Queen's Pawn Game: Torre Attack

The Torre Attack is a quiet system for White built on 1.d4, Nf3 and Bg5. On this page Black answers with ...d5 and ...Nf6, so the line runs 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5. This form is also called the Tartakower Variation of the Queen's Pawn Game (D03). The bishop goes to g5, attacking the f6-knight, before White has moved the c- or e-pawn.

Origins

The opening is named after the Mexican grandmaster Carlos Torre Repetto, who beat former World Champion Emanuel Lasker with it. Savielly Tartakower and Boris Spassky played it too, and so did Tigran Petrosian early in his career. Later exponents include Alexey Dreev, Pentala Harikrishna, Krishnan Sasikiran and Jan Timman.

The idea

White develops quickly and simply: the light-squared bishop goes to d3, the dark-squared bishop to g5 and the knights to d2 and f3. The d4-pawn is supported by c2–c3, and White often follows with e2–e4 to get attacking chances on the kingside while the bishop bears on the knight on f6.

If White plays an early c4 instead, the game turns into one of the more common queen's pawn openings, such as the Queen's Gambit or one of the Indian defences.

Main lines

The Torre takes its shape from Black's first two moves:

• 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5, the Classical Defense: the main Torre Attack (A46). Black can question the bishop at once with 3...h6, the Nimzowitsch Variation.
• 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 g6 3.Bg5, the Torre against a kingside fianchetto (A48). After 3...Bg7 White usually plays 4.Nbd2, sometimes 4.c3. Common lines are 4.Nbd2 O-O 5.c3 and 4.Nbd2 d5 5.e3 O-O.
• 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Bg5, this page. Black's options include 3...Ne4, the Gossip Variation, and 3...g6.

Who should play it

The Torre is rarely a main weapon in modern top-level chess, and statistics suggest it does not give White any particular advantage. It is calm and needs little theory, so it is popular at club level, where it gives White chances to take the initiative in the middlegame. It is also used against set-ups where Black fianchettoes the king's bishop.

The numbers

On Lichess White wins 49.5% of the 3.1 million games with this line and Black 44.6%. The split hardly moves with rating: 49.4% against 46.2% under 1400, 49.5% against 44.5% between 1800 and 2199, and 47.6% against 43.6% from 2200 up. In 1,972 master games over the board, 43% were drawn, White won 29.1% and Black 27.9%.