New Zealand Chess Magazine, October 2018

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Introduction to The Berlin Defence, by Daniel Han

I first learned the Berlin defence in 2008. I was a junior engineer. For work reasons, I had to live in a holiday park cabin for two months. I became bored and bought a copy of Kramnik's DVD "My path to the top". To an amateur chess player like myself, it was an eye-opener to hear Kramnik talking about his world championship matches, opening preparation, and of course the Berlin defence!

The Berlin defence has a reputation for solidity and drawishness and is sometimes called "the Berlin Wall". In 2000, Vladimir Kramnik used the line as a drawing weapon against Garry Kasparov in Classical World Chess Championship 2000.

When I saw this position the first time, I thought that White must be close to winning because Black has violated all the classical chess laws that I knew of: White has castled and is ahead in development, and has a pawn majority on the king side. Black's king is stuck in the centre with still many pieces left on the board. But chess can be deceptive sometimes, and the general chess principles have to give way to concrete play.

Black's main advantage is that he has the bishop pair. With the queens off the board, it is not too dangerous for his king hanging around in the centre. Black's main objectives are to find a way to bring his rooks into the game (via d8, e8, h5, a5) and delay white's e6 breakthrough for as long as possible.

Black has two ways to hide the king. Either b7 (via c8) or e8. The b7 plan was played in the 1st and 3rd games of the Kasparov - Kramnik match. The e8 idea appeared played in the 9th and 13th games of the match. Depending on what White does, Black normally places the c8 bishop either on c6 or e6, the knight on either c6, g6 or f5.

Although there are no sharp lines in the opening, both players have to be very careful with the move orders, a slight inaccuracy from White can lose his chance to fight for an opening advantage. Black always need to watch out for white's f4-f5-e6 pawn breakthough.

I very much enjoyed playing the Berlin because it offers original and interesting positions to play with.

It should be mentioned that white's most popular move to avoid the Berlin is 4. d3. Anyone wanting to play the Berlin as Black must be prepared to play this sideline.

Two of my games against strong opposition follow.

Steadman, Mike - Han, Daniel Waikato Open 2008

Smith, Robert W - Han, Daniel Waitakere Trust Open-A 2010