Steiner Variation

The Steiner Variation (ECO C00) answers 1...e6 with 2. c4 instead of the customary 2. d4. The c-pawn takes aim at d5 and is meant to dissuade Black from the standard ...d5 break, or at least to ensure that the break leads to open lines rather than the closed chains typical of the French. It is one of the rarer second moves for White in this opening, and the engine rates the position as level.

Black most often ignores the warning and plays 2...d5, the choice in well over half of games. Play then tends to dissolve the center. After 3. exd5 exd5 4. cxd5 Qxd5 5. Nc3, two pairs of pawns have been exchanged and White's knight develops with gain of time against the queen. Black is behind in development but keeps the sounder pawn structure. With the other capture order, 3. cxd5 exd5 4. exd5 Nf6, White can hold the extra d5-pawn only by 5. Bb5+, and Black receives good compensation for the material.

A more notorious try is the Orthoschnapp Gambit, 2...d5 3. cxd5 exd5 4. Qb3. Rather than resolving the tension, White keeps the e4-pawn in place, attacks d5 with the queen and aims to add Bc4 and Nc3 against the pawn, at times being willing to part with a pawn of its own to sustain the pressure.

Black has quieter alternatives. The engine also favors 2...c5 and 2...Nc6. The first of these, chosen in about a tenth of games, declines to open the center at once and gives Black the best results of the main replies on Lichess. 2...c6, slightly less common, prepares ...d5 with pawn support so that a later exchange on d5 can be met by a recapture with the c-pawn. Across all games White scores a little better than Black, and draws are uncommon, consistent with the open, unbalanced positions the variation tends to produce.