Chess Openings → Alekhine's Defense

Alekhine's Defense: provocation from the very first move

Alekhine's Defense starts with 1.e4 Nf6 — instead of fighting for the center with pawns, Black immediately attacks the e4 pawn with the knight. After 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6, White builds a large pawn center, exactly as you invited them to. This is a hypermodern, provocative defense: the bigger White's center gets, the easier it becomes to attack it later with pieces and flank pawns.

In short: after 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 you're playing to undermine White's center. The most common try at club level is the quiet 4.Nf3, but the repertoire also covers the sharper Four Pawns Attack (4.c4 Nb6 5.f4) and the calmest Exchange Variation (5.exd6) — all three end with the same motif: Black strikes at White's center as soon as it overextends. You can practice the full repertoire — with branches for every reasonable White try — in the opening trainer, free and without an account.

Starting position and the idea

The move 1...Nf6 is an invitation, not a defense: it encourages White to play 2.e5, and the knight's retreat 2...Nd5 lets White build a large pawn center (3.d4, sometimes followed by 4.c4). This is deliberate — the bigger White's center gets, the easier it becomes to attack later with moves like ...d6 or ...Nc6, before White can fully make use of it. After 3.d4 d6 you strike at the e5 pawn as the first move of this center-undermining plan. All three White tries described below end with the same motif: Black strikes at White's center as soon as it overextends.

White's three most common tries after 3...d6

• 4.Nf3 (Modern Variation) — the most common try at club level: quiet development instead of further expanding the center. After 4...dxe5 5.Nxe5 g6 6.Bc4 the bishop aims at f7 — a real threat, since the king is still on e8. Watch out: the reflexive 6...Nb6?? (attacking the bishop) loses immediately to 7.Bxf7#! Instead, 6...Be6 develops the bishop, offers a trade on e6 and neutralizes the threats on f7.
• 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 (Four Pawns Attack) — White's sharpest and most theoretical try, with a huge pawn center. After 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6 the knight immediately attacks the e5 pawn: White's center is large but overextended and hard to defend. Next: Bf5 or Bg4, castling, and play against White's overextended pawns.
• 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 (Exchange Variation) — the calmest path: White trades in the center instead of expanding it further. After 5...exd6 6.Nc3 g6 Black has a solid position with only a small, typical first-move advantage for White, without concrete weaknesses. Next: Bg7, short castling and calm development — the same plan as in the repertoire's other lines.

Honestly, about this page's scope

The above is a sketch of the plan, not a full trainer with every branch and typical opponent mistakes. The full Alekhine's Defense repertoire — including an exact evaluation of every line verified by the Stockfish engine — is waiting in the opening trainer inside the app. Before playing your first opening, it's also worth knowing the 5 rules that win most games — Alekhine's Defense is just one way of putting those rules into practice.

More openings (including the Italian Game, the Sicilian Defense, and the Queen's Gambit) are covered on the Chess Openings page. Want to practice these same principles right away against an opponent? Play a game against the computer at any difficulty level.

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