Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Main Line
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Nc6 7. Be3
The Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO B03, reached after 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Nc6 7. Be3. It is a line of the Alekhine Defense. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 403 times by this move order. White won 45%, 5% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 7… Bf5 (89% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.77 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 7… Bf5 8. Nc3 e6 9. Nf3 Be7 10. Be2)
- ECO
- B03
- Moves
- 13 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/ppp1pppp/1nn5/4P3/2PP4/4B3/PP4PP/RN1QKBNR b KQkq - 2 7- PGN
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Nc6 7. Be3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 3 | |
| 1500-1999 | 152 | |
| 2000+ | 248 | |
| All | 403 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 7… Bf5 | 358 (89%) | |
| 7… g6 | 27 (7%) | |
| 7… h5 | 10 (2%) | |
| 7… e6 | 5 (1%) | |
| 7… Nxe5 | 1 (0%) | |
| 7… h6 | 1 (0%) | |
| 7… a6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
521 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 17%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) – Ethereal 12.01 (3810) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-06
- Ethereal 12.01 (3810) – AllieStein v0.5_timefix-n14.0 (3936) 1-0 · TCEC 20 Premier 2020 · 2020-04-02
- LCZero0.31-dag-4d98c58-BT5-3700000 (3692) – KomodoDragon3.3 (3620) 1-0 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03
- KomodoDragon3.3 (3620) – LCZero0.31-dag-4d98c58-BT5-3700000 (3692) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-03
- LCZero0.31-dag-5350a2e-BT4-6147500 (3634) – Stockfishdev-20240513-e608eab8 (3662) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 26 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-05-20
Search all games of the Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Main Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Meatloaf927 (2726) – IM Arrowlimit (2543) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Haunting_Games (2678) – FM Konnov_Oleg (2585) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- MothToTheFlame (2629) – sotirakis (2554) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4
Continuations
- Alekhine Defense: Four Pawns Attack, Tartakower Variation B03 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. c4 Nb6 5. f4 dxe5 6. fxe5 Nc6 7. Be3 Bf5 8. Nc3 e6 9. Nf3 Qd7 10. Be2 O-O-O 11. O-O Be7
More Alekhine Defense lines (all)
- Alekhine Defense (1. e4 Nf6) B02
- Alekhine Defense: Brooklyn Variation B02
- Alekhine Defense: Brooklyn Variation, Everglades Variation B02
- Alekhine Defense: Buckley Attack B02
- Alekhine Defense: Hunt Variation, Lasker Simul Gambit B02
- Alekhine Defense: Hunt Variation, Matsukevich Gambit B02
- Alekhine Defense: Hunt Variation, Mikenas Gambit B02
- Alekhine Defense: Kmoch Variation B02
- Alekhine Defense: Krejcik Variation B02
- Alekhine Defense: Krejcik Variation, Krejcik Gambit B02
- Alekhine Defense: Maróczy Variation B02
- Alekhine Defense: Mokele Mbembe B02
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.