Tarrasch Defense

The Tarrasch Defense is a chess opening characterized by the moves:

1. d4 d5

2. c4 e6

3. Nc3 c5

The Tarrasch is a variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined.

With his third move, Black makes an aggressive bid for central space. After White plays cxd5 and dxc5, Black will be left with an isolated pawn on d5. Such a pawn may be weak, since it can no longer be defended by other pawns; but it grants Black a foothold in the center, and Black's bishops will have unobstructed lines for development.

The opening was advocated by the German master Siegbert Tarrasch, who contended that the increased mobility Black enjoys is well worth the inherent weakness of the isolated center pawn. Although many other masters, after the teachings of Wilhelm Steinitz, rejected the Tarrasch Defense out of hand because of the pawn weakness, Tarrasch continued to play his opening while rejecting other variations of the Queen's Gambit, even to the point of putting question marks on routine moves in all variations except the Tarrasch (which he awarded an exclamation mark) in his book Die moderne Schachpartie. (See chess punctuation.)

The Tarrasch Defense is considered sound. Even if Black fails to make use of his mobility and winds up in an inferior endgame, tied to the defence of his isolated pawn, he may be able to hold the draw if he defends accurately.

In the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, the Tarrasch Defense has codes D32 through D34.