Berlin Defence: the Berlin Wall, Ideas and Plans

The Berlin Defence is the reply 3...Nf6 to the Ruy Lopez: Black does not chase the bishop on b5 with ...a6 but develops the knight and attacks the pawn on e4. Its most famous line reaches a queenless endgame on move eight, the "Berlin Wall", with which Vladimir Kramnik stopped Garry Kasparov in the 2000 world championship match.

For a long time it was seen as old-fashioned and a little dull. After that match it entered the repertoire of almost the entire elite, and today it is one of the reasons many players with White avoid the main line of the Ruy Lopez altogether.

The idea in one sentence

Black counterattacks e4 instead of defending e5, and accepts a position without castling and with doubled pawns in exchange for the bishop pair and a structure in which White cannot find a way in.

It is a different philosophy from the other defences to the Ruy Lopez. In the Closed Ruy Lopez Black gives up some space and waits for the right moment on the queenside; in the Berlin, pieces come off early and the game moves to ground where White's initiative counts for less.

Why 4.O-O does not lose the pawn

The first surprise is that White usually castles and leaves the e4 pawn hanging. After 4.O-O Nxe4 Black is a pawn up, but only for a moment: the knight on e4 stands on a file that is about to open, and the e5 pawn is weak too.

White has two ways to win it back:

• 5.d4, which opens the centre at once and leads to the Berlin Wall.
• 5.Re1, which pins the knight against the king along the e-file and aims to regain the e5 pawn with the pieces.

With 5.Re1 a typical line is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.O-O Nxe4 5.Re1 Nd6 6.Nxe5 Be7 7.Bf1 Nxe5 8.Rxe5 O-O: material is level again, Black has no weak pawns and the position is very symmetrical. It is solid for Black, which is why most players who want an edge with White choose 5.d4.

The Berlin Wall: the queenless endgame

After 5.d4 the main move is 5...Nd6, hitting the bishop and keeping the knight ready to come back. White takes on c6, regains the pawn with dxe5 and the queens leave the board:

Thousands of top-level games have been played from this position, and understanding why it is balanced means understanding the whole Berlin.

What White has:

• A healthy kingside majority: four pawns (the e, f, g and h pawns) against three. Given time, it can create a passed pawn.
• The e5 pawn, which takes d6 and f6 away from the black knight and gains space.
• Black's uncastled king, which has to find shelter by hand.

What Black has:

• The bishop pair, which is worth a lot in an open endgame.
• No real weaknesses. The doubled c-pawns cannot produce a passed pawn on the queenside, but they control important squares such as d5 and b5.
• A king that is in no danger without queens and can walk to e8 or c8 to connect the rooks.

That is why it is called a wall: White has more space and a useful majority, but Black has nothing to attack.

How to play it with Black

Black's plan is to organise the defence before White's majority starts moving, and only then look for activity.

• King to its square. The most common move is ...Ke8, sometimes ...Kc8 heading for the other wing. The point is to connect the rooks without losing time.
• ...h6, to take g5 away from White's bishop and, in some lines, prepare ...g5 or ...h5.
• Bishops to active squares. The light-squared bishop usually goes to e6 or d7; the dark-squared one to e7 or, when possible, to a long diagonal after ...g5.
• Stopping White's majority. The f7 pawn and the knight on f5 watch the f4-f5 advance; sometimes Black plays ...h5 so that White cannot expand with g4.

A very popular continuation is 9.Nc3 Ke8 10.h3 h6: the king leaves the d-file, the h6 pawn rules out Bg5, and White prepares g4 to drive the knight away from f5.

The key for Black is not to hurry. In the Berlin Wall most of Black's losses come from looking for counterplay too early, opening the position before the pieces are coordinated.

How to play it with White

With White the aim is to turn space into something concrete without letting Black's bishops come alive.

• Coordinate before pushing. Rooks to the d- and e-files, a knight to e4 or e2, the bishop to f4 or e3.
• Prepare f4-f5 or g4, so the majority advances with support and gains space against the black knight.
• Look for a good knight against a bad bishop. If White manages to exchange one of Black's bishops and leave the other hemmed in by its own pawns, the pressure grows.
• Patience. The wall does not fall in ten moves: White wins by piling up small advantages until Black, tired of defending, slips.

The alternatives: the Anti-Berlin

Many players with White do not want the queenless endgame and choose to play a middlegame instead. The most popular way is 4.d3, which protects e4 and keeps the queens on.

A typical line is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6 4.d3 Bc5 5.c3 O-O 6.O-O d6, a slow, manoeuvring position with a flavour of the Italian Game: White prepares Nbd2-f1-g3 and a central break, and Black develops calmly. There is less forcing theory and more chess of plans.

Other options such as 4.Nc3 or 4.Qe2 exist but are less common. If you play the Berlin with Black, your first job is to have a clear answer to 4.d3, because that is what you will meet most.

The match that made it fashionable

In October and November 2000, in London, Kramnik challenged Kasparov for the classical world title. Kasparov was the clear favourite and his main weapon with White was 1.e4. Kramnik answered with the Berlin and took the game into the wall again and again: Kasparov did not manage to beat it with White once.

Kramnik won the match 8½–6½, with two wins and thirteen draws, without losing a game. The champion who had dominated chess for fifteen years was left without his strongest weapon, and the Berlin went from curiosity to first-class defence. For that duel from the other side, the article on Garry Kasparov covers the rest of his career.

Typical mistakes

• Thinking it is a drawing weapon. Black has real chances when White rushes to break the wall.
• With Black, forgetting the king. Leaving it on d8 for long blocks the rook and invites pins on the d-file.
• With White, exchanging pieces without a purpose. Every exchange that achieves nothing brings the game closer to a dead draw or frees Black's bishops.
• Studying only the first eight moves. In the Berlin the theory ends quickly and an endgame begins that you have to know how to play: without endgame technique, the opening is of little use.

How to study it

First the Berlin Wall position and its plans, with complete master games: it is what comes up most and teaches the most. Then the 5.Re1 line and the Anti-Berlin with 4.d3, the answers you will meet when White does not want the endgame. And there is no need to memorise everything: understanding what each side wants is enough, as explained in do you have to memorise openings.

The course Ruy López in Depth covers the Berlin alongside the Exchange Variation, the Steinitz lines, the systems with ...g6 and ...f5, the Open Variation and the typical middlegames of the main line. It works both for playing the Berlin with Black and for knowing what to do against it with White.