Play the Alekhine Defense: Normal Variation 3.d4

The Stockfish evaluation of +0.71 says White has a clear advantage, which sounds worrying when you play Black. But the Lichess database of 1,557,392 games tells a different story: Black wins 49.3% of the time, White wins 46.9%, and only 3.9% end in draws. That is a huge gap between the computer's cold calculation and what happens when humans actually play. Why? The Alekhine Defense forces White to overextend in the centre. White's pawns on d4 and e5 look impressive, but they are targets. Black's plan is to attack the centre — challenge with ...e6 or push ...c5 at the right moment — and let White's own space advantage become a weakness. Most club players struggle to handle Black's counterplay, which is why your winning chances are genuinely excellent here.

Stockfish recommends 4.Nf3, and the likely continuation is 4...dxe5 5.Nxe5 e6. White develops naturally and keeps the pawn tension. Notice that Black immediately trades the d-pawn to open lines and challenge the e5-knight. After ...e6, Black has a solid structure and continues developing smoothly — the bishop comes out, castles follow, and eventually ...c5 will challenge the centre. White's space advantage remains, but your position is sound and you have clear counterplay. This line is the most principled test of the Alekhine — White avoids pawn-grabbing and trusts their development. Your task is to prove that the knight on d5 is a temporary visitor, not a permanent asset for White.

In practice, White's most common move is 4.c4 (534,258 games), where White scores only 46.5% — that's worse than their average! After 4.c4, you retreat the knight to a safe square and prepare to target the centre with ...dxe5 at the right moment. Next is 4.Nf3 (349,873 games, 48.1% for White) — the engine's choice discussed above. Then comes 4.Bc4 (227,851 games, White scores just 45.1%). Here the bishop on c4 eyes f7, but Black can challenge it with the knight or play ...dxe5 immediately, aiming to trade into a comfortable position. Notice that all three most popular moves give White a score under 50% — in each case, Black has outscored White over tens of thousands of games.

The statistics reveal two moves that are particularly bad for White — and you should know how to punish them. 4.f4 is marked as an inaccuracy, losing roughly 0.7 pawns of advantage. White tries to reinforce e5, but this move weakens the kingside and neglects development. Simply capture on e5 and Black is already comfortable. The engine says the superior move was 4.c4, so White has handed you the initiative. Even worse is 4.Nc3, labelled a mistake costing White about 1.3 pawns. This attack on your knight is too direct — capture the knight and then recapture on e5 to equalise, and Black is close to equal or better. White ends up with a damaged pawn structure and no compensation. Over nearly 14,000 games (13,987 exactly), White scores just 42.0% from here — awful for the first player.