Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bb5/3...a6/4. Ba4/4...b5/5. Bb3/5...Na5

Norwegian variation C70 Spanish game → Caro variation → 5. Bb3 5...Na5 · Norwegian variation Black hunts down White's bishop, arguing that the advantage of the bishop pair is worth giving White a tempo to develop. White can't preserve their bishop. They're not in time to play 6. c3? to give it an escape square, and if 6. Bd5? c6 and the bishop again has nowhere to go. So, White instead can thank Black for the extra tempo, focus on development, and retake when the time comes. Though Black seems to have left their e-pawn hanging, as is often the case in the Ruy Lopez it is not so simple. 6. Nxe5?! Nxb3 7. axb3 Qg5! 8. Nf3 Qxg2 (recovers the pawn) 9. Rg1 Qh3 10. Rg3 Qe6 . Therefore 6. O-O is both an important developing move and threatens Nxe5, because now the g2 pawn is guarded and Black won't be able to recover the material. Therefore Black continues by defending the pawn, before or after taking the bishop, 6. d6 or 6. Nxb3 axb3 7. d6. Since White's bishop doesn't have anywhere to go, Black doesn't need to take it immediately. They can wait until White gives the bishop an escape square (e.g. by playing c3) or until the knight is forced to move. In the main line, that's after 6. O-O d6 7. d4 exd4 8. Nxd4 Bb7 9. Bd2 (threatening Bxa5) Nxb3. 6. Bxf7+, the Nightingale gambit, is a desperado sacrifice. It turns out there was one square the bishop could go to. Rather than trade the bishop for the knight, White will get two pawns and rob Black of castling rights for it instead. The line goes 6...Kxf7 7. Nxe5+ Ke7 8. d4 . 7...Ke8? is a horrific gaffe, because of the weakened kingside: 8. Qh5+ g6 9. Nxg6 hxg6 10. Qxh8 ---. History 5...Na5 is also known as the counterthrust variationModern Chess Openings de Firmian Nick Random House 2008 978-0-8129-3682-7 15th New York 55-57 or the Taimanov variation.Fundamental Chess Openings van der Sterren Paul Gambit Publications 2009 9781906454135 277 Mark Taimanov played the line several times in the 1955 USSR Championship, including against Boris Spassky.USSR Championship 1955 - Chessgames.com It received the Norwegian soubriquet for Svein Johannessen (1937―2007), a Norwegian IM who adopted the line.e.g. Bobby Fischer vs Svein Johannessen, 1966. Chessgames.com Theory table References See also