St. Petersburg Variation, American Variation

The American Variation answers 5. Ne2, White's attempt to recapture on c3 with a knight, by planting the f6-knight on e4 at once. Rather than preparing ...Bb7 or ...Ba6 first, Black aims to trade two pairs of minor pieces and then support the outpost with ...f5, giving a Dutch-like grip on e4. The name was coined by Hansen after the line's American exponents: Isaac Kashdan introduced it, Arthur Bisguier and Anthony Santasiere developed it, and Nick de Firmian has played it more recently. It is a rare choice.