Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bc4/3...Nf6/4. Ng5/4...d5/5. exd5/5...Na5/6. Bb5/6...c6/7. dxc6/7...bxc6/8. Be2/8...h6/9. Nh3

Two Knights Defence:Steinitz Variation
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) r1bqkb1r/p4pp1/2p2n1p/n3p3/8/7N/PPPPBPPP/RNBQK2R b
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Na5 6. Bb5 c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Be2 h6 9. Nh3

Two Knights Defence:Steinitz Variation

9. Nh3

Steinitz Variation
Bobby Fischer revived this in the 1960s and Nigel Short in the 1990's. It has an equally good reputation as the main line move 9 Nf3.

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 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 8. Be2 h6

	9	10	11	12
1	Nh3 Bd6	d3 O-O	Nc3 Nd5	O-O Rb8	Kh1 -
2	... Be7	d3 O-O	Nc3 Nd5	O-O Rb8	Kh1 -
3	... g5
4	... Bc5
5	... Rb8

Statistics

Estimated next move likelihood
g5 34%, Bd6 24.5%, Bc5 24.5%, Be7 7.5% Rb8 5.5%, Bf5 4%