Alapin Variation, Barmen Defense

The Barmen Defense, sometimes spelled Barman, is the older main answer to the Alapin. It meets 2. c3 with 2...d5 and then recaptures 3...Qxd5. The early queen sortie works here because the pawn on c3 takes away the knight's natural square, so White has no Nc3 to gain a tempo on the queen. From d5 the queen also supports ...Bg4 against a knight on f3. Black often holds back ...cxd4, since cxd4 would hand the c3-square back to White's knight. 4. d4 is by far the most common reply, with 4. Nf3 a distant second. The engine sees the position as roughly balanced, and White scores slightly better in practice.

The named branches come after 4. d4. The Modern Line, 4...Nf6 5. Nf3 Bg4, keeps the c-pawn in place, and 5...e6 is the quieter alternative. 4...Nc6 can be met by 5. dxc5 or 5. Nf3. The Milner-Barry Attack is 5. Nf3 cxd4 6. cxd4 e5 7. Nc3 Bb4 8. Be2. In the Central Exchange, Black resolves the tension at once with 4...cxd4 5. cxd4 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bg4, putting pressure on d4. The Endgame Variation continues 7. Nc3 Bxf3 8. gxf3 Qxd4 9. Qxd4 Nxd4: Black takes the d-pawn and the queens come off, while White is left with doubled f-pawns.