Open games & French

King's Knight Opening

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3

The King's Knight Opening starts with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 and is catalogued under ECO C40, in the open games & french half of the book. The catalog indexes 3 lines inside it, grouped into 3 named variations.

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Current setup

Move ideas

  1. 1.e4

    Claims the center with a pawn and opens lines for the queen and king’s bishop.

    Idea: Build quick development and make early castling possible.

  2. 1…e5

    Meets White’s center directly and opens lines for Black’s queen and bishop.

    Idea: Fight for equal central space in a balanced, open position.

  3. 2.Nf3

    Develops the king’s knight and attacks Black’s e5-pawn.

    Idea: Increase central pressure while getting ready to castle.

  4. 2…Nc6

    Defends e5 while developing the queen’s knight toward the center.

    Idea: Hold the central pawn and keep several classical setups available.

  5. 3.Bc4

    Develops the bishop onto an active diagonal aimed at f7.

    Idea: Accelerate kingside development and make Black’s weakest early square a target.

  6. 3…f5

    Advances the f-pawn to gain kingside space and control new squares.

    Idea: Create useful wing space while keeping the central structure flexible.

Book continuations

Waiting for Lichess game popularity.

0 moves
This is the end of the indexed line.

Named variations

Each line below is an indexed entry under King's Knight Opening. Open one to load it on the board and keep exploring from that position.

Openings from the same volume

ECO groups openings by the structures they lead to, so these families tend to share plans with the King's Knight Opening.