Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...Nc6/2. d4/2...d5/3. Nc3

Nimzowitsch Defence
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) r1bqkbnr/ppp1pppp/2n5/3p4/3PP3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR b
Moves: 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3

Nimzowitsch Defence

Black now faces a strong gambit that if accepted allows white to gain time by attacking the queen's knight. There are several options for black:

3... dxe4 accepts the gambit. White should play d5 to attack the knight.

3... e6 transposes into an inferior variation of the French Defence with the knight blocking the c-pawn.

3... a6 an interesting way to decline the gambit as it ignores the attack on d5.

Theory table

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

'1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3'

	3
	dxe4 ...	=
	e6 ...	=
	a6 ...	∞

References

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