Week 66: how to play the Modern Defense as Black (5 wins in 6 games)

This was the week the Modern Defense carried me. From April 14 to 20, 2025, I played 32 rapid games and went from 1265 to 1292 (+27), with 16 wins, 13 losses and 3 draws. On Sunday I touched 1317, my highest rating since January. The engine of that climb was a single opening: with Black against 1.e4 I played the Modern Defense six times and won five. So this diary entry doubles as my honest notes on how to play the Modern Defense as Black at club level, including the parts where I got lucky.

The week in numbers

The split by colour tells the story: 10 wins, 6 losses and a draw with Black, but only 6 wins, 7 losses and 2 draws with White.

How I play the Modern Defense as Black

The Modern is simple to set up. White plays 1.e4, I answer with ...g6, put the bishop on g7 and let White take the center with pawns. Then I try to hit that center later with pieces and pawn breaks. In game 1451 against gulgulla (1273) the moves went 1.e4 g6 2.d4 d6 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.Be3 Nf6 5.e5 dxe5 6.Nxe5 O-O, a typical start.

The six games: wins against gulgulla (1273), Gerrlad-MS (1287), rohan565 (1297), Markasteris (1301) and sa7d (1310), and one loss to Gajo83pl (1287). The win against sa7d was my cleanest, 93.2% accuracy and checkmate after 68 moves. The win against Gerrlad-MS was the opposite: 50.7% accuracy and six blunders, and I still won because he made six too. The opening didn't win those games by itself. It gave me positions I understood, and in a week where both sides blundered around 70 times, understanding the position was enough to come out ahead more often than not.

Moment 1: my queen is inside, and I grab the wrong pawn

Game 1451 against gulgulla (1273), Black (game). My queen had already gone all the way to g2. White had just castled queenside, and the engine thought that was a big mistake: −4.48, Black is winning.

r . . . . r k .
p p p . p p b .
. . . . b . p .
n . . . . . . p
. . . P . . . P
. . P B B . . .
P . P Q N P q .
. . K R . . . R

I took the a2 pawn with my bishop, next to White's king. It looks aggressive, but my queen was still sitting on g2 without a defender, and White's rook could come to g1 and chase it. Qd5 does both jobs at once: the queen gets out of danger and attacks the rook on h1 and the same a2 pawn. The evaluation dropped from −4.48 to −1.17, still better for me but no longer winning. I won anyway, by resignation on move 51.

Moment 2: a bishop on the wrong square

Game 1452 against JCaraxx (1253), Black, an East Indian London (game). On move 10 I developed my last bishop to f5.

r . b q . r k .
. p p . p p b p
p . n p . . p .
. . . . . . . .
. n . P . . . .
. . . . P N B P
P P P N B P P .
R . . Q K . . R

White played 11.e4, attacking the bishop, and after I retreated, 12.c3 attacked my knight on b4. The engine already had White at +5.40, which means the knight was lost one way or another; I took a pawn on a2 with it and White captured. The lesson for beginners: before putting a piece on a square, check whether a pawn can attack it. Pawns are the cheapest attackers, so a pawn attacking a piece always wins time. Despite being a piece down, I won when JCaraxx resigned on move 21. At 1250, games are rarely over when the engine says they are.

Moment 3: the knight in front of the queen

Game 1453 against Fernandew (1293), Black, a Pirc (game). In the very next game I moved my queen to attack White's rook on a1.

r . . . . r . .
p p p . . p k p
. . . . . n p .
. . . . p . . .
. . P q P . . .
. . . P . Q . P
P . P . B . P .
R . . . . R . K

My knight on f6 stood on the f-file in front of White's queen on f3, with White's rook on f1 behind it. White played Qxf6+: the queen took the knight with check, and my king couldn't take back because the rook on f1 now covered f6 along the open file. The evaluation went from −0.41 to +6.53 in one move, and I was checkmated later. Moving the knight to h5 kept the game about equal.

The lesson of the week

All three moments come down to one question I didn't ask: what does my opponent attack after my move? The queen raid left my queen loose, the bishop walked into a pawn attack, and the queen move let White take my knight with check. The Modern Defense is a good choice for me because it leads to positions I understand, but understanding the plan is not the same as checking the position. The opening gets you to move 10. From there, every move needs the same quick check: checks, captures and attacks for the other side.

The end of the week is a footnote to that. After reaching 1317 on Sunday, I lost three in a row and finished at 1292.

All games this week

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