A rock solid opening for Black

The position below is one of the most common ways of starting for Black and nearly all the time is an absolutely solid opening.


1. The pawn on d6 stops the White pawns overrunning the Black centre.
2. And later Black will put a pawn on e5 to strengthen his centre even more - like this:

and these moves lead to this position for Black:


The important parts of Blacks position are:
1. The pawn on e5 which stops White pushing through the centre and
2. The pawn on c6 which stops White putting a Knight on d5 or b5.
Black can put his Queen on a5 or c7 and also his Rook on e8 to look after the pawn on e5. There is very little for white to attack here.