King's English Variation, Kramnik-Shirov Counterattack

After 1. c4 e5 2. Nc3, Black develops the king's bishop immediately with 2...Bb4. The idea is to trade it on c3 and leave White with doubled c-pawns, then fix the structure by placing pawns on dark squares, where they complement the absence of the dark-squared bishop. Compared with 2...Nf6 or 2...Nc6, Black commits early to giving up the bishop pair in exchange for a lasting structural imbalance. The line takes its name from Vladimir Kramnik and Alexei Shirov, who popularized it with somewhat different treatments.

White has several ways to respond. The most common is 3. g3, continuing the fianchetto and allowing the exchange. 3. Nd5, the engine's first choice, sidesteps the capture by chasing the bishop at once and leads to unclear positions. 3. Nf3 develops normally and lets Black take on c3, while 3. Qb3 and 3. Qc2 prepare to recapture with the queen and keep the pawns intact. The engine considers the position roughly balanced. White scores slightly better in practice, and draws are rare.