Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bc4/3...Nf6/4. Ng5/4...d5/5. exd5

Two Knights 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) r1bqkb1r/ppp2ppp/2n2n2/3Pp1N1/2B5/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R b
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5

Two Knights Defence

5 exd5

An automatic move as other moves lose material. Black has a selection of interesting moves leading to diverse tactical positions.

Statistics

Estimated next move likelihood

Na5 69.1%, Nd4 15.3%, b5 13.2%, Nd5 1.6%, Nb4 0.8%

Theory table

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

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5

	5	6	7	8
Main Line	exd5 Na5	Bb5+ c6	dxc6 bxc6	Be2 h6	∞
Qf3 Variation	... ...	... ...	... ...	Qf3 Be7	∞
Ulvestad Variation	... b5	Bf1 h6	Nxf7 Kxf7	dxc6 Bc5	+=
Fritz Variation	... Nd4	c3 b5	Bf1 Nxd5	Ne4 Qh4	+=
Lolli Variation	... Nxd5!?	d4 Bb4+	c3 Be7	Nxf7 Kxf7	+=
Fried Liver Attack	... ...	Nxf7 Kxf7	Qf3 Ke6	Nc3 Nb4	∞

References

• 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.