Four Knights Game
C46 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6
The most symmetrical opening there is, and quieter than its reputation.
Analysing from a photo?
This page needs a FEN or a board you set up by hand. The app reads a position straight from a photograph of a real board or a screenshot, and keeps your saved positions between sessions.
The idea
Both sides develop both knights before anything else, producing a position with no immediate imbalance. It has a reputation for dullness that is only partly deserved: the Scotch Four Knights and the Belgrade Gambit produce genuinely sharp play, while the main lines are a good place to learn how to make progress in a level position.
Typical plans
- Play Bb5 and reach a Spanish-like structure with the knights already out.
- Break the symmetry with d4 in the Scotch Four Knights.
- Play for a small, lasting edge in a level position, which is a skill worth having.
What goes wrong
- Copying moves too long as Black. Symmetry ends the moment White commits to something.
- Treating the opening as automatically drawn and playing without ambition.
- The Rubinstein Counterattack with Nd4 is a real answer and needs to be known.
Using the board above
The board starts at the position after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6. Play the continuation you normally meet, then ask the engine what it would do. That is more useful than reading a line, because it answers the question you actually have, which is what happens in the position you keep reaching.
One caution worth carrying into it: an engine evaluates an opening on the assumption that both sides then play perfectly. A line rated a tenth of a pawn better whose middlegames you have never played is worth less to you than a line rated slightly worse that produces positions you understand. More on that here.