The Four Knights Game is a

chess opening A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defens ...

that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Nc3 Nf6 This is the most common sequence, but the

knights A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

may in any order to reach the same position. The opening is fairly popular with beginners who strictly adhere to the opening principle: "Develop knights before

bishops A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

." It was one of the workhorses in the family of the

Open Game An Open Game (or Double King's Pawn Opening) is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5, e5 White has moved the king's pawn two squares and Black has replied in ...

, at even the highest levels, until World War I. Thereafter it fell by the wayside, along with a number of other Open Games. In this period ambitious players explored the

Ruy Lopez The Ruy Lopez (; ), also called the Spanish Opening or Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 The Ruy Lopez is named after 16th-century Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura. It is one o ...

, believing it a better attempt by

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

to exploit the advantage of the first move. In the 1990s, this opening saw a renaissance, and is now seen in the

praxis Praxis may refer to: Philosophy and religion * Praxis (process), the process by which a theory, lesson, or skill is enacted, practised, embodied, or realised * Praxis model, a way of doing theology * Praxis (Byzantine Rite), the practice of fai ...

of players from beginner to grandmaster. The Four Knights usually leads to quiet , though there are some variations. The ''

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () is a reference work describing the state of opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Serbian company Šahovski Informator (Chess Informant). It is current ...

'' has three codes for the Four Knights Game: * C49: 4.Bb5 Bb4 (Symmetrical Variation) * C48: 4.Bb5 without 4...Bb4 * C47: 4.d4 and others

Variations

4.Bb5

White's most common move is 4.Bb5, the Spanish Variation. This variation can also be reached from the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence. After 4.Bb5,

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

has four major alternatives. * The first of these is 4...Bb4, the Symmetrical Variation known as the Double Spanish Variation. * Black can play more aggressively by 4...Nd4, the Rubinstein Variation. White cannot win a

pawn Pawn most often refers to: * Pawn (chess), the weakest and most numerous piece in the game * Pawnbroker or pawnshop, a business that provides loans by taking personal property as collateral Pawn may also refer to: Places * Pawn, Oregon, an his ...

with 5.Nxe5, since Black regains the pawn with the advantage of the after 5...Qe7 6.Nf3 (6.f4 Nxb5 7.Nxb5 d6) Nxb5 7.Nxb5 Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Nd5 10.c4 a6 White most often plays 5.Ba4, when Black usually continues in

gambit A gambit (from Italian , the act of tripping someone with the leg to make them fall) is a chess opening in which a player sacrifices with the aim of achieving a subsequent advantage. The word '' gambit'' is also sometimes used to describe sim ...

fashion with 5...Bc5 6.Nxe5 0-0 7.Nd3 Bb6 8.e5 Ne8 followed by ...d6. Another line, which discourages many ambitious Black players from playing the Rubinstein, is 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 (7...cxd2+ 8.Bxd2 Qxf6 9.0-0 is dangerous for Black) 8.dxc3 Qe5+. This often leads to a quick draw after 9.Qe2 Qxe2+. * The classical move 4...Bc5 is perfectly , see the famous game

Louis Paulsen Louis Paulsen (15 January 1833 in Gut Nassengrund near Blomberg, Principality of Lippe – 18 August 1891) was a German chess player. In the 1860s and 1870s, he was among the top players in the world. He was a younger brother of Wilfried Pa ...

–

Paul Morphy Paul Charles Morphy (June 22, 1837 – July 10, 1884) was an American chess player. He is considered to have been the greatest chess master of his era and is often considered the unofficial World Chess Champion. A chess prodigy, he was c ...

from the First American Chess Congress (1857). * In recent years, Black has tried 4...Bd6!? with varying results. That move takes the sting out of 5.Bxc6, which is met with 5...dxc6 with a good game. If White plays , Black will regroup with ...0-0, ...Re8, ...Bf8, and ...d6.

4.d4

If White plays 4.d4, the Scotch Four Knights Game arises. This leads to a more , which can also be reached from the

Scotch Game The Scotch Game, or Scotch Opening, is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. d4 Ercole del Rio, in his 1750 treatise ''Sopra il giuoco degli Scacchi, Osservazioni pratiche d’anonimo Autore Modenese'' ("On t ...

, e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3. This variation was played in the fifth game of the 1996

Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov was a pair of six-game chess matches between the world chess champion Garry Kasparov and an IBM supercomputer called Deep Blue. The first match was played in Philadelphia in 1996 and won by Kasparov by 4–2. A ...

match. One reason White may choose the Four Knights (3.Nc3) move order over the Scotch (3.d4), besides fearing that after 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Black may choose 4...Bc5 or 4...Qh4, is that White may want to play the Belgrade Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5!?). It is not possible to reach the Belgrade from the Scotch; however, the Belgrade is a distant second in popularity to 5.Nxd4.

4.Bc4

A further possibility is 4.Bc4, the Italian Four Knights Game, or Prussian Four Knights Game, popular in the 1880s, though this line is regarded as inferior according to Pinski, and an outright mistake by IM Larry D. Evans. Black can preserve the symmetry by 4...Bc5, leading to the quiet

Giuoco Pianissimo The Giuoco Piano (Italian: "Quiet Game"; ), also called the Italian Opening, is a chess opening beginning with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Bc5 "White aims to develop quickly – but so does Black. White can construct a pawn ce ...

. A better move order for White that leads to this position is via the

Giuoco Piano The Giuoco Piano (Italian: "Quiet Game"; ), also called the Italian Opening, is a chess opening beginning with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Bc5 "White aims to develop quickly – but so does Black. White can construct a pawn cen ...

by 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 Nf6. The line is a favourite among younger players due to its simple and easy development, but was also used successfully by

Nigel Short Nigel David Short (born 1 June 1965) is an English chess grandmaster, columnist, coach, and commentator, who is the vice-president of FIDE since October 2018. Short earned the Grandmaster title at the age of 19, and was ranked third in the w ...

against

Antoaneta Stefanova Antoaneta Stefanova ( bg, Антоанета Стефанова; born 19 April 1979) is a Bulgarian chess grandmaster and Women's World Champion from 2004 to 2006. She has represented Bulgaria in the Chess Olympiad in 2000 and the Women's Chess ...

. The problem with playing for this position via the Four Knights Game is that after 4.Bc4, the pseudo-

sacrifice Sacrifice is the offering of material possessions or the lives of animals or humans to a deity as an act of propitiation or worship. Evidence of ritual animal sacrifice has been seen at least since ancient Hebrews and Greeks, and possibly exi ...

of a knight with 4...Nxe4!, the centre fork trick. Then 5.Bxf7+?, though superficially attractive, relinquishes the bishop pair and central control to Black. After 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ Kg8, Black is already threatening 8...e4, and after 8.d3 h6 9.Nh3 Bg4, Black has a very powerful position, with an unopposed light-squared bishop, a strong duo of pawns in the centre, and a safe king, while White needs to work out how to get the displaced knight on h3 into play; often it will need to be played back to g1. Rather than 5.Bxf7+?, a better chance for White to play for is 5.Nxe4, even though 5...d5 regains the piece with a good game, e.g., 6.Bd3 (6.Bxd5? Qxd5 7.Nc3 Qd8 Estrin; 6.Bb5 dxe4 7.Nxe5 Qg5! Collijn's '' Lärobok''; 6.d4 dxc4 7.d5 Ne7 8.Nc3 c6 Cordel–Schupli, 1905) 6...dxe4 (the recently discovered 6...Nb4 is also playable) 7.Bxe4 Bd6 8.d4 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 exd4 10.Qxd4 0-0 11.Be3 (11.0-0 Bxh2+ wins) Qe7 (Tartakower–Atkins, London 1922) and now the natural 12.0-0 Be5 would be awkward for White. In the above line, more ambitious is 8...exd4 9.Nxd4 0-0!?, as in a match game between

Siegbert Tarrasch Siegbert Tarrasch (; 5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934) was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century. Life Tarrasch was born in Bresla ...

and

Emanuel Lasker Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher who was World Chess Champion for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially recognised World Chess Champ ...

in 1916, which led to a Black win in 23 moves. Another try is 5.0-0!? transposing to a variation of the

Boden–Kieseritzky Gambit Petrov's Defence or the Petrov Defence (also called Petroff Defence, Petrov's Game, Russian Defence, or Russian Game – russian: Русская партия) is a chess opening characterised by the following moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nf6 Th ...

4.g3

Igor Glek Igor Vladimirovich Glek (russian: Игорь Владимирович Глек; born 7 November 1961) is a Russian chess player, trainer, writer and theorist. He was awarded the title of Grandmaster by FIDE in 1990. Glek was born in Moscow. Com ...

has favoured 4.g3, preparing development of the bishop to g2. According to Pinski, Black's main responses are 4...Bc5 and 4...d5, both of which are reckoned to equalize for Black. A Halloween Gambit style 4...Nxe4 has also been tried at the grandmaster level as in two games between

Ilya Smirin Ilya (or Ilia) Smirin ( he, איליה יוליביץ' סמירין; russian: Илья Юльевич Смирин, Ilya Yulievich Smirin; born January 21, 1968) is a Byelorussian SSR-born and an Israeli chess player. He was awarded the title of ...

and

Bartłomiej Macieja Bartłomiej (Bartek) Macieja (born 4 October 1977) is a Polish chess player who holds the FIDE title of Grandmaster (GM). He is married to Mexican chess master Alejandra Guerrero Rodríguez. He currently serves as the head chess coach for ...

4.Be2

Though rarely seen, this move is playable. For example, if Black plays 4...Bb4, White has the responses 5.Nd5, 5.0-0, and 5.d3, which retain equality with accurate play.

4.a3

The quiet 4.a3, the Gunsberg Variation, is a specialty of Polish grandmaster

Paweł Blehm Paweł Blehm (born 17 April 1980 in Olkusz) is a Polish chess grandmaster (2001). He took part in the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000, but was knocked out in the first round by Smbat Lputian. He played for Poland in the Chess Olympiad of 200 ...

4.Nxe5

A dubious

is 4.Nxe5?!, the so-called Halloween Gambit. After 4...Nxe5 5.d4, White tries to seize the centre with his pawns and drive the black knights back to their home squares. Grandmaster

Larry Kaufman Lawrence Charles Kaufman (born November 15, 1947) is an American chess and shōgi player. In chess, he was awarded the title Grandmaster by FIDE for winning the 2008 World Seniors Championship (which he later retroactively shared with Mihai ...

says that this line is refuted by 5...Nc6 6.d5 Bb4! 7.dxc6 Nxe4 8.Qd4 Qe7, which he attributes to Jan Pinski. According to

Max Euwe Machgielis "Max" Euwe (; May 20, 1901 – November 26, 1981) was a Dutch chess player, mathematician, author, and chess administrator. He was the fifth player to become World Chess Champion, a title he held from 1935 until 1937. He served as ...

's opening series volume 11, Black has a decisive advantage after 5...Ng6 6.e5 Ng8 7.Bc4 d5 8.Bxd5 c6.A Breeze in the sleepy Four Knight's Game
/ref>

References

Bibliography * * *

External links

Tim Krabbé's article on the Halloween GambitUnorthodox Openings Newsletter #13, Critical Lines in the Halloween Gambit
by Paul Keiser {{Chess Chess openings