The Polish Defense is the name commonly given to one of several sequences of chess opening moves characterized by an early ...b5 by Black. The name "Polish Defense" is given by analogy to the so-called Polish Opening (ECO A40), 1.b4. The original line was
- 1. d4 b5
as played by Alexander Wagner, a Polish player and openings analyst, against Kuhn in the 1913 Swiss Correspondence Championship. Wagner published an analysis of the opening in Deutsches Wochenschach in 1914, when he was living in Stanislau, Galicia, Austria-Hungary (now Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine). Later the name was also applied to
- 1.d4 Nf6
- 2.Nf3 b5
and other variants where Black delays playing ...b5 until the second or third move, which are sometimes called the Polish Defense Deferred.
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