Austrian Attack

With 4. f4 White places pawns on d4, e4 and f4, using the f-pawn to back the advance e4-e5, which would drive the f6 knight from its post. Black has no convenient way to stop the push and usually just develops, nearly always with 4...Bg7. After 5. Nf3 the main decision is between castling with 5...O-O and the immediate 5...c5, the Dragon Formation, which hits d4 at once. Counterplay can also come from ...e5 or from developing the queenside knight. After 5...O-O, White's sixth move sets the tone: 6. e5 is the Unzicker Attack, 6. Bd3 the Weiss Variation and 6. Be3 the Kurajica Variation, with 6. Be2 another option. White can also deviate a move earlier with 5. Bc4, the Ljubojevic Variation, with 5. Bd3, or with 4...Bg7 5. e5 Nfd7 at once.

Tarrasch won a 17-move game with it against Charousek in 1896, and Spassky chose it against Fischer in game 17 of their 1972 title match, a draw. Jan Timman has handled it successfully from both sides. White scores somewhat better than Black in online play, and engines give White a slight edge.