Alekhine's Defence


The Alekhine's Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
Black tempts White's pawns forward to form a broad, with plans to undermine and attack the white structure later in the spirit of hypermodern defence. White's imposing mass of pawns in the centre often includes pawns on c4, d4, e5, and f4. Grandmaster Nick de Firmian observes of Alekhine's Defence in MCO-15, "The game immediately loses any sense of symmetry or balance, which makes the opening a good choice for aggressive fighting players."
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has four codes for Alekhine's Defence, B02 through B05:
The opening is named after Alexander Alekhine, who introduced it in the :Category:1921 in chess|1921 Budapest tournament in games against Endre Steiner and Fritz Sämisch. Four years later, the editors of the Fourth Edition of Modern Chess Openings wrote:
Nothing is more indicative of the iconoclastic conceptions of the 'hypermodern school' than the bizarre defence introduced by Alekhine.... Although opposing to all tenets of the classical school, Black allows his King's Knight to be driven about the board in the early stages of the game, in the expectation of provoking a weakness in White's centre pawns.

In addition to Alekhine, another early exponent of the defence was Ernst Grünfeld.

Use

The Alekhine's Defence was more popular in the past. For instance, Fischer used it in several games against Boris Spassky in the World Chess Championship 1972, and Korchnoi also included the defence in his, leading to its respectable reputation. Nowadays, Alekhine's defense is not so common at the top level. De Firmian observes, "The fashion could quickly change if some champion of the opening takes up the cause, as the results Black has obtained in practice are good." The opening's current highest-rated proponent is GM Vassily Ivanchuk, although Lev Alburt played it at grandmaster-level almost exclusively during his career and was responsible for many contributions in both theory and practice. Currently, grandmasters Shabalov and Minasian use the opening with regularity, while Aronian, Adams, and Nakamura will use it on occasion. Carlsen does not employ the opening frequently, but he has used it occasionally in competitive games, most notably he defeated the former World Chess Champion Topalov in Linares 2008 employing the Alekhine's defence.
A game by Napoléon Bonaparte from the 19th century shows the oldest known example of Alekhine's Defense being employed in a game. Napoléon won the game.

Main line: 2.e5 Nd5

After the usual 2.e5 Nd5, three main variations of Alekhine's Defence use 3.d4, but there are other options for White at this point. Two of the main lines are the Exchange Variation and the Four Pawns Attack. The Exchange Variation continues 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6. White has some advantage. Black can capitalise on the half-open centre with...g6,...Bg7 with...Bg4 eventually being played. The Four Pawns Attack continues 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4. White has a somewhat larger space advantage though the centre is not fixed. Black has a number of options. Black can play...Qd7 with...0-0-0 and...f6 putting pressure on White's d-pawn. Black can play...Nb4 with...c5 hoping to exchange the d-pawn. Finally, Black can play...Be7 with...0-0 and...f6 attacking the centre. Minor variations include O'Sullivan's Gambit, 3.d4 b5, and 3.d4 d6 4.Bc4, the Balogh Variation.

Four Pawns Attack: 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4

The Four Pawns Attack is White's most ambitious try, and the variation which perhaps best illustrates the basic idea behind the defence: Black allows White to make several tempo-gaining attacks on the knight and to erect an apparently imposing pawn centre in the belief that it can later be destroyed. The game can become very since White must either secure his advantage in space or make use of it before Black succeeds in making a successful strike at it. Black must also play vigorously because passive play will be crushed by the white centre. The Four Pawns Attack is not particularly popular because many White players are wary of entering a sharp tactical line which Black may have prepared. The main line continues 5...dxe5 6.fxe5 Nc6 7.Be3 Bf5 8.Nc3 e6 9.Nf3.
An alternative is the sharp Planinc Variation, 5...g5. Black hopes for 6.fxg5 dxe5, wrecking White's centre and leaving him with weak pawns. The line is named after GM Albin Planinc, who championed it in the 1970s. It was then taken up in the 1990s by correspondence player Michael Schirmer, whose games were noted in a recent book on Alekhine's Defence by British GM and Alekhine exponent Nigel Davies.

Exchange Variation: 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6

The Exchange Variation is less ambitious than the Four Pawns Attack. White trades pawns, accepting a more modest spatial advantage. Black's main decision is whether to recapture with the solid 5...exd6, which will lead to a fairly strategic position, or the more ambitious 5...cxd6 when Black has a preponderance of pawns in the centre. The third recapture 5...Qxd6 is also possible since the fork 6.c5 can be answered by 6...Qe6+, but the line is considered inferior since Black will sooner or later need to deal with this threat.
In the sharper 5...cxd6 line, Black usually aims to attack and undermine the white pawn on d4, and possibly c4 as well. To do this, a usual plan involves a fianchetto of the to g7, playing the other bishop to g4 to remove a knight on f3 which is a key defender of d4, while black knights on b6 and c6 bear down on the white pawns on c4 and d4. Cox gave the game Jainy Gomes–Guillermo Soppe, São Paulo 2001 to illustrate Black's intentions.
A popular setup from White to prevent Black's plan is the Voronezh Variation. The Voronezh is defined by the opening sequence 1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6 cxd6 6.Nc3 g6 7.Be3 Bg7 8.Rc1 0-0 9.b3. White's setup delays so that Black has trouble developing pieces in a fashion that harasses White's pieces and assails the centre pawns; for instance there is no knight on f3 which can become a target after...Bg4, and no bishop on d3 which may be a target after...Nc6–e5. While 9...Nc6 is Black's most common reply according to ChessBase's database, after 10.d5 Ne5 Black's knight lacks a target, and will soon be chased out with f2–f4, and this line has scored very poorly for Black. The main line in the Voronezh, and the second most common reply, is 9...e5 10.dxe5 dxe5 11.Qxd8 Rxd8 12.c5 N6d7 when Black must play carefully to unentangle and challenge the white pawn on c5. Other lines against the Voronezh include 9...f5 leading to sharp play. Other solid moves such as 9...e6,...Bd7,...Bf5, and...a5 are possible as well. According to John Cox, the 9...e5 line is adequate, but Black needs to know the line well.
The Voronezh was recommended by John Emms and noted as a big problem by Nigel Davies, leading many players to opt for the more solid 5...exd6 line. However, the line offers Black less opportunity for counterplay. In this line Black usually develops the king bishop via...Be7 and...Bf6, because Bg5 can be bothersome against a fianchetto setup with...g6 and...Bg7, e.g. 6.Nc3 g6 7.Nf3 Bg7 8.Bg5.

Modern Variation: 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3

The Modern Variation is the most common variation of the Alekhine Defence. As in the Exchange Variation, White accepts a more modest spatial advantage, and hopes to be able to hang on to it. There are a number of possible Black responses:

In most variations, Black can play...Bg4 to transpose into the 4...Bg4 line.

Balogh Variation: 3.d4 d6 4.Bc4

The first recorded use of this variation was Canal–Colle, Carlsbad 1929. White resigned after Black's 40th move.
Unlike several other sidelines, 4.Bc4 is fairly popular. The line contains some traps that can snare the unwary. For example, 4...dxe5 5.dxe5 Nb6?? loses the queen to 6.Bxf7+ Instead, the main line is 4...Nb6 5.Bb3, when Black has usually played 5...dxe5 6.Qh5 e6 7.dxe5 or 5...Bf5 when White can among other things try the obstructive pawn sacrifice 6.e6. In either case, White obtains attacking chances, and so Taylor recommends 5...d5 followed by 6...e6 to reach a position akin to the French Defence.

Two Pawns Attack: 3.c4 Nb6 4.c5

The Two Pawns Attack is also an ambitious try. White may gain attacking prospects, but it might cost a pawn to do so. White's pawns on c5 and e5 secure a spatial advantage, but the d5-square has been weakened. Unlike the Four Pawns Attack, the white centre is not as fluid and the game takes on a more strategic character.
Aesthetically, 4.c5 looks positionally suspect, since White's pawn advances have severely weakened the d5-square. White's intention is to grab space and mobility so that those strategic deficiencies are of little consequence.
Black must play 4...Nd5, whereupon White will usually challenge the knight with moves like Bc4 and Nc3. Black can defend the knight with...c6 or...e6, sometimes playing both. Typically, Black then challenges White's pawns on e5 and c5 with moves like...d6 and...b6.
The statistics presented by Cox show this variation scoring poorly for White, with all of Black's main defences scoring at least 50%.

Two Knights Variation: 3.Nc3

In the Two Knights Variation, White immediately accepts doubled pawns after 3...Nxc3 for some compensation. After 4.dxc3 this compensation is rapid piece development. Although the line after 4...d6, challenging the e-pawn often can lead to fairly dull positions, the position remains open and Black can quickly succumb with poor defence, for example after 5.Bc4 dxe5?? 6.Bxf7+!, White wins the queen on d8. After 4.bxc3 White's compensation for the doubled pawns is a big centre that can be used as a basis for a kingside attack. The resulting pawn structure leads to position similar to that of the Winawer variation of the French Defence.
If Black does not want to defend against White's attacking opportunities against 3...Nxc3 4.dxc3, then 3...e6 is a reasonable alternative that was Alekhine's choice when meeting the Two Knights, and this defence has been advocated by Taylor. If White plays 4.d4, then 4...Nxc3 forces White into the bxc3 line reminiscent of the French. If 4.Nxd5 exd5, Black will quickly dissolve the doubled pawns with...d6, and the resulting position will tend to be drawish.

Minor sidelines after 2.e5 Nd5

In Endre Steiner–Alexander Alekhine, Budapest 1921, the first high level game with the Alekhine Defence, White played 3.d4 d6 4.Bg5. Cox recommends 4...h6 5.Bh4 dxe5 6.dxe5 Bf5, followed by...Nc6 and...Ndb4, targeting c2.
Another rare line, but one that scores well in practice is 3.d4 d6 4.Be2, preventing Black from playing 4...Bg4 while retaining the option of making the pawn advance f2–f4.
After 3.c4 Nb6 4.a4, White aims at chasing the black knight away followed by a pawn sacrifice that impairs Black's development, for example by 4...d6 5.a5 N6d7 6.e6. It is possible for Black to allow this, but it is simpler to prevent it by 4...a5. White's main continuation is to deploy the for duties on the kingside with 5.Ra3, followed by Rg3 at some point when the attack on g7 is supposed to tie Black down from developing the bishop to e7. However, after 5...d6 6.exd6 exd6 7.Rg3 Bf5, Black can carry through with 8...Be7 anyway, since after 9.Rxg7 the rook would be trapped and lost to 9...Bg6 and 10...Bf6. The idea for this unusual early "rook lift" probably originated with the well-known American International Master Emory Tate. Women's World Champion GM Maria Muzychuk, World Junior Champion GM Lu Shanglei and GM Nazar Firman have experimented with this line and achieved some success with it.

Alternatives to 2...Nd5

After 2.e5, 2...Nd5 is almost universally played. The two other knight moves that do not it to the queen on d1 are 2...Ng8 and 2...Ne4.
Instead of chasing Black's knight, White may defend the e4-pawn, either directly or [|through tactical means].
2.Nc3 is by far White's most common alternative to 2.e5; in fact Cox noted that he saw this move in over half his games with the Alekhine. It is often played by amateurs and those wishing to avoid a theoretical battle on territory more familiar to their opponents. Cox, however, wrote that many White players are bluffing, and in fact know nothing about either the Vienna Game or the Four Knights Game, to which the game can easily transpose if Black plays 2...e5, citing one book which recommended 2.Nc3 while assuring readers that 2...e5 is uncommon. Another transposition Black may enter is 2...d6, which usually leads to the Pirc Defence.
The independent Alekhine line is 2...d5, known as the Scandinavian Variation. After 2...d5, 3.exd5 Nxd5 4.Bc4, 4...Nb6 or 4...Nxc3 is considered roughly equal, while 4...e6 is solid but blocks in the light-squared bishop. 4.g3 has been played by the Danish correspondence player Ove Ekebjaerg, when Harald Keilhack recommends 4...Nxc3 5.bxc3 Qd5! 6.Qf3! Qe6+! 7.Qe2 Qxe2+ 8.Nxe2 Bd7! 9.Bg2 Bc6 10.0-0 Bxg2 11.Kxg2 Nc6 12.d3 g6 13.Rb1 0-0-0 14.c4 Bg7, when "Black has a rather comfortable position", as in Ekebjaerg–Alcantara Soares, corr. 1989.
More combative after 2...d5 is 3.e5, when Black can choose among 3...d4, 3...Nfd7, 3...Ne4!?, and even 3...Ng8. After 3...d4 can follow 4.Nce2 Ng4, or 4.exf6 dxc3 5.fxg7 cxd2+ leading to quick castling for White.
While most grandmasters play the mainline 2.e5, Jonny Hector regularly plays 2.Nc3 against the Alekhine, and has scored well against the 2...d5 variation. His ideas have left White with a theoretical edge. Textbook authors of the Alekhine Defence, including Davies, Cox, and Taylor, have therefore encouraged 2...e5 over 2...d5.

Other 2nd moves for White