Baltic Defense
Encyclopedia
The Baltic Defense is a chess opening
characterized by the moves:
The Baltic is an unusual variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined
. In most defenses to the QGD, Black has difficulties developing his queen bishop
. This opening takes a radical approach to the problem by bringing out the queen bishop immediately.
The Baltic has not found widespread acceptance among chess masters, but some world-class players have used it including grandmasters Paul Keres
and Alexei Shirov
.
The ECO
code for the Baltic Defense is D06.
Chess opening
A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...
characterized by the moves:
- 1. d4 d5
- 2. c4 Bf5
The Baltic is an unusual variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined
Queen's Gambit Declined
The Queen's Gambit Declined is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit:This is known as the Orthodox Line of the Queen's Gambit Declined...
. In most defenses to the QGD, Black has difficulties developing his queen bishop
Bishop (chess)
A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen...
. This opening takes a radical approach to the problem by bringing out the queen bishop immediately.
The Baltic has not found widespread acceptance among chess masters, but some world-class players have used it including grandmasters Paul Keres
Paul Keres
Paul Keres , was an Estonian chess grandmaster, and a renowned chess writer. He was among the world's top players from the mid-1930s to the mid-1960s....
and Alexei Shirov
Alexei Shirov
Alexei Dmitrievich Shirov is a Soviet-born Latvian chess grandmaster. He has consistently ranked among the world's top players since the early 1990s, and reached a ranking as high as number four in 1998...
.
The ECO
Eco
- Eco may refer to :* eco-, a prefix mostly relating to ecological or environmental terms* .eco, , a proposed top-level domain for the Internet* Eco , a proposed currency* Eco , a computer simulation game...
code for the Baltic Defense is D06.
White responses
White has a number of replies to this opening, including 3.Nf3, 3.Qb3, 3.Nc3, 3.cxd5, and 3.e3.See also
- Keres Defence (1.d4 e6 2.c4 Bb4+)
- List of chess openings
- List of chess openings named after places
Further reading
- Baltic Defense to the Queens Gambit, by Andrew Soltis, Chess Digest, ISBN 0-87568-228-6.