Center Game

The Center Game (also spelled Center Game) opens the center on the second move: 2. d4 attacks e5 and invites 2...exd4, after which White aims to develop quickly along the opened lines. Black takes the pawn in most games, which is also the engine's first choice, and the position is assessed as roughly balanced. The traditional 3. Qxd4 regains the pawn at once, but after 3...Nc6, the Normal Variation, the queen is attacked and must move again, so White gives up a tempo for an open game. The pawn offer 3. c3 instead leads to the Danish Gambit.

White's usual retreat is 4. Qe3, the Paulsen Attack. From e3 the queen discourages ...d5 and can later swing to g3 to press against g7. Black most often answers 4...Nf6, the Berger Variation, and the main line runs 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 O-O 7. O-O-O Re8, with the kings on opposite wings. White then chooses among Tarrasch's pawn sacrifice 8. Qg3, Judit Polgár's 8. Qf4 with a later kingside pawn advance, and the old 8. Bc4, which gives complex but level play; 8. Bc4 d6 9. Nh3 is the Kupreichik Variation. After 4...Nf6 5. Nc3 Black can also choose the more solid 5...Be7, aiming for ...d5, while 4...Nf6 5. Bd2 is a modern alternative for White regarded as safer. Other branches include 4...Bb4+ 5. c3 Be7, the Charousek Variation, and the Hall Variation 4. Qc4.

White can also delay the recapture. After 3. Nf3 Black can steer into the Scotch Game, Petrov's Defense or Philidor Defense. The von der Lasa Gambit 3. Bc4, called the Center Gambit in older books, often transposes to the Scotch Gambit after 3...Nc6 4. Nf3 or to the Urusov Gambit after 3...Nf6 4. Nf3. Rarer tries are 3. Bd3, the Ross Gambit, and 3. f4, the Halasz-McDonnell Gambit, considered dubious but never refuted.

Of Black's alternatives to 2...exd4, the flexible 2...Nc6 transposes to the Kennedy Variation of the Nimzowitsch Defense. The Maróczy Defense 2...d6 can be met by 3. Nf3 with a Philidor Defense, or by 3. dxe5 dxe5 4. Qxd8+ Kxd8, an endgame in which White's edge is small. The Beyer Gambit 2...d5 is dubious and answered by 3. dxe5.

The opening dates from 1590 or earlier and was analyzed by Stamma in 1745. Tarrasch, Chigorin and Wilfried Paulsen played it regularly in the late nineteenth century, but it was largely dropped after 1900 when White failed to prove an advantage. Alexander Shabalov revived it in the 1990s, Shirov, Adams, Polgár and Morozevich reopened lines long regarded as good for Black, and Ian Nepomniachtchi and Arjun Erigaisi have used it more recently. It is reached often on Lichess, where White scores somewhat better than Black, and is considered well suited to faster time controls.