NIC: When Harry meets the English

S.O.S. appears courtesy New In Chess Magazine and republished with kind permission

1.c4 e5 2.g3 2.h5!?

by Jeroen Bosch

White opts for the fianchetto without further ado. This makes a lot of sense since the square d5 has been singled out as a prime target by 1.c4. For the same reason, 2.♘c3 is the main line. Many White players (wanting to fianchetto their king’s bishop anyway) postpone the development of the queen’s knight these days in view of the reply 2...♗b4 (in the style of the Rossolimo Sicilian!).

As Victor Mikhalevski observes in his Beating Minor Openings (Quality Chess, 2016), 2.g3 owes its present popularity to Tony Kosten and Mihail Marin, who both wrote repertoire books for White based on the move order with 2.g3. Logically, 2...c6 is now a decent reply — ‘it’s square d5, stupid!’, as an American President might say to his opponent — and this is indeed the line that Mikhalevski advocates in the aforementioned tome (nearly 600 pages to combat ‘Minor Openings’!). And I am afraid that I have been guilty of combatting 2.g3 in the same sensible way. In a recent league match, one of my teammates went for a much more entertaining option. One that certainly deserves scrutiny in this column. 2...h5!?

Attaboy, that’s the spirit! The timid 2.g3 has suddenly been transformed into the proverbial red rag to a raging bull. The logic is all there — didn’t Fischer explain his strategy towards the Dragon as: open the h-file, sac, sac and mate? The English Opening is a reversed Sicilian after all!

Over the years there has been considerable GM support for hurling Harry the h-pawn forward. The likes of Richard Rapport, Ivan Sokolov and Ivan Popov are notable 2600+ adherents. A move like 2...h5 gives rise to a lot of early creativity, of course. For how should White respond?

1. Should he react by trying to prevent or prepare for ...h5-h4 with 3.h4, 3.h3 or 3.♘f3 ?
2. Should he just continue developing with 3.♘c3 or 3.♗g2 ?
3. Or should he adhere to that age-old principle that all  ank attacks must be met in the centre: 3.d4 ?

All these questions will badger White after 2...h5, and each of the responses contains a certain logic. A deep theoretical survey makes no sense at all, but indications will be given concerning all of these possible answers.

Variation I 3.h4

The English Opening Vol. 1

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

Variation II 3.h3

The English Opening Vol. 2

Williams main teaching method behind this set of two DVDs is to teach you some simple yet effective set ups, without the need to rely on memorising numerous complicated variations.

Variation III 3.Nf3

Variation IV 3.Nc3

Variation V 3.Bg2 h4

Variation VI 3.d4

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Carlsen sets record with 6th win
The 80th Tata Steel Chess ­Tournament in Wijk aan Zee ended with a blitz playoff between Magnus Carlsen and Anish Giri. The World Champion tends to win playoffs. Always. And this one was no exception.
 
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The Fashionable Caro-Kann Vol.1 and 2

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Correction April 13th: Due to an editing error, Variation V was initially omitted and Variation VI was mislabelled.