Accelerated Dragon, Exchange Variation

With 5. Nxc6, White removes the knight that guards d4 and e5 before Black has played ...Nf6. The plan is 5...bxc6 6. Qd4, which hits the rook on h8 along the long diagonal, followed by 6...Nf6 7. e5 to drive the knight away. The sequence looks forcing, but the recapture toward the center gives Black an extra pawn covering d5, a half-open b-file and a free path for the c8-bishop, and the advance ...d5 becomes easy to arrange. After 7...Ng8 8. e6 Nf6 9. exf7+ Kxf7, sometimes called the Passmore Variation, Black's king can no longer castle, but Black has a broad center and active pieces, and the chances are level.

Recapturing with the b-pawn is almost universal. 5...dxc6 opens the d-file and leads to a quieter structure, but it is rarely chosen. 5...Bg7 loses time and scores very poorly. The engine regards the position as balanced, and Black outscores White in this line in online play.