Richter-Veresov Attack

The Richter–Veresov Attack, or Veresov Opening, is a queen's pawn opening in which White develops the queen's knight before the c-pawn and attacks the f6-knight: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5, the most common move order. It also arises from 1.d4 d5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bg5. With the Trompowsky, the Colle System, the London System and the Torre Attack, it is one of the more common branches of the Queen's Pawn Game.

Origins

The opening dates back at least to the game Marshall–Wolf, Monte Carlo 1902. Savielly Tartakower played it regularly from the 1920s to the end of his life, including in his win over Donner at the Staunton Centenary in 1951, usually in a closed, manoeuvring style.

It is named after the German International Master Kurt Richter, who found new ideas in it in the 1930s to suit his risk-taking style, and the Soviet master Gavriil Veresov, who played it for over a quarter of a century. Veresov did the most for its theory and practice, from the Second World War to the 1950s and 1960s, and showed that it had more depth than had been thought.

Spassky, Tal, Smyslov, Larsen and Bronstein all tried it as an occasional surprise weapon, and Karpov won with it against Romanishin in a Soviet Team Championship. Héctor Rossetto, Lev Alburt and Tony Miles played it more often, and in recent years Jonny Hector has become an adherent of it.

The idea

White's usual plans are to castle queenside quickly and to play f3 and e4 early. Played this way, the opening develops the pieces fast, like a king's pawn opening, with fewer pawn moves than most queen's pawn systems. It looks like a Ruy Lopez mirrored on the queenside, but the play is quite different.

Main lines

After 3.Bg5 Black's most popular replies are 3...Nbd7, 3...e6, 3...Bf5, 3...c6 and 3...c5.

• 3...Bf5 gave the two namesakes their own variations. Richter usually played 4.f3, aiming for a big pawn centre. Veresov preferred 4.Bxf6, damaging Black's pawn structure.
• 3...Nbd7 4.Nf3 is the Two Knights System.

Who plays it

The Veresov has never been very popular at the top level, though strong players have used it on occasion: in 1959 David Bronstein played the Richter Attack against Veresov himself. In contemporary play the system has stayed popular, and Alexander Morozevich has also shown interest in it.

The numbers

On Lichess White wins 49.2% of the 2.4 million games and Black 45.5%. Between 1400 and 1799 the sides are almost level, 48.1% against 47.7%. From 2200 up White wins 49.6% and Black 43.2%. In 4,018 master games over the board Black did better: Black won 36.1%, White 27.4%, and 36.5% were drawn.