Austrian Attack, Unzicker Attack

The Unzicker Attack is the most direct handling of the Austrian Attack. Instead of preparing the advance with 6. Bd3, 6. Be3 or 6. Be2, White pushes 6. e5 at once and forces the f6 knight to choose a square immediately. With Black's king already castled, the push carries no immediate threat against it, so its value lies in space and tempo. Black must hit the d4-e5-f4 chain before White consolidates.

The most common reply by far is 6...dxe5, which exchanges the e-pawn at once and opens lines for the g7 bishop and Black's pieces. The retreat 6...Nfd7 keeps the tension and aims to strike at the chain later. After 6...Nfd7, the Bronstein Variation 7. h4 shows that White intends to attack on the kingside with the h-pawn. The retreat 6...Ne8 is less common, and engines also consider 6...Nh5. Engines rate the position as roughly balanced, and White scores somewhat better in online games.