Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e6/2. d4/2...d5/3. Nc3/3...Bb4/4. e5/4...c5/5. a3/5...Bxc3/6. bxc3/6...Qa5

Portisch-Hook variation C18 Winawer variation 6...Qa5 · Portisch-Hook variation Black decides to poke at White's queenside, hoping for them to misplace their pieces. White's best option is to defend the pawn with 7. Bd2. That is not the end of Black's plan however. After 7...Qa4 Black prevents White from pushing the a-pawn further and tries to keep White's queen stuck defending the c-pawn, though there are still some tricks. 8. Qg4 is the main line. White tries to get Black to weaken their kingside by either forfeiting castling rights with 8...Kf8 or by weakening the dark squares around the king with 8...g6. After either move, White can simply retreat the queen to d1, or play 9. Nf3 to castle kingside quickly. Losing the c2-pawn is usually not a big issue for White because they get a big development lead in return. 8. Qb1 is an alternative, looking for 9. Bb5+ to win the queen. Usually 8...c4 is played to prevent this plan and grab space on the queenside. Apart from the slightly odd queen placement, Black can usually employ the usual ideas of the Winawer like ...b6 in order to trade off the light-squared bishops. White also has the common idea of h2-h4-h5 to start a king-side attack. History The variation is likely named after the players Lajos Portisch and William Hook. Hook played this variation against Bobby Fischerhttps://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1044303 www.chessgames.com Fischer - Hook, Siegen, rd. 5, 1970 10 February 2026 who beat him and presumably gave some improvements.https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=18784 www.chessgames.com William Hook 10 February 2026 Theory table 0 7. Bd2 Qa4 8. Qg4 Kf8 9. Qd1 b6 7. ... ... 8. Qb1 c4 References See also https://www.chesspublishing.com/content/2/apr18.htm#win IM John Watson examines the Winawer main lines www.chesspublishing.com