Accelerated Panov Attack

The Accelerated Panov Attack meets 1...c6 with 2. c4, attacking the d5-square before Black can establish a pawn there with support. With pawns on c4 and e4, White controls d5 directly. The name contrasts it with the ordinary Panov Attack, where c4 comes only after 2. d4 d5 3. exd5 cxd5. A key difference is that White keeps the d-pawn on d2 until castling, so a knight on c3 cannot be pinned by ...Bb4. The position also arises from the English Opening via 1. c4 c6 2. e4.

Black replies 2...d5 in the large majority of games. After 3. exd5 cxd5 4. d4 play transposes to the Panov-Botvinnik Attack, but the double exchange on d5 keeps the game independent. The Modern Variation, 3. exd5 cxd5 4. cxd5 Nf6 (also reachable via 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 Nf6), leaves White temporarily a pawn ahead while Black prepares to win it back. Taking with the queen instead, as in 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. exd5 Qxd5, is dubious because 5. Nc3 gains a tempo on the queen; the immediate queen recapture 3. exd5 Qxd5 is known as the Pseudo-Scandinavian. The Van Weersel Attack, 3. cxd5 cxd5 4. Qb3, is a rarer try.

In the Modern Variation White usually returns the pawn with 5. Nc3 Nxd5, accepting an isolated d-pawn. Since that pawn becomes a liability in an endgame, White relies on the open c- and e-files and active pieces to generate middlegame chances. Holding the extra pawn with the intermezzo 5. Bb5+ forces a piece to d7 and obstructs the queen's defense of d5, but after 5...Nbd7 6. Nc3 a6 7. Qa4 Rb8 8. Bxd7+ Qxd7 9. Qxd7+ Bxd7 the queens are gone and White's doubled isolated d-pawns make the material advantage hard to use.

The Open Variation, 2...e5, resembles a double king's pawn game, but after 3. Nf3 Black cannot cover the e5-pawn with ...Nc6 because the c6-pawn occupies that square. Results in this line are almost level. Black's other options, 2...e6 and 2...d6, are seen about as often as 2...e5, with 2...d6 scoring slightly better for Black in the database.

The opening is regarded as an aggressive sideline against the Caro-Kann and is reached fairly often in online play. Engines rate the position after 2. c4 as roughly balanced, while White scores moderately better than Black in the Lichess database.