Openings · C47–C49

Four Knights Game

Both sides develop both knights and nothing is resolved — the most symmetrical position in serious chess, and quietly full of traps.

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6played as White

Play it through on the board below.

Practise the line

You play White; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded.

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Your move 1 of 30/3
  1. 1.e4e5
  2. 2.Nf3Nc6
  3. 3.Nc3Nf6

Your move. Drag a piece, or tap it and then its square.

The idea

Four developing moves and no commitments. White's real try is 4.Bb5, the Spanish Four Knights, where the pin on c6 asks the same question the Ruy López asks; 4.d4, the Scotch Four Knights, opens the centre while everything is developed.

The reputation for drawishness belongs to master play. Below that it is a fighting opening, because symmetrical positions punish the first player to copy one move too many.

The main lines

  • Spanish Four Knights

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.O-O O-O 6.d3 d6

    The main line. The bishop pins the knight that guards e5, Black copies, both sides castle, and the game turns on who breaks the symmetry first and better.

    Engine: Level (+0.3)

  • Scotch Four Knights

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 d5

    White opens the centre at once. Black's pawns are doubled after Nxc6, but the b-pawn supports …d5 and the pieces come out fast.

    Engine: Level (+0.2)

  • Belgrade Gambit

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5

    A pawn for activity: the knight jumps to the centre instead of recapturing. Sharp, little known, and full of tactics for the side that has studied it.

    Engine: Level (-0.3)

  • Rubinstein Countergambit

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bb5 Nd4

    Black's sharpest answer to the Spanish set-up: the knight leaves e5 to its fate and hits the bishop and f3 instead. Taking on e5 is the trap described above.

    Engine: Level (+0.0)

  • Halloween Gambit

    1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4 Ng6 6.e5 Ng8

    White gives a whole knight for the centre and chases Black's knights back to their starting squares. It looks crushing, and it is a piece down.

    Engine: Clearly better for Black (-1.3)

Common mistakes

Three that come up again and again below master level: named traps and the errors every coach corrects.

The Halloween Gambit

After 5…Ng6
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Sacrificing a knight on e5 to chase Black's pieces backwards.
Why it costs
The pawns do come, and they do look frightening. But a piece is a piece: after 5…Ng6 the engine puts Black about a pawn and a half ahead, a clear edge and an easy game to play, which is why the gambit works on opponents who have not seen it and not on those who have.
Instead
4.Bb5 or 4.d4. If you want a gambit in this structure, the Belgrade — 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5 — costs only a pawn and has an actual point.

Walking into the fork trick

After 5…d5
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Developing with 4.Bc4 while the knight sits on c3.
Why it costs
4…Nxe4 5.Nxe4 d5 forks bishop and knight; Black regains the piece with a pawn on d5 and easy equality. The engine calls the result level, so this is not a losing mistake; it is a way of handing Black the simpler game. The trick works whenever a bishop on c4 and a knight on c3 are both loose at the same time.
Instead
4.Bb5, which pins the defender of e5 and makes …Nxe4 cost a piece, or 4.d4. The engine finds almost nothing between the good fourth moves, and nothing at all that is clearly better than the Spanish set-up.

Taking the Rubinstein bait

After 5…Qe7
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Answering the Rubinstein Countergambit 4…Nd4 by winning the e5 pawn.
Why it costs
5…Qe7 attacks the knight on e5 and the pawn on e4 behind it. The engine's line runs 6.Nf3 Nxb5 7.Nxb5 Qxe4+ 8.Kf1: material comes out level, but White has lost the right to castle and the engine has him about half a pawn worse for it.
Instead
5.Nxd4 exd4 6.e5 dxc3 7.exf6 Qxf6 8.dxc3, which is level and known, or 5.Ba4 keeping the pin and the tension.

In real games between beginners

  • 1 in 47games end with White giving checkmate by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 33.
  • 1 in 43games end with White getting checkmated by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 54.

From 12,206 Lichess games in this opening between players rated under 1200, blitz and slower, September 2026. How we counted.

What the engine says

After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6, these are White's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing White's chance of winning. The whole list sits within 3 percentage points of win chance: none of them is a mistake, and the choice is about the positions you want to play.

  1. d4+0.2
  2. h3+0.1
  3. a4+0.1
  4. Bb5+0.0
  5. Bc4-0.1
  6. Bd3-0.1

The engine's main line from d4: d4 exd4 Nxd4 Bb4 Nxc6 bxc6 Bd3 d5.

Where each mistake ends up

  • The Halloween GambitEngine verdictClearly better for Black-1.4
  • Walking into the fork trickEngine verdictLevel-0.2
  • Taking the Rubinstein baitEngine verdictSlightly better for Black-0.5

Stockfish 18, depth 24. Scores are in pawns from White's side. Another engine or depth will move individual numbers a little; the picture does not change. How we check.

Questions

Does the Halloween Gambit work?

Not against a player who knows it. After 4.Nxe5 Nxe5 5.d4 Ng6 6.e5 Ng8 Stockfish has Black 1.3 pawns better, and White's winning chance falls from 50% to 38%. It scores well in fast games because the attack is easy to play and the defence is not, but the piece is simply gone.

Is the Four Knights Game a draw?

It is level, which is not the same thing. Stockfish rates White's six best fourth moves all within 0.2 of a pawn of equality, so neither side gets an edge for free. The drawish reputation comes from master games; below that level the symmetry tends to break, and whoever breaks it better wins.

What is White's best fourth move?

The engine's first choice is 4.d4, the Scotch Four Knights, at +0.2, with 4.Bb5, the Spanish, at 0.0. That gap is far too small to matter below master level: pick 4.d4 for open play or 4.Bb5 for a slower game, and avoid 4.Bc4, which walks into the fork trick.

Is the Four Knights Game good for beginners?

Yes. Every move develops a piece, the ideas are the classical ones (control the centre, castle, connect the rooks), and the traps are few and well known. Learn the fork trick and the Halloween Gambit, both on this page, and you will not be surprised early.

Is the Four Knights Opening the same as the Four Knights Game?

Yes: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6, also written as the 4 Knights Game or 4 Knights Opening. If Black plays 3…Bb4 or 3…g6 instead of 3…Nf6, it is the Three Knights; if Black answers 2.Nf3 with 2…Nf6, it is the Petrov Defence.

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