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	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

The Four Knights Game is a chess opening starting with the moves This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... Image File history File links ghjfdjdfjkghjgjghj File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This image is originally from xboard. ... The first moves of a chess game are the opening moves, collectively referred to as the opening. ...

1.e4 e5

2.Nf3 Nc6

3.Nc3 Nf6

This is the most common sequence, but the knights may be developed in any order.

The Four Knights is fairly popular with beginners who strictly adhere to the opening principle "develop knights before bishops." It is occasionally played at higher levels, but most players consider the Ruy Lopez a better try for advantage. The Four Knights usually leads to quiet positional play but there are a few fairly sharp variations. The knight moves in an L shape. ... A bishop (♗♝) is a piece in the board game of chess. ... The Ruy Lopez, sometimes known as the Spanish Game, is a chess opening characterised by the moves 1. ...

White's most common move is 4.Bb5, after which Black has three major alternatives. 4...Bb4 is the Symmetrical Variation. Often it results in a quick draw, but it is possible for either side to play for a win. Black can play more aggressively by 4...Nd4, the Rubinstein Variation. White cannot win a pawn with 5.Nxe5, since Black regains the pawn with the advantage of the bishop-pair after 5...Qe7 6.Nf3 (6.f4 Nxb5 7.Nxb5 d6) Nxb5 7.Nxb5 Qxe4+ 8.Qe2 Qxe2+ 9.Kxe2 Nd5! 10.c4 a6! White most often plays 5.Ba4, when Black usually continues in gambit fashion with 5...Bc5!? 6.Nxe5 0-0 7.Nd3 Bb6 8.e5 Ne8 followed by ...d6. Another line, which discourages many ambitious Black players from playing the Rubinstein, is 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 (7...exd2+?! 8.Bxd2 Qxf6 9.0-0 is dangerous for Black) 8.dxc3 Qe5+. This often leads to a quick draw after 9.Qe2 Qxe2+. In recent years, Black has tried 4...Bd6!? with success. That move takes the sting out of 5.Bxc6, which is met with 5...dxc6 with a good game. If White plays quietly, Black will regroup with ...0-0, ...Re8, ...Bf8, and ...d6. Draw has the following meanings: Drawing is one way of making an image by making marks on a surface with a pen, pencil or other line tool. ... Akiba Rubinstein (born 12 December 1882, died 15 March 1961 in Antwerp) was a brilliant Polish chess master and a famous grandmaster at the beginning of the 20th century. ... A gambit is a chess opening, where something is sacrificed in order to achieve a better position. ...

If White plays 4.d4, the Scotch Four Knights Game arises. This leads to a more open position, which can also be reached from the Scotch Game, e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 (the Scotch Game) exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3. This variation was played in the fifth game of the 1996 Deep Blue vs. Garry Kasparov match, and was the only game between the two where Black won. The Scotch Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves 1. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Kasparov vs. ... Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (Га́рри Ки́мович Каспа́ров, pronounced with stress falling on the second syllable: kas-PA-rov) (born April 13, 1963) is a chess grandmaster and is arguably the strongest chess player...

One reason white may chose the Four Knights (3.Nc3) move order over the Scotch (3.d4), besides fearing that after 3.d4 ed4 4. Nd4 black may chose 4...Bc5 or 4...Qh4, is that white may want to play the Belgrade Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.d4 ed4 5.Nd5). It is not possible to reach the Belgrade from the Scotch. The Belgrade however, is a distant second in popularity to 5.Nd4.

A further possibility is 4.Bc4 (the Italian Four Knights). Black can either preserve the symmetry by 4...Bc5, leading to the quiet Giuoco Pianissimo, or pseudo-sacrifice a knight with 4...Nxe4!, the center fork trick. If 5.Nxe4, then 5...d5 regains the piece. Bxf7+?, though superficially attractive, just trades bishop and center pawn for a knight and side pawn, with the initiative soon passing to Black. The Giuoco Piano is a chess opening characterized by the moves 1. ...

The quiet waiting move 4.a3 is a specialty of Grandmaster Uwe Blehm. White gets no advantage after 4...d5 (a Scotch Four Knights Game Reversed). The five original grandmasters of chess, from left to right: Lasker (seated), Alekhine, Capablanca, Marshall, Tarrasch (seated) The title International Grandmaster is awarded to world-class chess masters by the world chess organization FIDE. Apart from World Champion, Grandmaster is the highest title a chess player can attain. ...

A dubious but dangerous gambit is the so-called Halloween Gambit, 4.Nxe5?!. After 4...Nxe5 5.d4, White tries to seize the center with his pawns and drive the Black knights back to their home squares. International Master Larry Kaufman, in his 2004 book The Chess Advantage in Black and White (p. 328), says that this line is refuted by 5...Nc6 6.d5 Bb4! 7.dxc6 Nex4 8.Qd4 Qe7, which he attributes to Jan Pinski. A gambit is a chess opening, where something is sacrificed in order to achieve a better position. ... (After move 4) The Müller-Schulze Gambit also known as the Halloween Gambit or Halloween Attack is an aggressive gambit in chess that involves a knight sacrifice at e5. ... The title International Master is awarded to outstanding chess players by the world chess organization FIDE. The title is open to both men and women. ...

Similar sacrifices from Black can arise if White plays the Glek Variation, 4.g3. Black can now make a Halloween-type sacrifice with 4...Nxe4. This is probably more sound than White's Halloween sacrifice since 4.g3 has weakened the important f3 square and robbed the g3 square from the White pieces. This line has been tried by Magnus Carlsen. After 5.Nxe4 d5 6.Nc3 d4, White entered a variation of the Vienna Game by returning the piece with 7.Bg2 rather than fight against prepared analysis. Magnus Carlsen Magnus Øen Carlsen (born November 30, 1990) is a grandmaster and Norwegian chess player who came to international attention after winning the C group of the Corus Chess Tournament in January 2004 at the age of thirteen. ... The Vienna Game is a chess opening characterised by the moves (in algebraic notation) 1. ...

External links

Tim Krabbé's article on the Halloween Gambit