Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation (10. d4 Bg4)
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Qe7 9. Re1 Nd8 10. d4 Bg4
The Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C49, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Qe7 9. Re1 Nd8 10. d4 Bg4. It is a line of the Four Knights Game. White 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: +0.38 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 11. h3 Bh5 12. g4 Bg6 13. d5 c6)
- ECO
- C49
- Moves
- 20 plies
- FEN
r2n1rk1/ppp1qppp/3p1n2/1B2p1B1/3PP1b1/2P2N2/P1P2PPP/R2QR1K1 w - - 1 11- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Qe7 9. Re1 Nd8 10. d4 Bg4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
14 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 36%, draw 35%, Black 29%). The strongest:
- GM Arkadij Naiditsch (2731) – IM Markus Klauser (2386) 1-0 · 38th Zurich Christmas · 2014-12-27
- GM Miroslav Markovic (2448) – IM Roy Saptarshi (2476) 0-1 · Third Saturday 60 Jan GM · 2018-01-21
- IM Thomas R J Hinks-Edwards (2414) – IM Jan Sosna (2385) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-CZE Extraliga 2012-13 · 2012-12-02
- FM Jonah B Willow (2386) – IM Aleksandar Savanovic (2410) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 1st Sept · 2020-09-01
- IM Vasiliy Korchmar (2450) – FM Vladan Desnica (2303) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 24th Aug · 2021-08-24
Comes from
Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation, Metger Unpin 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Bxc3 8. bxc3 Qe7
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.