After the usual 2.e5 Nd5, three main variations of Alekhine's Defence use 3.d4, but there are other options for White at this point. Two of the main lines are the Exchange Variation and the Four Pawns Attack. The Exchange Variation continues 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6. White has some advantage. Black can capitalise on the
half-open centre with ...g6, ...Bg7 with ...Bg4 eventually being played. The Four Pawns Attack continues 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4. White has a somewhat larger space advantage though the centre is not fixed. Black has a number of options. Black can play ...Qd7 with ...0-0-0 and ...f6 putting pressure on White's d-pawn. Black can play ...Nb4 with ...c5 with idea to exchange the d-pawn. Finally, Black can play ...Be7 with ...0-0 and ...f6 attacking the centre. Minor variations include O'Sullivan's Gambit, 3.d4 b5 (intending 4.Bxb5 c5 5.dxc5 Qa5+), and 3.d4 d6 4.Bc4, the Balogh Variation.
Four Pawns Attack: 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 The Four Pawns Attack is White's most ambitious line against the Alekhine's, and the variation which perhaps best illustrates the basic idea behind the defence: Black allows White to make several
tempo-gaining attacks on the
knight and to erect an apparently imposing pawn centre in the belief that it can later be destroyed. The game can become very since White must either secure an advantage in space or make use of it before Black succeeds in making a successful strike at it. Black must also play vigorously because passive play will be crushed by the white centre. In addition, while White has built a crushing centre, it also becomes undesirable to advance further – c5 can give the Black knight the d5-outpost, while d5 is usually undesirable due to it critically weakening e5. While the main target of Black is d4, the pawn on c4 also can be pressurized considerably via ...Na5. The Four Pawns Attack is not particularly popular because many White players are wary of entering a sharp tactical line that Black may have prepared. The main line continues 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6 (attacking d4) 7.Be3 (7.Nf3 allows 7...Bg4! when the pressure on d4 is very tough) Bf5 (first developing before ...e6) 8.Nc3 e6. White now usually plays 9.Nf3 to protect e5, thus preparing a potential d5 advance, and since 9...Bg4!? would cost Black a tempo, though it is still an option for Black, as it adds pressure against d4, though after an exchange with ...Bxf3 gxf3 White would get the and an even stronger centre with the f-pawn. The main line is 9...Be7, preparing ...f6 to break apart White's centre. White used to automatically play 10.d5 in response to counter this, which can lead to complex and sharp play. However, a recent development has been 10.Be2 0-0 11.0-0 f6 12.exf6 Bxf6 13.Qd2 (preparing Rad1 and also connecting rooks) Qe7 (Black in turn connecting rooks and also preparing ...Rad8) 14.Rad1 Rad8 15.Kh1! which in
Robson–
Naroditsky, US Championship 2021, led to a win for White in 48 moves. The point of this move is that it prevents the ...e5 push, with the extra point of moving the king out of the a7–g1 diagonal. Black also has a weakness in the form of the isolated e6-pawn, while White still has a space advantage. An alternative move is 9...Qd7, which has become popular recently aiming to castle and attack White's , while 9...Bb4 is another line that tries to be more active than ...Be7, but the c3-knight has little role in the defence and thus the line is less popular than the others. An alternative is 5...g5, the sharp Planinc Variation (also known as the Cambridge Gambit). If White slips up with 6.fxg5, then 6...dxe5 wrecks White's centre and
pawn structure. The line is named after GM
Albin Planinc, who championed it in the 1970s. It was then taken up in the 1990s by
correspondence player Michael Schirmer, whose games were noted in a recent book on Alekhine's Defence by British GM and Alekhine exponent
Nigel Davies. Alternative moves for Black after 5.f4 are 5...g6, the Fianchetto Variation, and 5...Bf5, the Trifunovic Variation.
Exchange Variation: 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 The Exchange Variation is less ambitious than the Four Pawns Attack. White trades pawns, accepting a more modest spatial advantage. Black's main decision is whether to recapture with the solid 5...exd6, which will lead to a fairly strategic position, or the more ambitious 5...cxd6 when Black has a preponderance of pawns in the centre. The third recapture 5...Qxd6 is also possible since the
fork 6.c5 can be answered by 6...Qe6+, but the line is considered inferior since Black will sooner or later need to deal with this threat. In the sharper 5...cxd6 line, Black usually aims to attack and undermine the white pawn on d4, and possibly c4 as well. To do this, a usual plan involves a
fianchetto of the to g7, playing the other bishop to g4 to remove a knight on f3 which is a key defender of d4, while black knights on b6 and c6 bear down on the white pawns on c4 and d4.
Cox gave the game Jainy Gomes–Guillermo Soppe, São Paulo 2001 to illustrate Black's intentions. A popular setup from White to prevent Black's plan is the Voronezh Variation (
named after the Russian city
Voronezh, where the line was invented, by players such as
Grigory Sanakoev). The Voronezh is defined by the opening sequence 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Rc1 0-0 9.b3. White's setup delays kingside so that Black has trouble developing pieces in a fashion that harasses White's pieces and assails the centre pawns; for instance there is no knight on f3 which can become a target after ...Bg4, and no bishop on d3 which may be a target after ...Nc6–e5. While 9...Nc6 is Black's most common reply according to ChessBase's database, after 10.d5 Ne5 Black's knight lacks a target, and will soon be chased out with f2–f4, and this line has scored very poorly for Black. leading many players to opt for the more solid 5...exd6 line. However, the line offers Black less opportunity for counterplay. In this line Black usually develops the king bishop via ...Be7 and ...Bf6, because Bg5 can be bothersome against a fianchetto setup with ...g6 and ...Bg7, e.g. 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Bg5. White usually replies with 5.Bc4, the
Keres Variation. • 4...dxe5 (the
Larsen Variation) eliminates the advanced pawn, but brings forward the white knight after 5.Nxe5. Challenging this knight immediately with 5...Nd7 can lead to the sharp
sacrificial line 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Qh5+ Ke6. The sacrifice is, at the very least, good enough to draw after 8.Qg4+; Larsen tried the suicidal 8...Kd6? against Fischer during the Santa Monica Blitz tournament in 1966, and lost quickly after 9.c4. Black should therefore acquiesce to the
perpetual check with 8...Kf7 9.Qh5+ Ke6 etc. Instead, 8.c4 can be played if White is aiming to win. • 4...c6 is passive but solid, creating a position that is difficult to attack. In most variations, Black can play ...Bg4 to
transpose into the 4...Bg4 line.
Balogh Variation: 3.d4 d6 4.Bc4 The first recorded use of this variation was
Canal–
Colle,
Karlovy Vary 1929. White resigned after Black's 40th move. Unlike several other sidelines, 4.Bc4 is fairly popular. The line contains some traps that can snare the unwary. For example, 4...dxe5 5.dxe5 Nb6?? loses the queen to 6.Bxf7+ Instead, the main line is 4...Nb6 5.Bb3, when Black has usually played 5...dxe5 6.Qh5 e6 7.dxe5 (the "old main line" according to Cox) or 5...Bf5 when White can among other things try the obstructive pawn sacrifice 6.e6. In either case, White obtains attacking chances, and so Taylor recommends 5...d5 followed by 6...e6 to reach a position akin to the
French Defence.
Two Pawns Attack: 3.c4 Nb6 4.c5 The Two Pawns Attack (also known as the Lasker Attack or the Chase Variation) is also an ambitious try. White may gain attacking prospects, but it might cost a pawn to do so. White's pawns on c5 and e5 secure a spatial advantage, but the d5-square has been weakened. Unlike the Four Pawns Attack, the white centre is not as fluid and the game takes on a more strategic character. Aesthetically, 4.c5 looks positionally suspect, since White's pawn advances have severely weakened the d5-square. White's intention is to grab space and mobility so that those strategic deficiencies are of little consequence. Black must play 4...Nd5, whereupon White will usually challenge the knight with moves like Bc4 and Nc3. Black can defend the knight with ...c6 or ...e6, sometimes playing both. Typically, Black then challenges White's pawns on e5 and c5 with moves like ...d6 and ...b6. The statistics presented by Cox show this variation scoring poorly for White, with all of Black's main defences scoring at least 50%. If White plays 4.d4, then 4...Nxc3 forces White into the bxc3 line reminiscent of the French. If 4.Nxd5 exd5, Black will quickly dissolve the doubled pawns with ...d6, and the resulting position will tend to be drawish.
Minor sidelines after 2.e5 Nd5 In
Steiner–Alekhine, Budapest 1921, the first high-level game with the Alekhine Defence, White played 3.d4 d6 4.Bg5. Cox recommends 4...h6 5.Bh4 dxe5 6.dxe5 Bf5, followed by ...Nc6 and ...Ndb4, targeting c2. Another rare line, but one that scores well in practice is 3.d4 d6 4.Be2, preventing Black from playing 4...Bg4 while retaining the option of making the pawn advance f2–f4. Women's World Champion GM
Mariya Muzychuk, World Junior Champion GM
Lu Shanglei and GM Nazar Firman have experimented with this line and achieved some success with it.
Alternatives to 2...Nd5 After 2.e5, 2...Nd5 is almost universally played. The two other knight moves that do not it to the queen on d1 are 2...Ng8 and 2...Ne4. • 2...Ng8, undeveloping the knight, was named the "Brooklyn Defence" in honour of his hometown by GM
Joel Benjamin, who calls this his "pet line". Although Black might be said to be giving
odds of three moves, White only has a small advantage according to
theory. The first recorded use of this line was in 1905 in
Vienna where
Aron Nimzowitsch with white checkmated
Adolf Albin on the 34th move. • Very dubious is 2...Ne4?, which
John L. Watson and
Eric Schiller dub the "
Mokele Mbembe". They analyse 3.d4 f6 4.Bd3 d5 5.f3 Ng5 6.Bxg5 fxg5 7.f4! g6! 8.Nf3! g4 (they also analyse 8...gxf4 9.Ng5! e6 10.Qg4! Qe7 11.0-0 and 8...Bg4 9.h3, both leading to a large advantage for White) 9.Ng5 Bh6 10.Nxh7 Rxh7 11.Bxg6+ Rf7 12.Qd3 Bf8 13.f5 e6 14.f6 Qd7 15.h3! g3 16.Qxg3, with a winning advantage for White. ''Nunn's Chess Openings'' concludes that White gets a large advantage with 3.d4 f6 (or 3...e6 4.Nh3 h6 5.Qg4 d5 6.f3 h5 7.Qf4 g5 8.Nxg5 Nxg5 9.Qxg5 Be7 10.Qg7) 4.Qh5+ g6 5.Qh4 d5 6.Bd3. == 2.Nc3 ==