Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3

The King's Knight Opening is the most common opening played in chess. By developing a knight to f3, White attacks Black's e-pawn and fights for control of the center.

Black's typical response to 2. Nf3 is either 2...Nc6, defending their valuable e5 pawn, or 2...Nf6, challenging White's e4 pawn (the Petrov Defense). Each choice leads to different types of positions and strategies.

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2...Nc6   (King's Knight, main line)

2...Nc6 is the natural move, combining defence of the pawn with control of the d4 square and avoiding committing another pawn for now. 2. Nf3 is 10 times more popular than everything else combined, and in turn the reply 2...Nc6 is about 5 times more popular than everything else combined.

Common Continuations for White after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6:

• 3. Bb5 (Ruy Lopez): A classical approach aiming to exert pressure on Black's center and knight on c6.
• 3. Bc4 (Italian Game): Targets f7, the weakest point in Black's camp, and supports White's central pawns.
• 3. d4 (Scotch Opening): Aiming for rapid development and opening of the center.
• 3. Nc3 (Three Knights' Opening): Develops another piece while keeping central tension.
• 3. c3 (Ponziani Opening): Prepares to support the d4 push, challenging Black's central pawn structure.

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
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	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

2...d6   (Philidor)

2...d6, Philidor's Defence, is the other safe option to defend the pawn.

It restricts Black's dark-squared bishop to the e7-square, and grants White an advantage in territory, but it builds a fortress that cannot be easily battered down. This is generally considered an inferior way to defend the e5 pawn because white can easily push for advantage here, and white gets a 58% score here, with 41% wins opposed to Black's 25%. This is especially the case if Black makes a ...c7-c5 push to kick a potential knight on d4, greatly weakening the d6-pawn.

An alternative (older) way to play this is to follow up with 3...f5, but more recent analyses have proven this line to be completely losing for Black

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	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

2...f6?   (Damiano)

Note that 2...f6? is a bad move.

2...f6 is known as the Damiano Defence. It is a poor move as it weakens black's kingside and deprives the knight on g8 of its most natural development square. Additionally, it does not even defend the pawn; if 2...Nxe5, fxe5 allows Qh5+, after which black either loses a rook (3... g6 4. Qxe5+) or is hunted into the center of the board with 3...Ke7 4. Qxe5+. Even the person for who the "defence" is named after, Pedro Damiano, condemned the defense as weak and inferior.

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	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

2...Nf6   (Petrov)

2...Nf6 is the Petrov Defence.

Black wants the same things that White wants, but once again White will be back in a symmetrical position with the advantage of moving first. This opening is known to be notoriously drawish due to the resultant symmetric positions.

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	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

2...f5   (Latvian Gambit)

2...f5 is the Latvian Gambit.

This iconic counter-thrust divides opinion like very few other openings.

Has Black lured White into a minefield of tricks and traps leading to an inevitable violent death?

Or has Black given away a pawn for nothing?

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2...d5   (Elephant Gambit)

2...d5 is the Elephant Gambit.

It's along the same lines as the Latvian, but less complex – White needs to do less memorising to reach a good position.

Estimated next move popularity.

Nc6 83.5%, Nf6 11%, d6 4%, f5 0.5%, other less than 0.5%.

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

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3

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Wikipedia has related information at King's Knight Opening

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

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

• Panov, Vasily (1973). Teoría de Aperturas, Tomo I: Aperturas Abiertas - Aperturas Semiabiertas. ISBN 84-270-0132-0.
• Schiller, Eric (2002). Standard Chess Openings. ISBN 1-58042-048-6.