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King's Knight Opening
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/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6
ECO code: C40-C99
Parent: Open Game

Contents 1 King's Knight Opening 1.1 2... Nc6 1.2 Statistics 1.3 Theory table 1.4 References

[edit] King's Knight Opening

[edit] 2... Nc6

White has multiple choices here which can lead to very different games.

• 3. Bb5 is the most played. White puts pressure on the knight defending the pawn. While this is indeed White's best hope of an enduring attack, its aggressive appearance is misleading; the positions that result if Black defends properly require almost infinite patience from White.
• 3. Bc4 is a little more forthright and probably a better bet for beginners, provided the game does not subsequently head towards the Steve Davis Position.
• 3. d4 is aggressive. The center will completely collapse in a few moves, leading to a wide open game.
• 3. Nc3 is the dullest of the mainstream moves, not recommended for beginners if said beginners are to cultivate any interest in chess. Unless they are undead beginners, in which case they are entitled to play the (dubious but really fun) Halloween Gambit on move 4.
• 3. c3 is the Ponziani, a has-been. d4 doesn't need this preparation, and the b1-knight is unhappy at losing custody of c3 while Black's knight is still free to come to f6.
• 3. Nxe5 the Irish Gambit, sacrificing a knight for a pawn .
• 3. g3 the rarely seen Konstantinopolsky Opening
• 3. Be2 a passive reply called the Inverted Hungarian Opening or Tayler Opening.

[edit] Statistics

Estimated next move popularity
Bb5 48%, Bc4 26%, d4 14%, Nc3 9%, c3 1%, all other less then 1%

[edit] Theory table

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

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6

	3	4	5
Ruy Lopez	Bb5 a6	Ba4 Nf6	O-O Be7	=
Italian Game	Bc4 Bc5	c3 Nf6	d4 exd4	=
Scotch Game	d4 exd4	Nxd4 Bc5	Nb3 Bb4+	=
Four Knights Game	Nc3 Nf6	d4 exd4	Nxd4 Bb4	=
Ponziani Opening	c3 d5	Bb5 dxe4	Nxe5 Qg5	=

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Wikipedia has related information at King's Knight Opening

[edit] References

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

• Batsford Chess Openings 2 (1989, 1994). Garry Kasparov, Raymond Keene. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.

This box: view • talk • edit Chess Openings
1. e4 e5	Open Game·King's Gambit·Bishop's Opening·Vienna·Petrov·Latvian Gambit·Scotch·Giuoco Piano·Two Knights·Ruy Lopez
1. e4 c5	Sicilian Defence·Closed Sicilian·Taimanov·Sveshnikov ·Kan Sicilian·Sicilian Dragon· Scheveningen·Najdorf
1. e4 other	French Defence·Caro-Kann Defence·Pirc Defence·Alekhine Defence·Modern·Scandinavian·Nimzowitsch
1. d4 Nf6	Indian Defence·King's Indian Defence·Nimzo-Indian·Queen's Indian·Grünfeld·Benoni·Budapest·Catalan
1. d4 d5	Closed Game·Queen's Gambit·Queen's Gambit Accepted·Queen's Gambit Declined·Chigorin·Slav·Semi-Slav·Marshall
1. d4 other	Dutch Defence·Old Benoni Defence·Englund Gambit·English Defence. Other: King's Indian Attack·Reti Opening
1.	a3 · Na3 · a4 · b3 · b4 · c3 · Nc3 · c4 · d3 · d4 · e3 · e4 · f3 · Nf3 · f4 · g3 · g4 · h3 · Nh3 · h4