He rescues Shovel Knight and brings him to safety to fulfill Shield Knight's wishes. However it was due to cowardice that he did not take more decisive actions against The Enchantress, a fact that he himself begrudgingly admits and is ashamed of. However, despite being rivals, he also appears to have some good intentions in his interactions with Shovel Knight, warning him of The Enchantress and her Order of No Quarter to personally save Shield Knight, for which he appears to admire and respect. He's always looking for a battle and doesn't answer to anyone, even including the powerful Enchantress. He displays confidence and malevolence during battles with his enemies, even manically laughing before and during his fights. He wields a black Shovel Blade with a red-edged blade and handle.īlack Knight is portrayed as an arrogant, enigmatic foe against Shovel Knight. His shoulder pauldrons are outlined in red as well as a red pelvic area. He wears a black barbute-styled helmet with long, pointy red horns protruding from the top. The Black Knight’s skill with the Shovel Blade rivals that of Shovel Knight, or so the Black Knight hopes to prove! While Shovel Knight is confused as to why he has this mysteriously relentless doppelganger, no number of humiliating defeats by Shovel Knight could dampen the Black Knight’s spirit: he will always rise up to fight again!Īs his name implies, Black Knight is clad in bulky, black obsidian armor that appears similar to Shovel Knight's but darker and more sinister-looking, as if he is the opposite of Shovel Knight. Clad in obsidian armor, he hounds Shovel Knight to the ends of the Earth, spoiling for a battle. Once again Black's position is also fairly solid, and there is no easy way for White to exploit his bishop pair.Īfter 5.d6 we will consider two, at least by Tango standards, fairly theoretical options:ġ) White's recapturing on c3 with the bishop after 6 Bd2 0-0 7 a3 Bxc3 8 Bxc3 (or 6 Bg5 h6 7 Bd2 0-0 8 a3 Bxc3 9 Bxc3).Ģ) Recapturing with the queen with 6 a3 Bxc3+ 7 Qxc3 – see Chapter 7.As the Yin to Shovel Knight’s Yang, the Black Knight calls nobody master. Black aims to set up his favoured dark-squared centre, and will often then look to attack on the kingside or to advance in the centre. Partly due to its use by Morozevich in the mid 1990s, and of course also by Orlov, the Zürich has recently been used by a number of grandmasters, both within the Tango and from a Nimzo move order. To this day 4.0-0, 4.d5 and 4.c5 remain more popular against the 4 Qc2 Nimzo and so, whether it arises from a Nimzo or from a Tango, the Zürich has a fair amount of surprise value and Black may well know it better than White. The Zürich variation was popular in the 1930s, when it was used most notably by Alekhine and Nimzowitsch, but by the 1960s it had fallen out of favour as other continuations became fashionable. This was initially named after its inventor, Sir Stuart Milner-Barry, but then appears to have become popular after the Zürich tournament of 1934 even though, intriguingly, the variation didn't feature in any games from the main tournament there. "5 Qc2 prevents the doubling of the pawns and transposes to the Zürich variation of the Nimzo-Indian (4 Qc2 Nc6). Nc6 makes a significant difference should White opt, for example, for a fianchetto set-up, and the c6-knight also proves its worth in the Bg5 lines."ġ d4 Nf6 2 c4 Nc6 3 Nf3 e6 4 Nc3 Bb4 5 Qc2 Non-Qc2 Nimzo players may try a variety of systems here. Indeed White's most popular continuation is 5 Qc2, transposing to a 4 Qc2 Nimzo, and we will examine the resulting Zürich Variation in Chapters 6-7. Thus White may not have reached a position he's fully familiar with, unless he's a 4 Qc2 Nimzo player. No ordinary Nimzo though after 1 d4 Nf6 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Nf3, the move 4.Nc6 is a rare response compared to the theoretical and fairly fashionable 4.b6 5 Bg5 and 4.c5 5 g3. "This is White's most popular reply to the Tango he threatens 5 e4 and after 4.Bb4 the game has transposed to a Nimzo-Indian. Let's read what Palliser wrote introducing this line (after 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 Nc6 3.Nf3 e6 4.Nc3) : And we could add that black avoided many variations white can play against the Nimzo. If white chooses to transpose into a Nimzo Indian : we go back into the Zurich variation (defined with Nc6), which is quite a reliable line. It's like telling why playing Paulsen sicilian instead of directly the french with e6! Skye: LoL If U wanna continue with 3.e6 what was the point to play 2.Nc6 limiting your options ?!? It's not me who suggested this Mexican defense so why should I defend it or prove something about it ?!? I just see it as playable but not as good as Bogo/Nimzo-Indian and KID.