King's English Variation, Nimzowitsch-Flohr Variation

The Nimzowitsch-Flohr Variation arises when Black answers 2. Nf3 with 2...e4. The pawn gains space and evicts the knight immediately. The result is a kind of reversed Alekhine's Defense. Black's advanced e-pawn becomes the object of play, and White hopes to turn the time Black has spent on pawn moves into pressure against it. Because White's c-pawn already stands on c4, an attempt to bolster the e4-pawn with ...d5 can be met by cxd5, which removes the supporting pawn rather than allowing a stable chain.

White must first decide where the knight goes. 3. Nd4, centralizing it, is chosen in roughly three games out of four. The retreat 3. Ng1 is a distant second, and 3. Ne5 is seldom played. Black has scored better than White against both of those alternatives. The engine lists all three retreats as its top choices and rates the position as level. In practice the results are close to even, with White slightly ahead and draws uncommon.