Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Keres Attack
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nc3
The Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Keres Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nc3. It is a line of the Nimzowitsch Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 152 times by this move order. White won 56%, 3% were drawn and Black won 41%. The most popular continuation is 4… Nf6 (30% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.47 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 4… Bc5 5. f4 Nc6 6. Nf3 Nf6 7. e5)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4n3/4P3/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 34 | |
| 1500-1999 | 69 | |
| 2000+ | 49 | |
| All | 152 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Nf6 | 45 (30%) | |
| 4… Bc5 | 35 (23%) | |
| 4… Bb4 | 34 (22%) | |
| 4… d6 | 12 (8%) | |
| 4… c6 | 7 (5%) | |
| 4… Ng6 | 6 (4%) | |
| 4… Qf6 | 4 (3%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 3 (2%) |
Master games
55 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 64%, draw 11%, Black 25%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – GM Pranesh M (2644) 0-1 · 1st 3-0 Thu 25th Jun 2026 · 2026-06-25
- GM Sergey Karjakin (2753) – GM Alexander Zubov (2597) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid 2018 · 2018-12-28
- IM Paolo Ladron De Guevara Pinto (2450) – GM Axel Bachmann (2599) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Aug · 2020-08-18
- GM Abhimanyu Puranik (2600) – GM Denes Boros (2402) 1-0 · Titled Tue 23rd Aug Early · 2022-08-23
- GM Sergey Grigoriants (2542) – IM German Della Morte (2368) 1-0 · Titled Tue 4th Aug 10am · 2020-08-04
Search all games of the Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Keres Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- GeForceExperience (2613) – Rookz77 (2684) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- unitedff (2609) – IM HelloItsDmitri (2593) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Sait-0505 (2520) – thunderstorm360 (2509) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5
More Nimzowitsch Defense lines (all)
- Nimzowitsch Defense (1. e4 Nc6) B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense (1… Nc6 2. d4) B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Breyer Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Colorado Countergambit B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Colorado Countergambit Accepted B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Declined Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, El Columpio Gambit B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, Exchange Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: El Columpio Defense, Pin Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: Franco-Nimzowitsch Variation B00
- Nimzowitsch Defense: French Connection B00
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.