Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Paulsen Attack
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nf3
The Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Paulsen Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nf3. 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 465 times by this move order. White won 50%, 7% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 4… Nxf3+ (40% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.40 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 4… d6 5. Nc3 Nf6 6. Nd4 Be7 7. f4)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4n3/4P3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 96 | |
| 1500-1999 | 170 | |
| 2000+ | 199 | |
| All | 465 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Nxf3+ | 185 (40%) | |
| 4… Ng6 | 121 (26%) | |
| 4… Qf6 | 55 (12%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 33 (7%) | |
| 4… d6 | 26 (6%) | |
| 4… Bd6 | 14 (3%) | |
| 4… f6 | 9 (2%) | |
| 4… Bb4+ | 7 (2%) |
Master games
120 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 22%, Black 34%). The strongest:
- Integral 7.0.0-dev-453c1dc4 (3735) – Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-16
- Stockfish dev-20260228-702d4b8c (3796) – Integral 7.0.0-dev-453c1dc4 (3735) 1-0 · TCEC 29 Premier 2026 · 2026-03-13
- GM So, W. (2778) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) 1/2-1/2 · Meltwater Tour Final 2021 · 2021-10-04
- GM Maxime Lagarde (2655) – GM Christian Bauer (2623) 1/2-1/2 · C'Chartres Blitz Men · 2020-06-13
- GM Lazaro Bruzon Batista (2605) – GM Daniel Howard Fernandez (2524) 1/2-1/2 · Silicon Valley Fall · 2023-09-02
Highest-rated Lichess games
- civotnezc (2587) – Zohaib_Gillani (2535) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Sanjay_Noob (2432) – diego_corrales (2546) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- benga77 (2430) – Zohaib_Gillani (2536) 1-0 · 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.