Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation, Blake Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Ne7 8. Nh4 c6 9. Bc4 d5 10. Bb3 Qd6
The Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation, Blake 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 Ne7 8. Nh4 c6 9. Bc4 d5 10. Bb3 Qd6. 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: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 11. f4 Bxc3 12. bxc3 dxe4 13. fxe5 Qxe5)
- ECO
- C49
- Moves
- 20 plies
- FEN
r1b2rk1/pp2nppp/2pq1n2/3pp1B1/1b2P2N/1BNP4/PPP2PPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 2 11- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Ne7 8. Nh4 c6 9. Bc4 d5 10. Bb3 Qd6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Master games
18 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 22%, draw 45%, Black 33%). The strongest:
- GM Yi Wei (2551) – GM Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2775) 1/2-1/2 · FIDE World Cup 2013 · 2013-08-18
- IM Alexey Reshetnikov (2498) – GM Alexander Morozevich (2731) 1-0 · Moscow Blitz Final 2014 · 2014-09-06
- GM Milos Perunovic (2614) – GM Aleksa Strikovic (2539) 1-0 · TCh-SRB Prem 2012 · 2012-09-20
- GM Yi Wei (2607) – GM Victor Mikhalevski (2536) 1/2-1/2 · Bay Area International 2014 · 2014-01-06
- GM Evgeny E. Vorobiov (2578) – GM Yuri S Balashov (2481) 0-1 · ch-Moscow 2013 · 2013-03-26
Comes from
Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation (7. Bg5 Ne7) 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Ne7
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.