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When I first saw the North Sea Defense, it reminded me of the duckbill platypus. You know, that animal that seemed to have been assembled from spare parts?
Welcome, dear readers, to the North Sea Defense (a.k.a. the Norwegian Defense.) Readers will no doubt rush to their chessboards to demonstrate for me the game Nimzovich- Alekhine, New York 1927: 1.Nf3 Nf6 2.b3 d6 3.g3 e5 4.c4 e4 5.Nh4 d5 (1-0, 57) – clearly a “spiritual fore-father” of the North Sea Defense. Leave it to the Stormy Petrel to fianchetto his knight… But what is that knight doing stuck out over there in the North Sea? I realize that one idea in the Modern Defense is to not block the black bishop that goes to g7, so I can understand the knight wanting to hot foot it out of the way; but, still… In most North Sea lines, the knight replaces the bishop at g7! Once again, the Chessville crowd likes its unorthodox openings, so some of you have probably already recalled that GM Bukhuti Gurgenidze sometimes played that way coming out of the Caro Kann. Georgadze - Gurgenidze, USSR 1974: 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 g6 4.c3 Nf6 5.e5 Nh5 6.g3 Ng7 (½ - ½, 56). More than a few are probably pleased to point out that GM Jacob Murey played the related line in the English Opening: 1.c4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.g3 e4 4.Nh4, as in Murey - Muir, London 1987 (1-0, 26). Golly, it’s hard to stay ahead of this crowd! The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense starts off with an encouraging Foreword by Mike Archer, a long time practitioner of the Modern Defense. One of his conclusions:
Let’s see: “below 2400” - check; “hurly-burly of OTB” - check; “psychological impact” - check. Okay, I’m still with you guys. Contents. Outline. Bickford discusses the first six moves of the defense, using them and move alternates along the way to connect to the following 9 Parts (chapters.) I didn’t realize that there was theory on the lines – but, then, I didn’t realize there were so many games, either (over 260 in The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense.) A quick overview: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5 Part 1: Early Alternatives Main Line 4.Be2 d6 5.Bxh5 gxh5 6.Qxh5 dxe5 Part 8: 7.dxe5 Qxe5 8.Nf3 Qe4 9.Be3 Qc2 Each Part starts with a bit of organization (similar to the Outline) followed by relevant games, some of which are annotated lightly. For the record, there is no Index, but there is a reassuring list of References. The book is reasonably laid-out, with a few typos and one dypo (i.e. the second diagram on page 30 is a duplicate of the first, not the appropriate one for the new position) which do not diminish enjoyment of the book for the reader. Diagrams are well-placed in the two column format, and the use of bolding, italic and white space make the book easy to read. Ok, it seems to me that when it comes to the Randspringer (that off-sides knight), White has three choices. He can annoy the knight, he can ignore it, or he can terminate it! Unfortunately for White, when it comes to “annoying,” after 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5 4.g4 Ng7 the black knight is only going where it wants to go (later to emerge on either e6 or f5) and even the thoughtful move 5.Bh6, to exchange off Black’s dark-squared bishop at some point, doesn’t cover up the fact that White’s king is draftier than Black’s. No wonder you can find the line merely as a variation in Early Alternatives. Bickford is not worried on behalf of the second player. “Ignoring” the Knight can be done by building up White’s center with 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5 followed by either 4.c4 or 4.f4. Black can try 4…d6 with play against the center, or 4…d5 followed by a transposition to a Gurgenidze structure with …e6, …h5, and possibly even …b6 and …a5, as in some analysis given by Hjorth.
Again, Bickford tucks these attempts away in the Early Alternatives. Unless the author is bluffing, Black gets a playable game (or better). Another way to “ignore” the offside knight is for White to focus on development, say 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bc4. I found the following by Tim Harding: THE NORTH SEA DEFENCE REFUTED?
The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense contains the Stern – Hjorth game:
Its coverage of Harding’s parenthetical line above (7…Ng7 instead of 7…Be7) goes only as far as 8 Qf3 Qe7 9 Bb5 Bd7, given without evaluation; while neither mention 9…d5 as a possible improvement. Bickford quotes Hjorth’s suggestion of 9…0-0 (instead of 9…Rg8). That move, plus the 5…d5 Harding noted, or the earlier 4…d5, may challenge the notion of “refuted” but until there is more exploration, the line might be considered perhaps not “under a shadow” but possibly “in the shade.” Alternately White can try 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5 4.Nf3 d6 5.h3 (covered in Part 3) limiting the scope of Black’s pieces and controlling more of the board. It is likely, however, that a Modern Defense player, especially a North Sea Variation player, would be comfortable with the black pieces in that kind of cramp. Finally, to terminate the knight seems the simplest line to look at, and it forms the Main Line (“the most challenging of White’s alternatives” according to Bickford) of The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Nf6 3.e5 Nh5 4.Be2 d6 5.Bxh5 gxh5 6.Qxh5 dxe5 7.dxe5
Tah-dah! White has won a pawn, and… and… and my Rybka evaluates the position, looking 21 ply deep, as 0.00. Amazing. It is even more amazing when you realize that Rybka, at the same depth of search, evaluates the opening position (before a move has been made) as 0.09 – White stands worse after 7 moves in the North Sea than he did before one move!? Parts 8 and 9 suggest that things actually can get pretty tactical, and that White should return the pawn and focus on better development and open lines while Black should try to keep things together on his end, defend and/or counterattack, and rely on exchanges and his better pawn structure. The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense is the most up-to-date and complete resource for this opening – in fact, I know of few others. Bickford refers to a two-part article by Welling in Schaaknieuws (#89 and #97, 1988) as well as ICCF-IM Gunnar Hjorth’s seminal article in Correspondence Chess Informator, Vol. 7, 1995. There are scattered earlier articles in Rainer Schlenker’s Randspringer magazine, and there is an article by Hjorth in Randspringer #71 / #72, February 1995 (according to the Unorthodox Openings Newsletter, Issue No. 1, September 2000) which may indeed be the same as the one in CCI. Despite the statement on the Syzygy Publishing, Inc. website that they are “Dedicated to providing paperbound chess books with exhaustive analysis of chess openings with numerous illustrative games,” The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense is understandably much heavier on the numerous illustrative games, than on exhaustive analysis – although, to be fair, there was not an exhausting amount of analysis for Bickford to have rounded up. Is The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense for you? I agree with the author’s assessment:
But – Hey, Syzygy! You’ve been putting out cool chess books on opening variations for quite a few years – how come your newest, hottest title isn’t even mentioned on your website?? “Inquiring minds want to know,” and all that. I have seen The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense available in the $13 - $15 range on eBay, which is very reasonable. I look forward to future titles concerning the Modern Defense from Syzygy – the Foreword mentions coverage of the Gurgenidze and Hippopotamus structures.
Addendum: I have recently exchanged emails with Rolf Martens, early explorer of the North Sea (he first called it the Horseshoe). Martens is not currently playing chess, but still enjoys discussing it, especially at the Swedish-language website http://www.schackforum.se/. He promotes the UHCA (Ultra Hypermodern Counter Attack) school of chess for Black and the UHA (Ultra Hypermodern Attack) school for White. Examples of his interest and invention include the Sicilian Gåpå (Gaw Paw) Variation 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 Qb6, featured in John Emms’ recent and well-received Dangerous Weapons: The Sicilian. He likes the Left Hook Variation (also in the Sicilian), 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nh6. He has investigated 1.e4 Nh6 with the Right Punch Variation after 2.d4 c5, the Scandinavian Bridge Variation after 2.d4 d5 and the Hinka Variation after 2.d4 g6. Although he had not yet seen Bickford’s The North Sea Variation of the Modern Defense, Martens had a few preliminary observations. “I actually am objecting a little to its title, since I hold that 2...Nf6 is not a subvariation of the Modern Defence, which I think should be defined as arising only after 2...Bg7. The entire strategy of the North Sea is quite different from that of the Modern, since in the North Sea, it's the ‘softer’ white centre P[awn], Pe4, that gets attacked, while the Modern targets the "harder" one, Pd4…” Addendum #2: I have also heard via email from Gerard Welling:
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