All chess openings

Dynamic chess openings

Positions where activity matters more than structure. These openings accept doubled pawns, a damaged centre or a small material deficit because the pieces get somewhere useful first — and the advantage evaporates if you play slowly.

30 openings

• Sicilian Defence — Najdorf (B90) — Sharp and asymmetric — Black fights for the full point
• Sicilian Defence — Dragon (B70) — Opposite-side castling, all-out attacks on both wings
• 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
• Smith-Morra Gambit (B21) — Give up a pawn to get every piece out and both open files for free
• 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
• Vienna Game (C27) — A quiet-looking developing move that hides a genuinely wild gambit
• Vienna Gambit (C29) — A King's Gambit with the knight already developed and the king safer
• Scotch Game — Classical (C45) — Open play and piece activity from move three
• Scotch Game — Mieses Variation (C45) — Aggressive queen sortie, pressure on f7 from the outset
• Scotch Gambit (C44) — Sacrifice a pawn for rapid development and open lines
• King's Gambit Accepted (C39) — The romantic era in one move — a pawn for the centre, the f-file and a fight
• Evans Gambit (C52) — One pawn to deflect a bishop and build the biggest centre in chess
• Danish Gambit (C21) — Two pawns for two monster bishops raking the whole board
• French Defence — Winawer (C18) — Trade a bishop for doubled pawns, then let White eat the kingside
• Caro-Kann — Panov Attack (B13) — Turn the solid Caro-Kann into a raging isolated-pawn attack
• Queen's Gambit Accepted (D20) — Accept the pawn and fight for equality with active play
• 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
• Nimzo-Indian Defence (E20) — Bishop pair pressure and flexible pawn structures
• 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
• Budapest Gambit (A52) — Throw a pawn at move two and get every piece out with tempo
• Dutch Defence — Leningrad (A87) — Fianchetto the bishop, build a powerful kingside presence
• 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
• Lasker Trap (D08) — An underpromotion to a knight — on move seven