Alekhine's Defence
B04 · Played as black · Intermediate · Other Black Defences
Offer the knight as bait and let White's centre chase it into overextension
The main line
1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.Nf3 dxe5 5.Nxe5 c6 6.Be2 Bf5 7.O-O Nd7 8.Nf3 e6 9.c4 N5f6
Strategic ideas
- Provoke White's pawns forward with a knight that keeps getting kicked
- Treat every tempo White gains as another overextended pawn to attack later
- Undermine the big centre with …d6, …c6 and …exd5 rather than occupying it
- Trade off White's e5 spearhead and leave the advanced pawns weak
- Play the ultimate hypermodern provocation — Alekhine's own contribution to opening theory
Key themes
- Counterattack — Black's knight offers itself as a target so White's pawns advance too far to be defended
- Dynamic — Black is cramped and behind — only accurate, active undermining keeps the position alive
- Flexible — The knight reroutes to b6, f6 or f4 depending on how far White has committed
Typical plans
Alekhine's Defence takes hypermodern logic to its logical extreme: Black moves one knight four times in the opening, purely to drag White's pawns forward. Every tempo White gains comes with a pawn advance, and by move six White's centre is enormous and increasingly hard to defend. Then Black starts hitting it with …d6, …c6 and …exd5. If the centre holds, Black is simply squashed. If it cracks, White has four weak pawns and nothing to show for them.
Move by move
- e4 — White claims the centre.
- Nf6 — Black develops the knight and attacks e4 immediately — offering the knight as a target rather than fighting for the centre with pawns.
- e5 — White pushes past with tempo, gaining space and kicking the knight.
- Nd5 — Black steps aside to the centre, ready to be kicked again. Every tempo White gains costs a pawn move.
- d4 — White builds the big centre.
- d6 — Black hits the e5-pawn, the head of the chain — the undermining starts immediately.
- Nf3 — White develops and defends e5. The alternative c4 and f4 leads to the Four Pawns Attack, where the centre gets truly enormous.
- dxe5 — Black trades, refusing to let the pawn cramp the position any longer.
- Nxe5 — White recaptures with the knight, keeping a piece on the strong central square.
- c6 — Black shores up d5 and takes b5 away, giving the knight a permanent home.
- Be2 — White develops modestly and prepares to castle.
- Bf5 — Black gets the bishop out before playing …e6 — the same idea as the Caro-Kann.
- O-O — White castles, connecting the rooks.
- Nd7 — Black develops and offers the trade of White's strong e5-knight.
- Nf3 — White retreats rather than trade, keeping the pieces on.
- e6 — Black closes the diagonal, having already solved the bishop problem.
- c4 — White gains more space and kicks the knight for the third time.
- N5f6 — Black retreats to f6, where the knight is finally settled. It has moved four times — and White's pawns are on c4, d4 and e4, a long way from home and needing constant defence. That's the Alekhine bargain.