Torre Attack, Gossip Variation

The Gossip Variation is Black's most direct response to the Torre Attack. Instead of tolerating the pin with ...e6 and letting White assemble the c3, Nbd2 and Bd3 formation, Black moves the pinned knight to e4, where it attacks the g5-bishop. White now has to settle the bishop's future before the planned setup is in place. Opening sources describe 3...Ne4 as one of the more demanding replies and note that it appears more often in master play than at amateur level, where 3...e6 dominates.

The usual answer is 4. Bh4, which keeps the bishop on the h4–d8 diagonal. The next most common is 4. Bf4, a retreat to the London-style post outside the pawn chain. Engines also consider 4. Be3. The quieter 4. e3 leaves the bishop where it is and accepts that it may be traded for the knight. It is played far less often, and Black's results against it are clearly better. Across the variation, engines judge the position level, and in practice the decisive results split almost evenly between the two sides.