Alekhine Defense: Exchange Variation, Karpov Variation

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. h3 Bg7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Be2 Nc6 10. O-O Bf5 11. Bf4

The Alekhine Defense: Exchange Variation, Karpov Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO B03, reached after 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. h3 Bg7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Be2 Nc6 10. O-O Bf5 11. Bf4. It is a line of the Alekhine Defense. Black is to move.

This exact move order didn't appear in our sample of 12.6 million Lichess games: it's a rare line.

Engine evaluation: +0.32 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 11… e5 12. Bg5 Qd7 13. dxe5 dxe5 14. c5)

ECO

B03

Moves

21 plies

FEN

r2q1rk1/pp2ppbp/1nnp2p1/5b2/2PP1B2/2N2N1P/PP2BPP1/R2Q1RK1 b - - 8 11

PGN

1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. exd6 cxd6 6. Nc3 g6 7. h3 Bg7 8. Nf3 O-O 9. Be2 Nc6 10. O-O Bf5 11. Bf4

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.