Cool Hands on the Long Diagonal
Fianchetto Panno 7...a6 · sung from White's side
No. 2 in the Radio ChessBase charts
Verse 1
Pawn d4, then pawn c4, nice and slow 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4
Knight to f3, pawn g3, here we go 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3
Bishop g2, I castle, stay low-key 4...O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.O-O
He plays knight c6, I play knight c3 6...Nc6 7.Nc3
He plays a6, he's dreaming of b5 7...a6
I want the space, the slow-burn drive
Chorus
Pawn to d4, pawn to c4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4
Knight to f3, pawn to g3 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3
Bishop g2, castle short 4...O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.O-O
The long diagonal belongs to me
Verse 2
Bishop to f4, he swings his rook 8.Bf4 Rb8
Rook c1, pawn h6, that's his hook 9.Rc1 h6
Pawn to d5, bishop back to d2 10.d5 e5 11.Bd2
His knight lands d4, mine slips to e1 11...Nd4 12.Ne1
I never swap on d4, I keep the squeeze
C5 comes, pawn takes c6, en passant please 12...c5 13.dxc6
Chorus
Pawn to d4, pawn to c4 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4
Knight to f3, pawn to g3 3.Nf3 Bg7 4.g3
Bishop g2, castle short 4...O-O 5.Bg2 d6 6.O-O
The long diagonal belongs to me
The song follows the modern main line 8.Bf4 Rb8 9.Rc1 h6 10.d5 e5 11.Bd2 and its measured continuation 11...Nd4 12.Ne1 c5 13.dxc6, and the downtempo groove is deliberate: in a hundred master games this is one of the calmest openings in the catalogue, with the queens usually staying on and White's edge coming from space and the g2 bishop rather than from tactics.