King's Pawn Game

The King's Pawn Game, also called the King's Pawn Opening, is the name for any game beginning 1. e4. Advancing the e-pawn two squares occupies a central square, bears on d5 and f5, and frees the queen and the f1-bishop. Just as important, a white pawn on e4 rules out a black pawn there, so the g1-knight can reach f3 without being driven away. Because nearly every reply has its own name, the label is mostly used for rare lines; ECO code B00 holds the Nimzowitsch Defense and other uncommon first replies. Bobby Fischer called the move "best by test".

Black's replies are divided into the Open Games, 1...e5, and the Semi-Open Games, everything else. Most aim to stop White from holding pawns on both e4 and d4. Two moves contest d4 with a pawn: 1...e5, by far the most frequent answer in online play, and 1...c5, the Sicilian Defense, the main line in master practice and the more unbalancing choice. 1...d5 (Scandinavian) and 1...Nf6 (Alekhine) strike at e4 at once. 1...e6 (French) and 1...c6 (Caro-Kann) prepare ...d5 with pawn support, the Caro-Kann keeping the light-squared bishop free at the cost of the c6-square. 1...d6 (Pirc), 1...g6 (Modern), 1...b6 (Owen) and 1...Nc6 (Nimzowitsch) concede the center for now and aim to undermine it with pieces and later pawn breaks.

Several offbeat lines are filed under this heading rather than under a named opening. After 1. e4 e5, White's unusual second moves include 2. d3 (Leonardis Variation), 2. Qh5 (Wayward Queen Attack), 2. Qf3 (Napoleon Attack), 2. c3 (MacLeod Attack) and 2. f3 (King's Head Opening), while 2. d4 d5 is the Beyer Gambit. After 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3, Black's sidelines include 2...f6 (Damiano Defense), 2...Qf6 (McConnell Defense), 2...Bc5 (Busch-Gass Gambit) and 2...c6 (Gunderam Gambit), and 2...Nc6 3. Be2 is the Tayler Opening. The Maróczy Defense, 1. e4 d6 2. d4 e5, also carries the name.

Among the rarest replies, 1...a6 (St. George Defense) gained notice when Tony Miles beat Anatoly Karpov with it in 1980, and Thomas Wilson Barnes defeated Paul Morphy with 1...f6 in 1858. Games after 1. e4 tend towards open, tactical positions more often than those after 1. d4. The engine regards the position as roughly balanced, preferring 1...e5, 1...c5 and 1...c6, and on Lichess White scores slightly better than Black with few draws.