Slav Defense: Two Knights Attack
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4
The Slav Defense: Two Knights Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO D15, reached after 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4. It is a line of the Slav Defense. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 818 times by this move order. White won 47%, 4% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 5. a4 (55% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.13 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 5. a4 e6 6. e3 c5 7. Bxc4 cxd4)
- ECO
- D15
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pp2pppp/2p2n2/8/2pP4/2N2N2/PP2PPPP/R1BQKB1R w KQkq - 0 5- PGN
1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 53 | |
| 1500-1999 | 265 | |
| 2000+ | 500 | |
| All | 818 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. a4 Alapin Variation | 448 (55%) | |
| 5. e4 Geller Gambit (4… dxc4 5. e4) | 223 (27%) | |
| 5. e3 Alekhine Variation | 77 (9%) | |
| 5. Bg5 | 30 (4%) | |
| 5. g3 | 18 (2%) | |
| 5. Ne5 | 15 (2%) | |
| 5. Bf4 | 5 (1%) | |
| 5. Be3 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
170 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 46%, draw 18%, Black 36%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2837) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2804) 1-0 · 13th Norway Armageddon · 2025-06-02
- IM Rudik Makarian (2524) – GM Fabiano Caruana (2777) 0-1 · Titled Tue 24th Jun Early · 2025-06-24
- GM Alexey Sarana (2649) – GM Sergey Volkov (2557) 1/2-1/2 · Sergievskiy Mem Rapid · 2021-04-10
- IM Sergey Drygalov (2546) – GM Ivan Popov (2629) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-RUS Premier 2022 · 2022-05-10
- GM Vladimir Belous (2520) – GM Benjamin Gledura (2633) 0-1 · National Open 2021 · 2021-06-20
Search all games of the Slav Defense: Two Knights Attack and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Vahe_S (2758) – KhatanbaatarGM (2712) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- AyaSen77 (2780) – shortparis (2640) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Empire_State_of-Mind (2630) – GM Ivan124 (2690) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Slav Defense: Three Knights Variation 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3
Continuations
- Slav Defense: Alapin Variation D16 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. a4
- Slav Defense: Alekhine Variation D15 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e3
- Slav Defense: Geller Gambit (4… dxc4 5. e4) D15 · 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c6 3. Nf3 Nf6 4. Nc3 dxc4 5. e4
More Slav Defense lines (all)
- Slav Defense (2. c4 c6) D10
- Slav Defense (2… c6 3. Nc3) D10
- Slav Defense (3. Nc3 dxc4) D10
- Slav Defense: Diemer Gambit D10
- Slav Defense: Exchange Variation (2… c6 3. cxd5) D10
- Slav Defense: Exchange Variation, Boor Attack D10
- Slav Defense: Slav Gambit, Alekhine Attack D10
- Slav Defense: Winawer Countergambit D10
- Slav Defense: Winawer Countergambit, Anti-Winawer Gambit D10
- Slav Defense: Bonet Gambit D11
- Slav Defense: Breyer Variation D11
- Slav Defense: Modern Line (2… c6 3. Nf3) D11
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.