The Alekhine's Defence


Overview

The Alekhine’s Defence is a defense when white plays 1.e4 as his first move.

Black attacks the e4 pawn with his knight, encouraging White to advance his central pawns to chase the Knight away.



Black’s idea: White’s pawn advances are permanent (since pawn’s can’t move backwards). So have White make irreversible pawn advances that can’t be undone.

Then once White’s pawn structure is fixed, counter attack it.



The Alekhine's Defence can be attacked in three different ways based on White's fourth and fifth moves:

  • Main line (2. e5 Nd5)
    • The Four Pawns Attack (3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4)
    • The Exchange Variation (3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.exd6)
    • Modern Variation (3.d4 d6 4.Nf3)

Main line: 2.e5 Nd5

In the main line (2.e5 Nd5), there are three variations, the Modern Variation, the Exchange Variation and the Four Pawns Attack.

The Four Pawns Attack is the most aggressive line.

This line illustrates the basic idea behind the defence: Black attacks the e4 pawn with his knight, tempting White to advance his central pawns in the belief that they can later be ruined.

While this variation is extremely popular at the amateur level (since it can be extremely aggressive), It is not popular at the higher levels of chess.

Most advanced players aren’t willing to permanently weaken their pawn structure for the temporary space advantage.

White can choose this variation if he prefers more aggressive games.


The Exchange Variation is one of the most popular ways to deal with the Alekhine’s Defence.

After the advance of White's central pawns, Black's main move is d6.

This move attacks the overextended e5 pawn and makes a room for the Black pieces to start developing.

If White exchanges his e5 pawn (for the d6 pawn), he creates another weakness in the pawn center – the d4 pawn.

This pawn is going to be Black's main target, and his play is going to be based around fixing and attacking the d4 pawn.


The Modern Variation is the most common variation of the Alekhine’s Defence.

White decides not to be greedy, accept a modest spatial advantage, and fight to be able to hang on to it.


How To Reach The Alekhine's Defence?

  1. First, White must move the King’s pawn two squares (1.e4).
  2. Then, Black replies by moving his King’s Knight three squares (1...Nf6).

Take a look at the moves below:



Why Play The Alekhine's Defence

The ideas behind the Alekhine defense are counter intuitive.

Black allows White to claim great space in the center with his pawns, and White feels as though he has accomplished a lot.

But since pawns can’t move backwards, this creates permanent weaknesses and targets for black to attack.

Once white's pawns are fixed, what did advancing them actually achieve?

White loses as much time pushing pawns as black moving the knight.


Every move explained

Four Pawns Attack

How To Reach It

The Four Pawns Attack of the Alekhine's Defence appears on the board after the following moves:

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

You can see the moves here:

Why play the Four Pawns Attack?

White must secure his advantage in space or make use of it before Black succeeds in attacking those weak points.

Black must play very quickly to attack White’s over extended pawns because White will use his space advantage to launch a kingside attack.

White's Moves

Cambridge gambit - 0-0-0

Don’t waste your time by taking on g5.

Develop your Queen on the h5-square and castle Queenside.

White has a better position and a winning advantage.

Black didn’t develop his pieces on the Queenside. He also can’t castle Kingside.

Main line - Trifunovich Variation

White exchanges his light-squared Bishop and gains a pawn structure advantage in the center of the board.

Black's moves

Fianchetto variation

Black can choose this variation if he wants to confuse his opponent.

He also gains a hypermodern pawn structure.

Take White’s e5 pawn

In the Four Pawn attacks, Black’s main idea is to capture the overextended e5 pawn — White's main liability.

It is the best move for Black and also makes room for pieces to start developing.

Every move explained

Exchange Variation

How To Reach It

The Exchange Variation of the Alekhine's Defence appears on the board after the following moves:

  1. e4 Nf6
  2. e5 Nd5
  3. d4 d6
  4. c4 Nb6
  5. exd6

You can see the moves here:

Why play the Exchange Variation?

By taking the pawn, White trades his e5-pawn and gets another weakness -- the d4-pawn.

This pawn is going to be Black's main target, and his play is going to be based around fixing and attacking the d4-pawn.

Black has two options after taking the e-pawn :

  1. He can recapture with the c-pawn. This creates an imbalanced position which means more potential counter play. It is in the style of the Alekhine Defence.
  2. Or with the e-pawn. Black can choose it if he is not an aggressive player.(exd6). It creates a symmetrical pawn structure with identical pawn islands. In the long run, this means that piece exchanges will lead to an equal endgame.

White's Moves

Play h3

White can play h3 to prevent Black from playing Bg4.

Pawn chain

White has a strong pawn chain which is controlling a lot of key squares.

Black's moves

Recapture with the e-pawn and Castle Kingside

If you are not an aggressive player, you can recapture White’s d6-square with the e-pawn and castle Kingside to protect your King.

This is the safer way because the pawn structures on the board remain symmetrical (which means exchanges in endgames lead to draws)

Recapture with the c-pawn and Fianchetto the Bishop

The best way to approach this is to take with c-pawn instead of the d-pawn.

You can then recapture White’s d6-square with the c-pawn and fianchetto your Bishop.

This is a similar strategy used in the Sicilian Defence.

Every move explained

Modern Variation

How To Reach It

The Modern Variation of the Alekhine's Defence appears on the board after the following moves:

  1. e4 Nf6
  2. e5 Nd5
  3. d4 d64
  4. Nf3

You can see the moves here:

Why play the Modern Variation?

One of the main ideas behind 4. Nf3 is reinforcing the overextended e5 pawn which is often the weakest point in the position and Black’s main target.

After Nf3, if Black takes e5, White can recapture with the knight, thus getting rid of the liability.

White's Moves

If Black pins Knight, break pin immediately

If Black tries to pin the Knight on f3, White needs to break the pin immediately.

This Knight defends the important d4 and e5 pawns.

Castle Kingside to Protect the King

White should castle Kingside to protect his King.

Larsen variation dxe5

If Black plays dxe5, White can recapture with the knight, thus getting rid of the liability.

Black's moves

Pin the Knight

Black doesn’t have to worry about the development of his light-squared bishop as in the other variations, because he can simply pin the f3 knight with his Bishop (4...Bg4).

Fianchetto the Bishop

Black fianchettoes the Bishop to put some pressure onto White’s central pawns.




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