8765432abcdefgh1

Indian Defense

West Indian Defense, Mengarini Attack

E60offbeat

  1. 1.d4Nf6
  2. 2.c4g6
  3. 3.Qc2
86 games49%47%

The Mengarini Attack, 3. Qc2 against the West Indian setup, is a rare early queen move that eyes e4 and leaves Black free to choose a fianchetto plan.

Train it in Theoria

About the Mengarini Attack

The Mengarini Attack, 3. Qc2, is a rarely played queen move in the West Indian position. The queen supports a later e4 without committing the b1-knight to c3, but it develops early and lets Black choose a setup freely. Black nearly always continues 3...Bg7. The alternatives 3...d5 and 3...d6 are much rarer, and White has scored well against them in a small sample of games. Engines rate the position as roughly balanced.

Popular continuations