Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation, Schmid Defense
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nxe4
The Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation, Schmid Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C47, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nxe4. It is a line of the Four Knights Game. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 133 times by this move order. White won 49%, 8% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nxe4 (79% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.01 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 6. Nxe4 Qe7 7. f3 d5 8. Bb5 Bd7)
- ECO
- C47
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n5/8/3Nn3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Nxe4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 39 | |
| 1500-1999 | 36 | |
| 2000+ | 58 | |
| All | 133 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nxe4 | 105 (79%) | |
| 6. Nxc6 | 26 (20%) | |
| 6. Bd3 | 1 (1%) | |
| 6. Qe2 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
340 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 34%, draw 25%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 23rd Dec 2025 · 2025-12-23
- GM Hikaru Nakamura (2810) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2795) 1/2-1/2 · TechM GCL 2025 · 2025-12-21
- GM Fabiano Caruana (2805) – GM Levon Aronian (2747) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2024 · 2024-12-30
- GM Jeffery Xiong (2690) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 1/2-1/2 · Chess.com RCC Wk24 Swiss · 2022-08-06
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2753) – GM Francisco Vallejo Pons (2695) 1-0 · World Blitz 2018 · 2018-12-29
Search all games of the Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation, Schmid Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- winx_m (2933) – vistagusta (2819) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Kruciatos (2735) – jimborever (2782) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- IM Shukh_Nikolay (2598) – Zaplya (2526) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation Accepted 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. d4 exd4
More Four Knights Game lines (all)
- Four Knights Game C47
- Four Knights Game: Glek System (3… Nf6 4. g3) C47
- Four Knights Game: Glek System (6… Nxc3 7. bxc3) C47
- Four Knights Game: Gunsberg Variation C47
- Four Knights Game: Gunsberg Variation, Provincial Opening C47
- Four Knights Game: Halloween Gambit C47
- Four Knights Game: Halloween Gambit, Oldtimer Variation C47
- Four Knights Game: Halloween Gambit, Plasma Variation C47
- Four Knights Game: Italian Variation (3… Nf6 4. Nc3) C47
- Four Knights Game: Italian Variation, Noa Gambit C47
- Four Knights Game: Naroditsky Variation C47
- Four Knights Game: Scotch Variation C47
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.