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Alekhine Defense

Intermediate Black pieces · Semi-Open Games · 15 variations

Invite White to chase your knight around the board, then punish their overextended pawns. Named after world champion Alekhine.

The Alekhine Defense is played with the Black pieces, offering counterplay against White's setup, well suited for club players expanding their opening repertoire. The opening typically begins with the moves e4, Nf6, e5, Nd5, d4 and branches into 15 distinct variations, each exploring different strategic and tactical paths.

On AI Chess Teacher, you practice the Alekhine Defense through an interactive move-by-move trainer. In Learn mode the AI reveals the correct continuation with a hint and explanation after each move. Once you feel confident, switch to Practice mode to play through the lines from memory and test your retention.

Variation Lines (15)

  • Modern Variation Main Line (18 moves)
  • Exchange Variation cxd6 (18 moves)
  • Four Pawns Attack Main Line (16 moves)
  • Modern Variation without Bg4 (16 moves)
  • Exchange Variation exd6 Symmetrical (16 moves)
  • Scandinavian Variation (12 moves)
  • Four Pawns Trifunovic Bf5 (16 moves)
  • Chase Variation Two Pawns Attack (14 moves)
  • Modern Fianchetto Variation (14 moves)
  • Four Pawns Planinc Gambit Trap (12 moves)
  • Balogh Variation Early Bc4 (14 moves)
  • Modern Larsen Variation (16 moves)
  • Exchange Karpov Variation (20 moves)
  • Two Knights Variation (12 moves)
  • Modern Trap Line Qa5 (18 moves)

Why Study the Alekhine Defense?

A solid opening repertoire starts with understanding a few key openings deeply rather than memorising many superficially. The Alekhine Defense teaches important principles: rapid piece development, early central control, and king safety. Players who master this opening develop an intuition for middlegame plans that stem from these positions.

Studying the Alekhine Defense variations also improves your pattern recognition. Many tactical motifs — forks, pins, discovered attacks — appear repeatedly in these structures. Recognising them early gives you a decisive advantage over opponents who improvise in the opening.

Start with the main variation to grasp the core ideas, then work through the alternatives to understand how the position changes with different move orders. Use the AI hint whenever you are unsure — each explanation is written to teach, not just to show the move.

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