Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation, Tarrasch Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Be6
The Four Knights Game: Spanish Variation, Symmetrical Variation, Tarrasch Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C49, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Be6. 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 1 times by this move order. White won 0%, 0% were drawn and Black won 100%. The most popular continuation is 8. Ba4 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.92 (Stockfish, depth 47; best line 8. Nd5 Bxd5 9. exd5 Nd4 10. Nxd4 exd4)
- ECO
- C49
- Moves
- 14 plies
- FEN
r2q1rk1/ppp2ppp/2npbn2/1B2p1B1/1b2P3/2NP1N2/PPP2PPP/R2Q1RK1 w - - 2 8- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bb4 5. O-O O-O 6. d3 d6 7. Bg5 Be6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| All | 1 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 8. Ba4 | 1 (100%) |
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 25%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- IM Nail Bashirli (2365) – WGM Atousa Pourkashiyan (2322) 1-0 · Titled Tue 10th May Early · 2022-05-10
- Ali Firas Qassim (2017) – CM BAQER HAMEED KHALAF AL-MUSAWI (1995) 1-0 · ch-IRQ 2025 · 2025-12-27
- Anton Talalov (1766) – Vladislav Sviridov (2123) 0-1 · 17th Moscow Open A 2020 · 2021-02-28
- Shelly Moscovitch (1617) – WCM Luna Yuexiu Xu (1900) 1/2-1/2 · World Youth Girls U14 · 2026-06-15
Highest-rated Lichess games
- jj1armerstudent (1639) – yellowpakos2017 (1895) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Petrov's Defense: Three Knights Game 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nc3
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.