soviet Union, in the form of the German loan word "Großmeister". At the time Soviet players were not competing outside their own country. This title
2400-641: The title or rating system" or if a player is found to have violated the anti-cheating regulations in a tournament on which the title application was based. Exact regulations can be found in the FIDE Handbook . A report prepared by Bartłomiej Macieja for the Association of Chess Professionals mentions discussion at the FIDE congress of 2008 regarding a perceived decrease in value of the grandmaster title. The number of grandmasters had increased greatly between 1972 and 2008, but according to Macieja,
2450-518: The tournament. The Tsar reportedly awarded the title to the five finalists: Emanuel Lasker , José Raúl Capablanca , Alexander Alekhine , Siegbert Tarrasch , and Frank Marshall . Chess historian Edward Winter has questioned this, stating that the earliest known sources that support this story are an article by Robert Lewis Taylor in the June 15, 1940, issue of The New Yorker and Marshall's autobiography My 50 Years of Chess (1942). Before 1950,
2500-513: Was abolished in 1931, after having been awarded to Boris Verlinsky , who won the 1929 Soviet Championship . The title was brought back in 1935, and awarded to Mikhail Botvinnik , who thus became the first "official" Grandmaster of the USSR. Verlinsky did not get his title back. In 1950 FIDE created the titles of Grandmaster (GM), International Master (IM) and Woman Master (WM, later known as Woman International Master or WIM). The grandmaster title
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