User:BirdBrain1

French Defense: Pinson Variation ECO C00

(Note: This is my first Wikipedia article - if you have advice, or can help me update this article to be more Wikipedia-friendly, I would greatly appreciate it!)

4-12-11

The variation 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 g5!? is called the Pinson variation, and is named after Doug Pinson, a chess player on the chess.com website (Username BirdBrain).

It is an offbeat opening that has some interesting aims - Black seeks to gain space on the kingside, and potentially drive White's knight from f3, where it exerts pressure on the d4 square. In many of these lines, Black will push the pawn to g4, support it with ...h5, and create a wedge in White's kingside space. If White decides to contest this structure with f3, Black allows White to take with fxg4 hxg4 (and normally Bxg4 or Qxg4), in which case, he has sacked a pawn for open g- and h-files. The pressure Black gains compensate for the sacrificed pawn - normally the games open quickly.

In traditional French Defense structures, Black plays 1...e6 followed by 2...d5, gaining a firm foothold in the center. However, in the Pinson variation, Black plays a more reserved ...d6/...e6 pawn structure, with ideas of ...Nc6, ...Bd7, ...Qe7 and 0-0-0. Typically, ...a6 is played as well.

Here is an example of a game recently played in blitz chess: 1. e4 e6 2. Nf3 g5 3. d4 g4 4. Ne5 h5 5. f3 d6 6. Nd3 Nc6 7. d5 Nce7 8. fxg4 hxg4 9. Qxg4 Nf6 10. Qg5 Ng6 11. dxe6 Bxe6 12. Nf4 Nxf4 13. Qxf4 Bh6 14. Qf3 Bxc1 15. Nd2 Bxd2+ 16. Kxd2 Qe7 17. e5 dxe5 18. Qxb7 0-0 19. h4 Bd5 20. Qb5 Rab8 21. Qe2 Rfd8 22. Ke1 Rxb2 23. h5 Qb4+ 24. Kf2 Qd4+ 25. Kg3 Qf4+ 26. Kh3 Be6+ 27. g4 Bxg4+ 28. Qxg4+ Qxg4+ 1-0

The original post for the idea can be found at: http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/french-2g5-or?page=1