Alekhine's Defence

Alekhine's Defence
Moves	1.e4 Nf6
ECO	B02-B05
Origin	Alexander Alekhine, Budapest, 1921
Named after	Alexander Alekhine
Parent	King's Pawn Game
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This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

Alekhine's Defence is a chess opening beginning with the moves

1. e4 Nf6

It is named after Alexander Alekhine, who introduced it in the 1921 Budapest tournament in games against Endre Steiner^[1] and Fritz Sämisch.^[2] Four years later, the editors of the Fourth Edition of Modern Chess Openings (MCO-4) wrote, "Nothing is more indicative of the iconoclastic conceptions of the 'hypermodern school' than the bizarre defence introduced by Alekhine ... . Although opposing to all tenets of the classical school, Black allows his King's Knight to be driven about the board in the early stages of the game, in the expectation of provoking a weakness in White's centre pawns."^[3] White's imposing mass of pawns in the centre often includes pawns on c4, d4, e5, and f4. Grandmaster Nick de Firmian observes of Alekhine's in MCO-15 (2008), "The game immediately loses any sense of symmetry or balance, which makes the opening a good choice for aggressive fighting players."^[4]

In addition to Alekhine, another early exponent of the defence was Ernst Grünfeld. Its popularity waxes and wanes; currently it is not very common. De Firmian observes, "The fashion could quickly change if some champion of the opening takes up the cause, as the results Black has obtained in practice are good."^[4] The opening's current highest-rated proponent is Grandmaster Vassily Ivanchuk, although Grandmaster Lev Alburt has done much to promote it. De Firmian writes, "Currently Grandmasters Shabalov and Minasian use the opening with regularity, while Aronian, Adams, and Nakamura will use it on occasion. In the past, great players such as Fischer and Korchnoi included the defense in their repertoire, leading to its respectable reputation."^[4]

Main Variations

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 most common versions are the Exchange Variation and the Four Pawns Attack. The Exchange Variation continues 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6. White has some space advantage. Black can capitalize 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 hoping 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

The Four Pawns Attack

1.e4 Nf6

2.e5 Nd5

3.d4 d6

4.c4 Nb6

5.f4

The Four Pawns Attack is White's most ambitious try, and the variation which perhaps illustrates the basic idea of the defence best: 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 sharp since White must either secure his 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. The Four Pawns Attack is not particularly popular because many White players are wary of entering a sharp tactical line which Black may have prepared. The main line continues 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6 7.Be3 Bf5 8.Nc3 e6 9.Nf3. An alternative is the sharp Planinc Variation, 5...g5!?. Black hopes for 6. fxg5? dxe5, wrecking White's centre and leaving him with weak pawns. The line is named after grandmaster 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 notable British GM and Alekhine exponent Nigel Davies.

Exchange Variation

The Exchange Variation

1.e4 Nf6

2.e5 Nd5

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.^[5]

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 king's bishop 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 v. Guillermo Soppe [1] to illustrate Black's intentions.

A popular setup from White to prevent Black's plan is the Voronezh Variation (named after the city Voronezh in Russia, 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 the kingside development so that Black has trouble developing pieces in a fashion which harasses the White pieces and assail the center 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.^[5] The main line in the Voronezh, and the second most common reply, is 9...e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.c5 N6d7 (This retreat is forced since 12...Nd5?? loses the knight due to the 13.Rd1 pin) when Black must play carefully to unentangle and challenge the White pawn on c5. Other lines against the Voronezh include 9...f5 leading to sharp play, solid moves such as 9...e6 and 9...Bd7, and 9...a5 and 9...Bf5.

The Voronezh was recommended by John Emms and noted as a big problem by Nigel Davies,^[6] leading many players to opt for the more solid 5...exd6 line. John Cox recommended the plan with 9...e5 line as adequate, but Black needs to know the line well.^[5]

The 5...exd6 line is solid, and many players adopted it due to the Voronezh variation. The line offers Black less opportunity for counterplay however. In this line, Black usually develops the king's bishop by ...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.^[5]

Modern Variation

The Modern Variation

1.e4 Nf6

2.e5 Nd5

3.d4 d6

4.Nf3

The Modern Variation is the most common variation of the Alekhine Defence. As in the Exchange Variation, White accepts a more modest spatial advantage, and hopes to be able to hang on to it. There are a number of possible Black responses:

• 4...Bg4, pinning the knight is the most common response, which White usually parries with 5.Be2. Black will often voluntarily surrender the bishop pair by ...Bxf3 because the white knight is a fairly strong piece, and capturing it undermines the white centre pawns. Champions of this line include Lev Alburt, Vlatko Kovačević and the late Vladimir Bagirov.
• 4...g6, preparing to fianchetto a bishop to oppose White's central pawn mass, is also often seen. This variation was played in the thirteenth game of the Match of the Century between Boris Spassky and Bobby Fischer. (The nineteenth game of the same match featured the more common 4...Bg4.) Alburt has also played this line frequently. White usually replies with 5.Bc4, the Keres Variation.
• 4...dxe5 (the Larsen Variation) is another possibility which can lead to the sharp sacrificial line 5.Nxe5 Nd7 6.Nxf7!? Bent Larsen used it in games with Mikhail Tal and Bobby Fischer. Other options after 5.Nxe5 are 5...g6 (the Kengis Variation) and 5...c6 (the Miles Variation).^[5]
• 4...c6 is passive but solid, creating a position which is difficult to attack.

In most variations, Black can play ...Bg4 to transpose into the 4... Bg4 line.

Two Pawns Attack

The Two Pawns Attack

1.e4 Nf6

2.e5 Nd5

3.c4 Nb6

4.c5

The Two Pawns Attack (also known as the Lasker Attack or the Chase System) is also an ambitious try. 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 squares on the d-file. 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 the Chase Variation scoring poorly for White, with all of Black's main defenses scoring at least 50%.^[5]

Two Knights Variation

The Two Knights Variation

1.e4 Nf6

2.e5 Nd5

3.Nc3

The Two Knights Variation is a variation where White immediately accepts doubled pawns after 3...Nxc3 (3...e6 is also possible) 4.dxc3 in exchange for rapid piece development. Even though the response 3...Nxc3 seems reasonable, it often leads to lines that resemble the French Defence where white's doubled pawns do not cause him much trouble. Still, this variation is one of the most passive ways to meet Alekhine's Defence.

Other lines

After 2.e5, Black can retreat the knight with 2...Ng8. Grandmaster Joel Benjamin, who calls this his "pet line", named it the "Brooklyn Defense" in honor of his hometown.^[7] Although Black might be said to be giving odds of three moves, according to theory White has only a small advantage.^[8]

Very dubious is 2...Ne4?, which John L. Watson and Eric Schiller dub the "Mokele Mbebe". They analyze 3.d4 f6 4.Bd3 d5 5.f3 Ng5 6.Bxg5 fxg5 7.f4! g6! 8.Nf3! g4 (they also analyze 8...gxf4 9.Ng5! e6 10.Qg4! Qe7 11.0-0 and 8...Bg4 9.h3, both leading 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

White has a few alternatives to 2.e5:

• 2.Nc3 is by far White's most common alternative to 2.e5, in fact Cox noted that he saw this move in over half his games with the Alekhine. It is often played by amateurs and those wishing to avoid a theoretical battle on territory more familiar to their opponents after 2.Nc3. Cox however wrote that several White players are bluffing, and in fact know nothing about either the Vienna Game or the Four Knights Game which the game can easily transpose to if Black plays 2...e5, citing one book which recommended 2.Nc3 while assuring readers that 2...e5 is uncommon.^[5] Other options for Black are 2...d6, with a likely transposition to the Pirc Defence; or the more ambitious 2...d5, known as the Scandinavian Variation. After 2...d5, 3.exd5 Nxd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 or 4...Nxc3 is considered roughly equal; 4...e6 loses a pawn to the surprising 5.Bxd5 exd5 6. Qe2+! 3.exd5 Nxd5 4.g3 has been played by the Danish correspondence player Ove Ekebjaerg, when Harald Keilhack recommends 4...Nxc3 5.bxc3 Qd5! 6.Qf3! (6.Nf3 Qe4+ is awkward in light of 7.Be2 Bh3 or 7.Qe2 Qxc2) Qe6+! 7.Qe2 ("on 7.Be2 or 7.Ne2, 7...Bd7 is unpleasant") Qxe2+ 8.Nxe2 Bd7! 9.Bg2 Bc6 10.0-0 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 Nc6 12.d3 g6 13.Rb1 0-0-0 14.c4 Bg7, when "Black has a rather comfortable position", as in Ekebjaerg-Alcantara Soares, corr. 1989.^[11] More combative is 2...d5 3. e5, when Black can choose among 3...d4, 3...Nfd7 (transposing to the Steinitz variation of the French Defence after 4.d4 e6, but 4.e6!? is a sharp alternative), 3...Ne4!?, and even 3...Ng8.
• 2.d3 (the Maroczy Variation) is less common. Although playable, 2.d3 blocks in White's light-squared bishop, so the variation is considered somewhat passive. If White fianchettoes that bishop, transposition to a King's Indian Attack is likely. Lev Alburt and Eric Schiller call 2.d3 "insipid" and recommend 2...d5 (or 3.Nd2 e5 with a reversed Philidor's Defence) 3.e5 Nfd7 4.f4 (4.d4 c5 5.c3 Nc6 leaves Black a tempo up on the French Defense) c5 5.Nf3 e6 6.g3!? Nc6 7.Bg2 Be7 8.0-0 b5 with equality.^[12]
• 2.Bc4 is rarely seen, since it allows Black to gain the bishop pair and seize space in the center. Alburt and Schiller write that after 2...Nxe4 3.Bxf7+ Kxf7 4.Qh5+ Kg8 or 4...g6 5.Qd5+ e6 6.Qxe4 Bg7 7.Qf4 Ke8! "Black has nothing to worry about."^[13] If Black does not want his king to be chased about, playable alternatives are 2...e5 (transposing to the Bishop's Opening), 2...d5 and 2...e6.

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings

The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has four codes for the Alekhine Defence, B02 through B05.

• B02: 1.e4 Nf6
• B03: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 (this includes the Exchange Variation and Four Pawns Attack)
• B04: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 (Modern Variation without 4...Bg4)
• B05: 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 (Modern Variation with 4...Bg4)

See also

• List of chess openings
• List of chess openings named after people

References

The Wikibook Chess Opening Theory has a page on the topic of Alekhine's Defence

1. ^ Endre Steiner vs Alexander Alekhine at ChessGames.com
2. ^ Friedrich Samisch vs Alexander Alekhine at ChessGames.com
3. ^ R.C. Griffith and M.E. Goldstein, Modern Chess Openings, Fourth Edition, 1925, p. 1.
4. ^ ^{a b c} Nick de Firmian, Modern Chess Openings, Fifteenth Edition, 2008, p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8129-3682-7.
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} John Cox (2005). Starting out: Alekhine's Defence. Everyman Chess. ISBN 9781857443707. 
6. ^ Davies, Nigel (2002). Alekhine's Defence. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1857442533. 
7. ^ Joel Benjamin, American Grandmaster: Four Decades of Chess Adventures, Gloucester Publishers, 2007, p. 167. ISBN 978-1-85744-5527.
8. ^ Most opening treatises do not mention this line. According to Nunn's Chess Openings, White gets a slight advantage after 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 Bg4 5.h3. John Nunn, Graham Burgess, John Emms, and Joe Gallagher, Nunn's Chess Openings, Everyman Publishers, 1999, p. 129 n. 30. ISBN 1-85744-221-0.
9. ^ John Watson and Eric Schiller, The Big Book of Busts, Hypermodern Press, 1995, pp. 120-21. ISBN 1-886040-13-3.
10. ^ John Nunn, Graham Burgess, John Emms, and Joe Gallagher, Nunn's Chess Openings, Everyman Publishers, 1999, p. 129 n. 30. ISBN 1-85744-221-0.
11. ^ Harald Keilhack, "Knight on the Left: 1.Nc3", Schachverlag Kania, 2005, pp. 239-40. ISBN 3-931192-29-6.
12. ^ Lev Alburt and Eric Schiller, The Alekhine for the Tournament Player, American Chess Promotions, 1985, pp. 130-31. ISBN 0-7134-1596-7.
13. ^ Alburt and Schiller 1985, p. 131.

Further reading

• Andrew Martin (2001). Alekhine's Defence. Everyman Chess. ISBN 1857442539. 
• Bogdanov, Valentin (2009). Play the Alekhine. Gambit Publications. ISBN 978-1-906454-15-9. 

External links

• Alekhine Game of the Week (Archived 2009-10-25)