chess Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...

, the Cambridge Springs Defense (or less commonly, the Pillsbury Variation) is a variation of the

Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...

that begins with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Nf6 :4. Bg5 Nbd7 :5. Nf3 c6 :6. e3 Qa5 Black breaks the

pin A pin is a device, typically pointed, used for fastening objects or fabrics together. Pins can have the following sorts of body: *a shaft of a rigid inflexible material meant to be inserted in a slot, groove, or hole (as with pivots, hinges, an ...

on the h4–d8 diagonal and forms a pin of their own on the c3-knight (exploiting the absence of the White's queen bishop from the ). If Black later plays dxc4, there may be threats against the g5-bishop. Note that 5.cxd5 cannot win a pawn because of the

Elephant Trap In chess, the Elephant Trap is a faulty attempt by White to win a pawn in a popular variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined. The earliest recorded occurrence of the trap seems to be the game Karl Mayet– Daniel Harrwitz, Berlin 1848.< ...

. The main line continues 7.Nd2 Bb4 with the threat of ...Ne4 and pressure along the a5–e1 diagonal. The ''

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') is a reference work describing the state of Chess theory#Opening theory, opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugos ...

'' code is D52.

Background

The first recorded use of the Cambridge Springs was by

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially ...

in 1892. The name derives from a 1904 tournament in Cambridge Springs,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, in which the defense was used several times. Practitioners of the opening have included

Efim Bogoljubov Efim Bogoljubow, also known as Efim Dimitrijewitsch Bogoljubow (April 14, 1889 – June 18, 1952), was a Russian-born German Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Early career Bogoljubow learned how to play chess at 15 years old, and dev ...

Vasily Smyslov Vasily Vasilyevich Smyslov (; 24 March 1921 – 27 March 2010) was a Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster who was the seventh World Chess Champion from 1957 to 1958. He was a Candidates Tournament, Candidate for the World Chess Championship on ...

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

, and

Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...

. The line remains popular among amateurs because there are several traps White must avoid. For example, 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bd3?? dxc4! (threatening ...Qxg5) 10.Bxf6 cxd3! (a

zwischenzug The zwischenzug ( German: , "intermediate move"; also called an in-between move or intermezzo) is a chess tactic in which a player, instead of playing the expected move (commonly a ), first interposes another move posing an immediate threat that ...

) 11.Qxd3 Nxf6 and Black has won a piece.

Continuations

White has several choices on his seventh move. The most common are: *7.Nd2 (the main line) immediately breaks the pin on the c3 knight and defends e4; 7...Bb4 is answered by 8.Qc2, defending the c3 knight and covering e4. *7.cxd5 avoids complications by clarifying the situation in the center. Black's strongest is the recapture 7...Nxd5, continuing the attack on c3. *7.Bxf6 avoids tactics involving discovered attacks on the g5-bishop.

Example games

* Capablanca vs.

Alekhine Alexander Aleksandrovich Alekhine. He disliked when Russians sometimes pronounced the of as , , which he regarded as a Yiddish distortion of his name, and insisted that the correct Russian pronunciation was . (March 24, 1946) was a Russian ...

, World Championship Match, Buenos Aires 1927:
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Nbd7 5.e3 c6 6.Nf3 Qa5 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 dxc4 9.Bxf6 Nxf6 10.Nxc4 Qc7 11.a3 Be7 12.Be2 0-0 13.0-0 Bd7 14.b4 b6 15.Bf3 Rac8 16.Rfd1 Rfd8 17.Rac1 Be8 18.g3 Nd5 19.Nb2 Qb8 20.Nd3 Bg5 21.Rb1 Qb7 22.e4 Nxc3 23.Qxc3 Qe7 24.h4 Bh6 25.Ne5 g6 26.Ng4 Bg7 27.e5 h5 28.Ne3 c5 29.bxc5 bxc5 30.d5 exd5 31.Nxd5 Qe6 32.Nf6+ Bxf6 33.exf6 Rxd1+ 34.Rxd1 Bc6 35.Re1 Qf5 36.Re3 c4 37.a4 a5 38.Bg2 Bxg2 39.Kxg2 Qd5+ 40.Kh2 Qf5 41.Rf3 Qc5 42.Rf4 Kh7 43.Rd4 Qc6 44.Qxa5 c3 45.Qa7 Kg8 46.Qe7 Qb6 47.Qd7 Qc5 48.Re4 Qxf2+ 49.Kh3 Qf1+ 50.Kh2 Qf2+ 51.Kh3 Rf8 52.Qc6 Qf1+ 53.Kh2 Qf2+ 54.Kh3 Qf1+ 55.Kh2 Kh7 56.Qc4 Qf2+ 57.Kh3 Qg1 58.Re2 Qf1+ 59.Kh2 Qxf6 60.a5 Rd8 61.a6 Qf1 62.Qe4 Rd2 63.Rxd2 cxd2 64.a7 d1=Q 65.a8=Q Qg1+ 66.Kh3 Qdf1+ 0–1 (67.Qg2 Qh1#) * Gelfand vs. Carlsen, World Chess Championship Candidates Tournament, London 2013:
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Nbd7 5.Bg5 c6 6.e3 Qa5 7.cxd5 Nxd5 8.Rc1 Nxc3 9.bxc3 Ba3 10.Rc2 b6 11.Bd3 Ba6 12.0-0 Bxd3 13.Qxd3 0-0 14.e4 Rfe8 15.e5 h6 16.Bh4 c5 17.Nd2 cxd4 18.cxd4 Rac8 19.Nc4 Qb5 20.f4 Rc7 21.Qxa3 Rxc4 22.Rxc4 Qxc4 23.Bf2 Qc7 24.Rc1 Qb7 25.Qd6 Nf8 26.g3 Rc8 27.Rxc8 Qxc8 28.d5 exd5 29.Qxd5 g6 30.Kg2 Ne6 31.Qf3 Kg7 32.a3 h5 33.h4 Qc2 34.Qb7 Qa4 35.Qf3 b5 36.f5 gxf5 37.Qxf5 Qxa3 38.Qxh5 a5 39.Qg4+ Kf8 40.h5 Qc1 41.Qe4 b4 42.Be3 Qc7 43.Qa8+ Kg7 44.h6+ Kh7 45.Qe4+ Kg8 46.Qa8+ Qd8 47.Qxd8+ Nxd8 48.Kf3 a4 49.Ke4 Nc6 50.Bc1 Na5 51.Bd2 b3 52.Kd3 Nc4 53.Bc3 a3 54.g4 Kh7 55.g5 Kg6 56.Bd4 b2 57.Kc2 Nd2 0–1Gelfand vs. Carlsen
/ref>

References

Bibliography *

External links

Cambridge Springs Defense4 Annotated World Championship Games in the Cambridge Springs
{{Chess Chess openings 1892 in chess 1904 in chess

Background

Continuations

Example games

See also

References

Further reading

External links