Openings
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- VOL. IV • Great GamesInteractive game studies
- VOL. V • OpeningsOriginal CAISSORA Opening Articles
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Trompowsky Attack
The bishop is out before you have opened your theory book
- Set-up systems
After 1.d4 Nf6 White plays 2.Bg5 at once and threatens to take the knight on f6 and double Black's pawns. This sidesteps the huge theory of the Indian defences: no Queen's Indian, King's Indian, Nimzo-Indian or Grünfeld. The opening is loved because it leads to unusual positions, and Black has to think for himself from the first moves.
4…c5
Moves
(8 plies • 4 moves)- 1–4moves
- 1.
- 2.
- 3.
- 4.
Defining move
2.Bg5 — the bishop comes out before c4
The move that leaves the beaten track
The bishop attacks the knight, and White threatens to trade it on f6 and wreck Black's structure. But Black need not put up with that. The main reply 2…Ne4 attacks the bishop in turn, and White has to decide where it retreats.
Tabiya
After 2…Ne4: White settles into a quiet set-up
The white bishop has gone to f4, the black knight stands on e4, and with 3…d5 Black has taken the centre. White plays e3 and builds a set-up in the manner of the London or the Torre. Black has answered 4…c5 and hits d4 at once. The position is balanced, but plans matter more here than variations.
White’s plan
- Choose between the quiet retreat 3.Bf4 and the sharp 3.h4.
- Build a firm centre: e3, Nd2 or Bd3, then c3.
- Use the bishop pair if Black agrees to doubled pawns.
Black’s plan
- Choose a reply to 2.Bg5: 2…Ne4, 2…d5 or 2…e6.
- Take the centre with …d5 and strike with …c5.
- If White trades on f6, use the open lines and the centre to make up for doubled pawns.
History
The opening is named after the Brazilian Octávio Trompowsky, who played it in the 1930s and 1940s. The move 2.Bg5 had been seen earlier, and Karel Opočenský and William Allen Ruth used it in the same years, so the name does not mean he was first.
Notable players
Magnus CarlsenGames in the Atlas
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