Week 83: how to play the Modern Defense as Black, from a 3–1 week

Week 83 went up: 15 rapid games between August 25 and 31, 2025, 9 wins and 6 losses, and my rating climbed from 1171 to 1205. It started with six wins in a row. As Black I leaned on the Modern Defense (1.e4 g6) and scored 3 wins and 1 loss with it, so this post is also my practical answer to how to play the Modern Defense as Black at this level: let White build the centre, finish your setup, and pounce when something in that centre is left undefended. The week also had 36 blunders, so not everything was pretty.

The week in numbers

Most played openings: Modern Defense with 1 e4 (4), Queen's Pawn Opening Zukertort Chigorin Variation (2), Queen's Pawn Opening Zukertort Variation (2).

The streak was games 1644 to 1649, from Monday to Thursday. Two of those wins were my cleanest games of the month, at 97.1% (as White, game 1644) and 96.8% (as Black in the Modern, game 1649). After the streak the week turned choppy: of the last eight games I won three. Four of the six losses were games where Stockfish says I had a winning chance of more than 80% at some point, which is becoming a familiar line in this diary.

The split by colour is worth writing down: 5–2 as Black, 4–4 as White. My White repertoire is the London-style setup with d4 and Bf4; my Black repertoire is the g6 family: Modern, Pirc, and the lines with an early ...Nc6 that Chess.com files as the Nimzowitsch Defense. This week the g6 side did better.

How to play the Modern Defense as Black: take what White leaves loose

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

This is the Modern Defense in a nutshell. Against puspakbishop (1164), White played 1.e4 g6 2.Bc4 d6 3.d4 Nf6 and then 4.Bg5, which Stockfish marked as a blunder. Nothing was guarding the e4 pawn any more. The engine's move is 4...Nxe4: the knight takes the pawn and, from e4, attacks the bishop on g5, which has no defender either. I played the automatic 4...Bg7 instead, the move I always play in this opening, and the evaluation went from -1.63 (good for me) to +0.16. I won anyway after 13 moves, but the real lesson of the Modern is right here: the setup is flexible, and the price White pays for a big centre is that its pieces can end up hanging. You only cash in if you look.

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

The second position is from the same g6 family (it began 1.e4 g6, but Chess.com files it as the Nimzowitsch Defense, Williams Variation, because of my early ...Nc6). Against ram_parades (1150), my knight had already grabbed a pawn on c2 and I was winning (-5.03). White's rook on c1 was now attacking that knight, so it had to move. I took another pawn, on a3, at the edge of the board. Stockfish wanted 16...Nxe3: take the bishop instead, a piece and not a pawn, and from e3 the knight also hits the rook on f1. In the engine's line, after White recaptures, the pawn move ...e6 opens a line so that my queen attacks the knight on g5. My pawn grab cut the advantage to -0.73. I still won, but on time, with 13 seconds left after my last move and 13 moves played in time trouble. Seven of my 36 blunders this week came in that one game.

The London game that lasted 12 moves

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

As White against flip2607 (1227) I was better (+1.79). Black had just played ...a6, attacking my bishop on b5. Instead of moving it, I counterattacked with 9.Qa4, hitting Black's bishop on a5. Black took my bishop with 9...axb5, and now the new pawn on b5 attacked my queen on a4. I took it with 10.Qxb5, so I got a pawn for my bishop. The evaluation went from +1.79 to -5.31, and the game was over by move 12. Stockfish's move was the dull 9.Bd3, just saving the bishop.

The lesson of the week

Answer the threat against you before making your own. My 9.Qa4 was a threat against a threatened piece, and it lost a bishop. In the Modern, the same rule works in my favour: White often makes a threat and forgets what it left behind, like the e4 pawn in game 1646. So the habit I'm building has two halves. On my move: "what's attacked on my side?" On their move: "what did that just leave undefended?"

All games this week

Previous week: week 82. Next week: week 84. The full series is on the journey page. Every position above comes from Stockfish on our server, the same engine that powers AI chess analysis in Chess Coach.