Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c6/2. d3

The unambitious Breyer variation of the Caro-Kann. 2. d3 prepares to recapture the pawn on e4 and may lead to an early endgame, or, if White wants to keep queens on the board, a King's Indian Attack-style position (see diagram).

The usual 2...d5 is almost always the move. White plans to allow Black to take into them, and then recapture on e4 with the d-pawn. If 3. Nf3, then after 3..dxe4 4. dxe4 the queens see each other and are traded. To avoid the early endgame, the main reply is 3. Nd2: this unpins White's d-pawn from the queen and so prepares for 3...dxe4 4. dxe4. The mainline is to leave the tension with 3...e5. An alternative after 3. Nf3 dxe4 is to gambit the pawn with the sharp trap line 4. Ng5!?.

2...e5 is a move order difference. White usually still achieves a King's Indian Attack-style position; Black keeps the option of either ...d5 (transposing) or ...d6.

The line is named for Hungarian chess master Gyula Breyer| (1893―1921) who played it in a 1920 game against Efim Bogoljubov (1889―1952). Originally this was played with Be2 rather than a King's Indian-style piece deployment. The Breyer v Bogoljubov game continued 2...d5 3. Nd2 Nf6 (3...e5 is the main line today) 4. Ngf3 Bg4 5. Be2.^[1] The approach with g3 and Bg2 was first played by Siegfried Wolf (1867―1951) against William Winter (1897―1955) in 1930.^[2]

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1. e4 c6 2. d3

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• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

• Modern Chess Openings: MCO-14. 1999. Nick de Firmian, Walter Korn. ISBN 0-8129-3084-3.

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.

• Caro-Kann Breyer Variation (King's Indian Attack vs Caro-Kann) - Hanging Pawns (Youtube)