Camara Defense

The Camara Defense, also known as Brazilian Defense, is a chess defense created by International Master Hélder Câmara between the years 1952 and 1953, officially appearing for the first time in 1954, during the IV Centennial of the City of São Paulo Tournament.[1] In the same year, Helder Câmara played it twice more in the 4th and 9th rounds of the XXII Brazilian Chess Championship, also held in São Paulo. After that, he played it in many important chess events, such as the XXV Brazilian Chess Championship in 1958, the South American Zonal in 1972 (where he attained his IM title), the Netanya-A International Chess Tournament in 1973, and the XLII e XLIII Brazilian Chess Championships,in 1975 and 1976, respectively.[2]

Not to be confused with the Gunderam Defense, for although Gerhard Gunderam used move 2...Qe7, his attempt was to create a delayed Latvian Gambit, advancing the f7-f5 pawn while the Queen on e7 protected the e5-pawn from Nxe5,[3] avoiding the main line in that gambit. It did not follow the characteristic movements of the King's Indian Defense, which are the main reason for the Camara Defense.

Overview

The fundamental idea of Camara Defense is to allow the use of the King's Indian setup against the King's Pawn opening, starting with:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Qe7

Followed by moves ...Nf6, ...g6 and ...Bg7, creating the typical King's Indian formation.

According to Hélder Câmara:

In the King's Indian, after the basic formation is established (...Nf6, g6, Bg7, d6, 0-0, e5, Nbd7, c6), black must elect a game plan. They can pressure the center with 9...exd4 and 10...Re8; they can secure the c5-square for their knight on d7 with 9...a5; or they can keep central tension with 9... Qc7 or 9...Qe7 (!). And that's exactly where the Camara Defense is born: an inversion of nine moves able to ensure, with an almost imperceptible disguise, the King's Indian setup against king's pawn opening.[4]

Notable games

The first official use of the Camara Defense was in a game between Manoel Madeira de Ley (white) and Hélder Câmara (black) during the fourth round of the IV Centennial of the City of São Paulo Tournament, on October 19, 1954.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Qe7!? 3.Bc4 g6! 4.Nc3 c6 5.d3 Bg7 6.a4 Nf6 7.h3 0-0 8.Be3 Rd8 9.Bg5 h6 10.Bxf6 Qxf6 11.0-0 d6 12.Qd2 Bxh3! 13.Nh2 Be6 14.Kh1 d5 15.Ba2 d4 16.Ne2 Bxa2 17.Rxa2 Qe6 18.Raa1 c5 19.f4 f5?! 20.exf5 gxf5 21.fxe5 Bxe5 22.Nf4 Qf6 23.Qf2 Rf8 24.Rae1 Nc6 25.Qf3 Rf7 26.Qd5 Rd8 27.Qe6 Qxe6 28.Nxe6 Rd5 29.Nf4 Bxf4 30.Rxf4 Re5 31.Ref1 Re2 32.R1f2 Rxf2 33.Rxf2 Ne5 34.Re2 Ng4 35.Nxg4 fxg4 36.Kh2 Kg7 37.Kg3 ½-½.

References
  1. CÂMARA, Hélder. Diagonais: crônicas de xadrez. São Paulo : Saraiva, 1996
  2. https://database.chessbase.com/ Recovered in 2020.25.02
  3. A.Babel-G.Gunderam, Germany (corr), 1959
  4. http://www.heldercamara.com.br/teoria.htm
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