Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bc4/3...Nf6/4. Ng5/4...Nxe4/5. Bxf7/5...Ke7

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) r1bq1b1r/ppppkBpp/2n5/4p1N1/4n3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Nxe4 5. Bxf7+
ECO code: C57-C59
Parent: Italian Game

Two Knights Defence

5... Ke7

In this position, White must make one more critical move to retain their advantage. If Black manages to trade knights with 6...Nxg5, Black will be able to stabilize their position.

The move 6. d4! prevents this as 6...Nxg5 7. Bxg5 skewers the king and queen. Black capturing the d-pawn is now the least of their worries as White can begin to mount a powerful offensive.

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 Nxe4 5. Bxf7+ Ke7

		6	7	8
		h6 Nxe4	Kxf7 d5	Nd4 c3	+=

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.