Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c6/2. d4/2...d5/3. Nc3/3...dxe4/4. Nxe4/4...Nd7

Smyslov/Karpov Variation rd bd qd kd bd nd rd pd pd nd pd pd pd pd pd pl nl pl pl pl pl pl pl rl bl ql kl bl nl rl Smyslov/Karpov Variation 4...Nd7 By developing his Knight rather than the Bishop, Black aims to trade for White's central Knight, without compromising his pawn structure. At one time named after the first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz, nowadays the variation is more often referred to as the Smyslov Variation after the seventh world champion Vasily Smyslov who played a number of notable games with it, or the Karpov Variation, after the twelfth World Champion Anatoly Karpov, in whose repertoire it appeared quite often. The short-term goal of 4...Nd7 is to ease development by the early exchange of a pair of Knights without compromising the structural integrity of his position. Play is similar to the Classical Variation except that Black has more freedom by delaying the development of his bishop, and is not forced to play it to the g6 square. However, this freedom comes at a cost as White enjoys added freedom in taking up space in the center, and often plays the aggressive 5.Ng5!? where Black's development is brought into question as well as the positional weakness of the f7-square. The famous last game of the Deep Blue-Garry Kasparov rematch where Kasparov committed a known blunder and lost was played in this very line. Theory table . 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5 6 Nf3Ngf6 Nxf6+Nxf6 += Bc4Ngf6 Ng5e6 = Ng5Ngf6 Bc4e6 = Bd3Ngf6 Ng5e6 = Ne2Ngf6 N2g3Nxe4 = c3Ngf6 Nxf6Nxf6 = Qe2?! Ndf6Nf3 Nxe4= References Caro-Kann