Lasker-Dunne Attack

The Lasker-Dunne Attack, 2. g3, prepares Bg2 before White commits the queen's knight or the d-pawn. It can steer into Closed Sicilian structures with Nc3, d3 and a kingside expansion. It can also be paired with c3 and d4 for a central setup reminiscent of the Alapin. The cost of this flexibility is that the move does nothing to restrain ...d5. After 2...d5 3. exd5 Qxd5 the queen stands well on d5, because with the g-pawn gone from g2 it bears down the long diagonal toward the rook on h1. White has to spend a tempo on 4. Nf3, and Black gets an open game with easy development. Engines treat 2...d5 as one of Black's best replies.

In practice Black more often develops normally. 2...Nc6 is chosen in over two-fifths of games, followed by 2...d6 and 2...e6, and these usually lead to closed, maneuvering positions. The line is rare in master databases but reasonably common online. Results there are close to even, and the engine rates the position as balanced.