Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Ilyin-Zhenevsky Variation
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Ilyin-Zhenevsky Variation is a chess opening with the ECO code B03, part of the Alekhine Defense family. It goes 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Nc6 7. Nf3 Bg4 8. e6 fxe6 9. c5. White opens with 1. e4 (the king's pawn) and Black answers 1... Nf6. After 17 moves it is Black to move. After the last move Black is a pawn ahead in material. The lesson on the board explains every move of the line and lets you play it yourself; it is free.
The moves
1. e4 – White plays the pawn to e4
1... Nf6 – Black plays the knight to f6
2. e5 – White plays the pawn to e5
2... Nd5 – Black plays the knight to d5
3. d4 – White plays the pawn to d4
3... d6 – Black plays the pawn to d6
4. c4 – White plays the pawn to c4
4... Nb6 – Black plays the knight to b6
5. f4 – White plays the pawn to f4
5... dxe5 – Black captures on e5 with the d-pawn
6. fxe5 – White captures on e5 with the f-pawn
6... Nc6 – Black plays the knight to c6
The line goes on for 5 more moves; the lesson shows them all.
About the Alekhine Defense
Black answers 1.e4 with 1...Nf6, inviting White's pawns to chase the knight. The idea is to make White over-extend, then attack the big centre.
After e5 Nd5 c4 Nb6 d4, White has a big centre that can become a target.
Black hits the centre with ...d6, ...Nc6, ...Bg4 and ...c5.
The quiet 4.Nf3 (Modern) is White's safest way to keep a small edge.
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