The Monkey's Bum is a variation of the

Modern Defense The Modern Defense (also known as the Robatsch Defence after Karl Robatsch) is a hypermodern chess opening in which Black allows White to occupy the with pawns on d4 and e4, then proceeds to attack and undermine this "ideal" center without att ...

, a

chess opening A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the " Sicilian Defens ...

. Although it may also be loosely defined as any approach against the Modern Defense involving an early Bc4 and Qf3, threatening "

Scholar's mate In chess, the scholar's mate is the checkmate achieved by the following moves, or similar: :1. e4 e5 :2. Qh5 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Nf6?? :4. Qxf7 The same mating pattern may be reached by various move orders. For example, White might play 2.Bc4. ...

", it is strictly defined by the sequence of moves: :1. e4 g6 :2. Bc4 Bg7 :3. Qf3 e6 :4. d4 Bxd4 :5. Ne2 Bg7 :6. Nbc3 The Monkey's Bum Deferred is a more respected variation in which White develops their queen's knight before playing Bc4 and Qf3.

Origin

The Monkey's Bum was discovered and championed by IM Nigel Povah in the 1970s during a wave of popularity of the Modern Defence. In 1972, after Keene and Botterill published their book ''The Modern Defence'', Povah began looking for a response to the opening. He happened across the game Ljubojević– Keene,

Palma de Mallorca Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorc ...

1971, which started 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Bc4 Bg7 4.f4 Nf6 and eventually ended in a

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anythin ...

. Intrigued by Ljubojević's early Bc4, Povah began investigating a rapid assault on f7 with 3.Qf3. When he showed the first few moves to Ken Coates, a friend at

Leeds Leeds () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the thi ...

, Coates declared, "If that works then I'm a monkey's bum!" The name stuck. The Monkey's Bum first appeared in print five years later in the ''

British Chess Magazine ''British Chess Magazine'' is the world's oldest chess journal in continuous publication. First published in January 1881, it has appeared at monthly intervals ever since. It is frequently known in the chess world as ''BCM''. The founder and ...

''. Povah wrote an article on the theory of the Monkey's Bum, in which he stated that although he had never yet lost with the variation, it was still "in its infancy".

Analysis

In playing the Monkey's Bum, White's idea is to gain active piece play by a sacrifice of the d4-pawn, much like the Smith-Morra Gambit. In practice however, such compensation proves tenuous in the Monkey's Bum proper, as evidenced by the following game: : Nigel Povah–

Shimon Kagan Shimon Kagan ( he, שמעון כגן; born 6 April 1942, in Tel Aviv) is an Israeli chess master. He was Israeli Champion in 1967 and 1969. He tied for 4-5th at Netanya 1968 (Bobby Fischer won), tied for 9-10th at Netanya 1969 (Samuel Reshevsky ...

, Birmingham 1977
1.e4 g6 2.Bc4 Bg7 3.Qf3 e6 4.d4 Bxd4 5.Ne2 Bg7 6.Nbc3 Nc6 7.Bf4 Ne5 8.Bxe5 Bxe5 9.Qe3 d6 10.0–0–0 Bd7 11.f4 Bg7 12.g4 a6 13.h4 b5 14.Bb3 a5 15.a4 bxa4 16.Nxa4 h5 17.e5 Nh6 18.exd6 Nxg4 19.Qc5 c6 20.Nd4 Bxd4 21.Rxd4 0–0 22.Nb6 Rb8 23.Nxd7 Qxd7 24.Ba4 Qb7 25.b3 Qb6 26.Qxb6 Rxb6 27.Rc4 Rd8 28.Bxc6 Rxd6 29.Bf3 Ne3 30.Ra4 Rb4 31.Rxa5 Rxf4 32.Bb7 Rb6 33.Ba8 Nf5 34.Kb2 Nxh4 35.Ka3 Nf5 36.c4 Nd4 37.Rb1 Nc2+ 38.Ka2 Nb4+ 39.Kb2 Rb8 40.c5 Nd3+ 0–1

Monkey's Bum Deferred

A much more popular and respected approach against the Modern Defense is the Monkey's Bum Deferred. It has been employed by such notable grandmasters as

John Nunn John Denis Martin Nunn (born 25 April 1955) is an English chess grandmaster, a three-time world champion in chess problem solving, a chess writer and publisher, and a mathematician. He is one of England's strongest chess players and was forme ...

Sergei Rublevsky Sergei Rublevsky (born 15 October 1974) is a Russian chess grandmaster (1994). He has won four team gold medals and one individual bronze medal at Chess Olympiads. He won the prestigious Aeroflot Open in 2004, and became the 58th Russian chess ch ...

and

Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the you ...

. It is distinct from the Monkey's Bum proper in that the attempt to create the "Scholar's mate" threat with Bc4 and Qf3 only occurs after White has developed their queen's knight. A typical sequence of the Monkey's Bum Deferred is 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4 d6 5.Qf3 (see diagram). Usually White will castle kingside and undertake an attack by means of the pawn thrust f2–f4. The following spectacular game is probably the most famous success of the Monkey's Bum Deferred and forced it to be considered with respect by the chess world: :

–

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classi ...

, Donner Memorial, Amsterdam, 1995
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c6 4.Bc4 d6 5.Qf3 e6 6.Nge2 b5 7.Bb3 a5 8.a3 Ba6 9.d5 cxd5 10.exd5 e5 11.Ne4 Qc7 12.c4 bxc4 13.Ba4+ Nd7 14.N2c3 Ke7 15.Nxd6 Qxd6 16.Ne4 Qxd5 17.Bg5+ Ndf6 18.Rd1 Qb7 19.Rd7+ Qxd7 20.Bxd7 h6 21.Qd1 1–0

References

*{{cite journal , last=Povah , first=Nigel , date=August 1977 , title=Monkey Business with 2♗c4 against the Modern Defence , journal=British Chess Magazine , volume=97 , issue=8 , pages=350–53

External links

British Championships 2000
Chess openings

Origin

Analysis

Monkey's Bum Deferred

See also

References

External links