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Four Knights Game

♜♝♛♜♚♟♟♟♟♟♟♟♞♝♟♞♝♟♟♟♟♟♟♜♝♛♚♜

Four Knights Game is regularly played in classical games between masters. Below you will find its variations, move orders, result statistics and the players who play it most, compiled from games of 2500+ rated players.

215master games
2617avg. Elo
7variations
White wins %14 · draw %76 · Black wins %10

Played by: Liang, Duda, Wei Yi, Carlsen, So, Erigaisi, Praggnanandhaa, Sindarov

Main line

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 O-O 8.O-O d5 9.exd5 cxd5 10.h3 c6 11.Qf3 Bd6 12.Re1 Nd7 13.Bf4 Nc5 14.Rad1 Rb8 15.b3 Qf6

Learn every line move by move on an interactive board with Stockfish 19 evaluation, model games and spaced repetition. Also: every chess tournament worldwide and 4,100+ puzzles.

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Variations played by masters (7)

Scotch Variation Accepted · ECO C47 · for White

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 O-O 8.O-O d5 9.exd5 cxd5 10.h3 c6 …
86 games · avg. Elo 2607 · W/D/L 5/76/5 · Model game: Nakamura – Anand, 2024 (1/2-1/2)

Main line · ECO C47 · for White

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.h3 Bb4 5.Nd5 Nxd5 6.exd5 e4 7.dxc6 exf3 8.Qxf3 dxc6 9.Bc4 O-O 10.O-O Qg5 …
29 games · avg. Elo 2623 · W/D/L 7/19/3 · Model game: Aronian – Praggnanandhaa, 2025 (1/2-1/2)

Spanish Variation, Rubinstein Variation Accepted · ECO C48 · for White

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.dxc3 Bc5 9.Qe2+ Qe6 10.O-O Qxe2 …
26 games · avg. Elo 2616 · W/D/L 4/22/0 · Model game: Blohberger – Amin, 2026 (1/2-1/2)

Spanish Variation · ECO C48 · for White

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bd6 5.d3 O-O 6.Ba4 Re8 7.Be3 a6 8.a3 Bf8 9.O-O d6 10.h3 h6 …
22 games · avg. Elo 2628 · W/D/L 5/10/7 · Model game: Caruana – So, 2026 (1-0)

Spanish Variation, Rubinstein Variation · ECO C48 · for White

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.O-O c6 6.Bd3 Nxf3+ 7.Qxf3 d6 8.Bc4 Be7 9.a4 O-O 10.d3 Be6 …
21 games · avg. Elo 2631 · W/D/L 5/14/2 · Model game: Liang – Dominguez Perez, 2026 (1/2-1/2)

Italian Variation · ECO C50 · for White

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 Nf6 5.d3 a6 6.a4 d6 7.O-O O-O 8.Bg5 h6 9.Bh4 Nd4 10.Nxd4 Bxd4 …
17 games · avg. Elo 2614 · W/D/L 3/12/2 · Model game: Alekseenko – Leko, 2025 (0-1)

Spanish Variation, Nimzowitsch Variation · ECO C49 · for White

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.O-O O-O 6.Bxc6 dxc6 7.Nxe5 Bxc3 8.dxc3 Nxe4 9.Bf4 Bf5 10.Re1 Qxd1 …
14 games · avg. Elo 2636 · W/D/L 2/10/2 · Model game: Carlsen – Nakamura, 2025 (1/2-1/2)

Learn every line move by move on an interactive board with Stockfish 19 evaluation, model games and spaced repetition. Also: every chess tournament worldwide and 4,100+ puzzles.

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Other openings

Sicilian DefenseQueen's Gambit DeclinedRuy LopezEnglish OpeningItalian GameIndian DefensePetrov's DefenseNimzo-Indian DefenseFrench DefenseZukertort OpeningCaro-Kann DefenseQueen's Pawn GameKing's Indian AttackQueen's Gambit AcceptedCatalan OpeningScotch Game

Statistics from classical games of 2500+ rated players. Notation: K king, Q queen, R rook, B bishop, N knight.