Cambridge Springs Defense - Easy to learn for Beginners

If you are a beginner in chess play the Cambridge Springs Defense for a start as this chess opening is pretty straightforward and easy to understand.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Sb1-c3 Sg8-f6 4.Lc1-g5 Sb8-d7 5.e2-e3 c7-c6 6.Sg1-f3 Dd8-a5

Hint: You can play this opening when the white bishop on c1 comes out and moves to g5! Just watch the bishop where it goes.
Black wants to play Bb4 and Ne4 to put pressure on the white knight on c3.
White can fall into this trap and loses a piece.

chess strategies for beginners

Or White can fall into this trap: 7.Nd2 Bb4 8.Qc2 0-0 9.Bd3? dxc4! (the white bishop on g5 is not protected! If Bxc4 you take Qxg5 and win the bishop!) 10.Bxf6 cxd3! (Zwischenzug!) 11.Qxd3 Nxf6 and you are a piece up and should win. (see diagramm)

chess strategies for beginners

Here you play 9...dxc4! and win a piece!

It is important for Black to bring his inactive bishop on c8 out into the game. For that reason Black usually plays the pawn move e6-e5. This opens the diagonal c8-h3 for the bishop to come out later on. (see next diagramm)

Here Black has just played e6-e5. This makes it possible to bring the bishop out along the c8-h3 diagonal.
When you replay the following chess games please observe where the black bishop goes and what it does. This will speed up your learning process. You might even memorize the story of each black piece, what it does and where it goes.

Cambridge-Springs Games