Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...Nf6/2. e5/2...Nd5/3. d4/3...d6/4. c4/4...Nb6/5. f4

Alekhine's 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) rnbqkb1r/ppp1pppp/1n1p4/4P3/2PP1P2/8/PP4PP/RNBQKBNR b
Moves: 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4

Alekhine's Defence - Four Pawns Attack

White has built a huge pawn center. Black will try to destroy it from a distance. It would be a good idea to exchange the d pawn so as to weaken the king side : 5...dxe5.

A more quiet line is : 5...Bf5, developing the bishop. 5...g6 is also a line which has been played by Magnus Carlsen - on g7 the bishop will exert pressure along the long diagonal, and helps to the attack against d4 and e5. It also gives White other attacking plans, such as h4-h5. 5...g5!? is an objectively unsound but creative idea, since 6.fxg5? dxe5 7.dxe5 Qxd1+ 8.Kxd1 Bg7 followed by ...Nc6 and ...Nd7 will win back the pawn with a much stronger structure & development, but declining it often allows White an advantage.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1.e4 Nf6 2.e5 Nd5 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4

	5
	... dxe5	=
	... Bf5	=
	... g6	=
	... g5	=