Four Knights

[Hugh Brodie]

A 2000 -rated friend of mine claims much success with the Four Knights variation: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5. My database shows 119 games with this variation (almost all since 2000)- and a 55% advantage for White. Of course - most of the games are between weaker players - but there are a couple of games in which 2500 players lost as Black to much weaker players. It sounds like it would be ideal for active and blitz events.

[Event "EUR-ch rapid"]
[Site "Warsaw POL"]
[Date "2012.12.15"]
[Round "3.40"]
[White "Klepaczka, Tomasz"]
[Black "Bulski, Krzysztof"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2240"]
[BlackElo "2549"]
[PlyCount "53"]
[EventDate "2012.12.15"]
[EventType "swiss (rapid)"]
[EventRounds "11"]
[EventCountry "POL"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 Nxe5 5. d4 Nc6 6. d5 Ne5 7. f4 Ng6 8. e5
Ng8 9. d6 cxd6 10. exd6 Qb6 11. Nb5 Kd8 12. Qf3 Bxd6 13. Be3 Bc5 14. Bxc5 Qxc5
15. O-O-O Nh6 16. Nd6 Kc7 17. Bc4 Nf5 18. Nxf5 Qxf5 19. Rd4 d6 20. Rhd1 Bd7 21.
g4 Qxg4 22. Qd5 Rad8 23. Qxd6 Kc8 24. Bxf7 Qf3 25. Rc4 Bc6 26. Be6 Rd7 27.
Bxd7 1-0

[Event "Sudety op"]
[Site "Szklarska Poreba POL"]
[Date "2012.06.06"]
[Round "4"]
[White "Polok, Kacper"]
[Black "Malaniuk, Vladimir"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "C47"]
[WhiteElo "2170"]
[BlackElo "2519"]
[PlyCount "83"]
[EventDate "2012.06.04"]
[EventType "swiss"]
[EventRounds "9"]
[EventCountry "POL"]
[Source "Mark Crowther"]
[SourceDate "2012.06.11"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 Nxe5 5. d4 Ng6 6. e5 Ng8 7. Bc4 d5 8.
Bxd5 N8e7 9. Bg5 Qd7 10. Bb3 Nf5 11. O-O Bb4 12. Be3 O-O 13. Ne4 Rb8 14. Nc3
Ra8 15. Ne4 Be7 16. c3 c5 17. Ng3 cxd4 18. cxd4 Ngh4 19. Qd3 Nxg3 20. fxg3 Ng6
21. Rad1 Bd8 22. h4 Qg4 23. Bd2 Bb6 24. Bb4 Rd8 25. Bxf7 Kh8 26. Bd6 Be6 27.
Kh2 Bxf7 28. Rxf7 Rd7 29. Rxd7 Qxd7 30. Qf3 Ne7 31. Qf7 Qg4 32. Rf1 Ng8 33. e6
Qxd4 34. Bf8 Nh6 35. Qxb7 Re8 36. Qc6 Qd8 37. e7 Qc8 38. Bxg7 Kxg7 39. Qf6
Kg8 40. Qg5 Kh8 41. Qxh6 Bc5 42. Rf7 1-0

[Bindi Cheng]

Re: Four Knights

Looks pretty cool but I've heard that black is fine if he gives the piece back by going to Nc6 after d4 and if white goes d5 Bb4 is just fine for black. If white goes e5 after Nc6, that's supposed to be easier to play for black by going back to g8 than the line with the knight on g6.