Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Main Line
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4
The Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Main Line is a chess opening classified as ECO B05, reached after 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4. It is a line of the Alekhine Defense. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,306 times by this move order. White won 48%, 6% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 5. Be2 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.66 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5. Be2 Nc6 6. O-O dxe5 7. Nxe5 Bxe2)
- ECO
- B05
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rn1qkb1r/ppp1pppp/3p4/3nP3/3P2b1/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 96 | |
| 1500-1999 | 527 | |
| 2000+ | 683 | |
| All | 1,306 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Be2 | 696 (53%) | |
| 5. Bc4 | 213 (16%) | |
| 5. h3 Modern Variation, Panov Variation | 135 (10%) | |
| 5. exd6 | 115 (9%) | |
| 5. c4 Modern Variation, Alekhine Variation | 96 (7%) | |
| 5. Nbd2 | 11 (1%) | |
| 5. c3 | 9 (1%) | |
| 5. Bf4 | 8 (1%) |
Master games
1,251 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 53%, draw 17%, Black 30%). The strongest:
- Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) – Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-10
- Stockfish dev-20260318-d173a06 (3807) – Reckless 0.10.0-dev-b5462f11 (3763) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Superfinal 2026 · 2026-04-10
- Stockfishdev-20250802-a37b38bd (3731) – Ethereal14.40 (3618) 1-0 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-23
- Ethereal14.40 (3618) – Stockfishdev-20250802-a37b38bd (3731) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 28 Premier 2025 · 2025-08-23
- LCZero 0.31-dag-f7fb268-BT4-61 (3652) – Stockfish dev-20241208-cf10644 (3683) 1/2-1/2 · TCEC 27 Superfinal 2024 · 2024-12-16
Search all games of the Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Main Line and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- atsaynm (2655) – IM rhinoceros2015 (2691) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- DikiyDjo (2684) – gammadrill (2554) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Blagoslavlenny_Bogom (2580) – IM Odirovski (2602) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3
Continuations
- Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Alekhine Variation B05 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. c4
- Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Panov Variation B05 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. h3
- Alekhine Defense: Modern Variation, Flohr Variation B05 · 1. e4 Nf6 2. e5 Nd5 3. d4 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4 5. Be2 c6
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.