Scheveningen Variation, English Attack, with f3

With 7. f3, White passes over the Perenyi Attack (7. g4) and follows the usual English Attack plan. The pawn on f3 supports e4, takes g4 away from the f6-knight so that ...Ng4 cannot harass the e3-bishop, and prepares Qd2, O-O-O and a later g4-g5 against the f6-knight. Black has reached the Scheveningen through the Najdorf order, keeping ...a6 as a base for queenside expansion. The English Attack name comes from the English grandmasters Murray Chandler, John Nunn and Nigel Short, who popularized the scheme in the 1980s.

The main line given in opening references is 7...b5 8. Qd2 Nbd7 9. O-O-O Bb7 10. a3, with castling on opposite wings. White wants to push g4 under good conditions while holding the center, and Black aims at the queenside and the freeing ...d5 break. Whichever side achieves its break first, without serious concessions, usually gets the better game. On Lichess, 7...Be7 is the most frequent reply, although 7...b5 scores better for Black, and 7...Qc7 is a less common alternative. The engine regards the position as roughly balanced and prefers ...b5, ...h5 or ...d5.