The Austrian Attack variation of the
Pirc Defence is a
chess opening characterised by the following moves:
:1.
e4 d6
:2.
d4 Nf6
:3.
Nc3 g6
:4.
f4 Bg7
Typical continuations include the 5.Nf3 0-0, an immediate attack with 5.e5 Nfd7, or a counterattack with 5.Nf3 c5.
The Pirc Defence is one of several
hypermodern responses to the opening move
1.e4. The aim of the Austrian Attack is to take advantage of Black's hypermodern approach by establishing a broad pawn centre early in the game. The general strategy for White is to use the pawn on f4 to support a breakthrough with e4–e5. Black will often
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
early and attempt to find counterplay with c7–c5, or in some cases, e7–e5, or the of the queenside knight.
Performance
The
Chessgames.com master game database records approximately 1850 games which opened with the Austrian Attack. Of those games, White won 39.4%, Black won 28%, and the remaining 32.6% were
draws.
Siegbert Tarrasch successfully employed the Austrian Attack against
Rudolf Charousek
Rudolf Charousek ( hu, Charousek Rezső; 19 September 1873 – 18 April 1900) was a Czech born Hungarian chess player. One of the top ten players in the world during the 1890s, he had a short career, dying at the age of 26 from tuberculosis. Re ...
in 1896, securing a win in just 17 moves.
Edward Lasker unsuccessfully used the opening against
Miguel Najdorf, resigning after 42 moves. In 1952,
Isaac Boleslavsky tried the opening against
Vasja Pirc
Vasja Pirc () (December 19, 1907 – June 2, 1980) was a Slovenian chess player. He is best known in competitive chess circles as a strong exponent of the hypermodern defense now generally known as the Pirc Defense.
Pirc was champion of Yug ...
(after whom the Pirc Defence is named), but they agreed to a draw after move 62.
In the 17th game of the
1972 World Chess Championship,
Boris Spassky
Boris Vasilievich Spassky ( rus, Бори́с Васи́льевич Спа́сский, Borís Vasíl'yevich Spásskiy; born January 30, 1937) is a Russian chess grandmaster who was the tenth World Chess Champion, holding the title from 196 ...
opened with 1.e4.
Bobby Fischer responded with the Pirc Defence, for the only time in his career.
[ Botterill 1973, p. 118] Spassky played the Austrian Attack. The game proceeded as follows:
:1.e4 d6 2.d4 g6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.f4 Bg7 5.Nf3 c5 6.dxc5 Qa5 7.Bd3 Qxc5 8.Qe2 0-0 9.Be3 Qa5 10.0-0 Bg4 11.Rad1 Nc6 12.Bc4 Nh5 13.Bb3 Bxc3 14.bxc3 Qxc3 15.f5 Nf6 16.h3 Bxf3 17.Qxf3 Na5 18.Rd3 Qc7 19.Bh6 Nxb3 20.cxb3 Qc5+ 21.Kh1 (see diagram) Qe5
By playing 21...Qe5 instead of 21...Rf8–c8, Fischer offered the
exchange sacrifice as a means of blunting Spassky's kingside attack. The game ended on move 45 owing to
draw by agreement despite Spassky having a slight material advantage.
on Chessgames.com
References
Bibliography
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{{Chess
Chess openings