Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation

The Scotch Variation of the Four Knights Game is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4, also called the Scotch Four Knights. White opens the centre at once instead of playing 4.Bb5, the Spanish Variation.

Move orders

Play usually continues 4...exd4 5.Nxd4, and the same position often arises from the Scotch Game by 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3. One reason to prefer the Four Knights move order is that after 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Black could choose 4...Bc5 or 4...Qh4. Another is the Belgrade Gambit, 4...exd4 5.Nd5, which cannot be reached from the Scotch; it is a distant second in popularity to 5.Nxd4.

Main lines

• 4...exd4 5.Nxd4 Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Bd3 is the main line, played in the fifth game of the 1996 match between Deep Blue and Garry Kasparov. The usual continuation is 7...d5 8.exd5 cxd5 9.O-O O-O, an extremely common position, after which White typically plays 10.Bg5 or 10.h3, both usually followed by 10...c6 11.Qf3. Black can avoid these lines with 7...O-O 8.O-O Re8.
• After 5.Nxd4 Black can also play 5...Bc5 or the Schmid Defense, 5...Nxe4.
• 4...Bb4 5.Nxe5 is the Krause Variation: White's knight takes the e5-pawn, supported by the pawn on d4. White's main alternative to it is 5.d5.

The numbers

On Lichess White wins 51.9% of the 5 million games and Black 42.3%. From 2200 up more games are drawn, 10.5%, and White leads 48.7% to 40.8%. Masters over the board draw most games: in 6,294 games 56.4% were drawn, Black won 23.0% and White 20.6%.