Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nc3/2...Nf6/3. Bc4

=Vienna Game, Falkbeer Defence=

White has nailed down Black's d-pawn by controlling d5 with three pieces. This prevents Black from breaking open the centre, or does it? The late Alexander Alekhine, world champion in the 1930s, recommends:


 * /3...Nxe4/!

This is the fork trick common to several openings. After 3...Nxe4 Black has eliminated two of the attackers of d5 with one stroke, and will proceed to regain the piece by 4...d5, grabbing a large chunk of the centre as he does so. For now, Black is a pawn up, but White may just have something else up his sleeve too...

Black can also choose to forget about d5 for the time being:


 * /3...Nc6/ transposes back to the Max Lange Defence.


 * /3...d6/ is a timid move. It attempts to maintain a pawn at e5 after White plays f4, but it happens to give White the run of the board in the process.

Theory table
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1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Bc4