All chess openings

Counterattacking chess openings

Openings that invite the attack and then strike back. Rather than fight for equality, these lines let the opponent overextend and aim to punish the loose pawn or the uncastled king that comes with it — the standard way Black plays for a win rather than a draw.

24 openings

• Sicilian Defence — Najdorf (B90) — Sharp and asymmetric — Black fights for the full point
• Sicilian Defence — Accelerated Dragon (B35) — The Dragon without …d6 — saving a tempo to hit d4 with …d5 in one go
• Sicilian Defence — Sveshnikov (B33) — A permanent hole on d5 traded for two bishops and raw activity
• Ruy López — Marshall Attack (C89) — Black sacrifices a pawn in the Spanish and attacks for the next thirty moves
• Ruy López — Open Variation (C80) — Grab the e4-pawn and take the Spanish somewhere White can't grind you
• Two Knights Defence (C56) — Black ignores the threat to f7 and invites the sharpest game on the board
• King's Gambit Declined (C30) — Refuse the pawn, aim the bishop at f2, and let White's own gambit backfire
• French Defence (C00) — Closed centre, queenside counterplay, fight for e5
• French Defence — Winawer (C18) — Trade a bishop for doubled pawns, then let White eat the kingside
• Semi-Slav — Botvinnik Variation (D44) — Both sides give up material in the opening and neither king ever feels safe
• King's Indian Defence (E60) — Allow White the centre then attack it with pieces and pawns
• Grünfeld Defence (D85) — Invite White to build a huge centre — then spend the game demolishing it
• Modern Benoni (A70) — A ruined structure and a queenside majority — Tal's favourite kind of chess
• Benko Gambit (A59) — One pawn for two open files and pressure that never, ever stops
• Budapest Gambit (A52) — Throw a pawn at move two and get every piece out with tempo
• Pirc Defence (B08) — Let White have the centre and undermine it once the king is safe
• Modern Defence (B06) — Delay everything, commit to nothing, and let White overextend
• Alekhine's Defence (B04) — Offer the knight as bait and let White's centre chase it into overextension
• Blackburne Shilling Gambit (C50) — Offer a free pawn and mate on move seven when White takes it
• Elephant Trap (D51) — The d7-knight looks pinned. It isn't, and White loses a piece finding out.
• Lasker Trap (D08) — An underpromotion to a knight — on move seven
• Noah's Ark Trap (C71) — Three pawns walk forward and the Spanish bishop simply never gets out
• Englund Gambit Trap (A40) — Throw a pawn away on move one and mate on c1 eight moves later
• Siberian Trap (B21) — Accept the Smith-Morra, ignore the attacked knight, and mate on h2