Openings · B00

Nimzowitsch Defence

1…Nc6 — a knight standing in front of the pawn White would like to push, and a game nobody has prepared for.

1.e4 Nc6played as Black

Play it through on the board below, and 6 moves into the main line.

Practise the line

You play Black; the other side answers on its own. Nothing here is saved or graded. The line runs on past the moves that define the opening and into the main line, because two moves is not a drill.

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h8
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a
Your move 1 of 40/4
  1. 1.e4Nc6
  2. 2.d4d5
  3. 3.Nc3dxe4
  4. 4.d5Ne5

White is answering…

The idea

The main line is 2.d4 d5, hitting the centre at once: after 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.d5 Ne5 the position is already unlike anything else, which is the practical point of the whole defence.

It is sound enough and it is rare, and rare is worth something. What it is not is a way to avoid work — the knight's early commitment has consequences, and knowing them is the price of the surprise.

Common mistakes

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

Retreating the knight

After 4…Nb8
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
The mistake
Answering 4.d5 by sending the knight home to save it.
Why it costs
Two of Black's four moves have been spent putting a piece back where it started, and White has a free pawn on d5, the centre and a lead in development. The knight was the whole opening.
Instead
4…Ne5, and then …Ng6 when the queen comes to d4. The knight is meant to be kicked; the lines are about where it lands.

Blocking your own c-pawn

After 6…Be7
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
  6. 6.
The mistake
Steering into a French-shaped position with …d5 and …e6 while the knight sits on c6.
Why it costs
In every structure of this kind the freeing move is …c5, and the knight is standing on the square the pawn needs to pass. Black ends up with a French Defence in which the one plan that makes the French work is unavailable.
Instead
The …dxe4 lines, where the knight has somewhere to go, or 2…e5, heading for open positions in which a knight on c6 is exactly where it belongs.

Transposing on White's terms

After 5.Qxf3
  1. 1.
  2. 2.
  3. 3.
  4. 4.
  5. 5.
The mistake
Playing …e5 next, hoping for an Italian or a Spanish by transposition.
Why it costs
Transpositions run both ways, and it is White who chooses which one. Here the centre opens at once, the knight is traded after moving three times, and White's queen comes to f3 with everything developed and a move to spare.
Instead
2…d5, the defence's own move. If open games are what you want, 1…e5 reaches them without giving White a choice first.

Essential for beginners

  • 1 in 57games end with Black giving checkmate by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 54.
  • 1 in 22games end with Black getting checkmated by move 15. In all openings: 1 in 33.Trap danger

From 5,599 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 Nc6, these are White's six best moves according to Stockfish, with the bar showing White's chance of winning. The whole list sits within 5 percentage points of win chance: none of them is a mistake, and the choice is about the positions you want to play.

  1. d4+0.4
  2. Nf3+0.3
  3. Nc3+0.2
  4. h3+0.1
  5. Bb5+0.1
  6. d3-0.1

The engine's main line from d4: d4 d5 e5 Bf5 Be2 e6 c3 f6.

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.

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