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Chess Openings - The King's Knight Opening

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The King's Knight Opening
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3

After an advance of both king pawns, 1. e4 e5, white's most common next move is to advance the king's knight: 2. Nf3. This is The King's Knight Opening. Nf3 is the most logical choice for white out of the open game - for several reasons:

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Black's Most Common Response
2... Nc6

Black must now deal with the threat on his pawn. The most common response is to defend with the queen's knight: 2... Nc6. This is a strong response for a few reasons:


How Common is the King's Knight Opening?

Green Flag

Very Common at all Levels

From the Open Game, the advance of the king's knight (2. Nf3) is by far the most commonly played continuation (and probably the strongest move possible). White plays the move about 80% of the time. Similarly, black responds with 2... Nc6 about 80% of the time.


White's Next Move

White is left with the choice of a number of well known openings. We will look at the main three: the Spanish, Italian, and Scotch Games.

Afterwards, we will take a look at some alternative defenses that black can employ against 2. Nf3: the Philidor Defense and Petrov Defense.


Back - Next
Chess Openings - Table of Contents
Introduction
Open Games - Centre Game - King's Gambit - Bishop's Opening - Vienna Game - King's Knight Opening - Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez) - Italian Game - Scotch Game - Philidor Defense - Petrov Defense
Semi-Open Defenses - Scandinavian Defense - French Defense - Caro-Kann Defense - Sicilian Defense - Alekhine Defense - Modern & Pirc Defense
Closed Games - Queen's Gambit
Indian Defenses - Nimzo-Indian Defense - King's Indian Defense - Queen's Indian Defense
Flank Openings - Reti Opening - English Opening - Bird's Opening
Conclusion