Four Knights Game
Both sides bring out both knights before anything else: the most natural opening in chess, with a quiet reputation and a surprising number of tricks.
After 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 all four knights are developed and nothing is committed. White then picks the character of the game on move four: 4.d4 opens the centre (the Scotch Four Knights), 4.Bb5 pins and manoeuvres (the Spanish Four Knights), 4.Bc4 invites the fork trick, and 4.g3 is the modern Glek System. It was a main weapon of Rubinstein, Tarrasch and Capablanca's generation and is still played at the top as a low-risk way to get a game. The opening is sound for both sides and theory gives Black equality, but in our game data one mistake keeps returning: grabbing or sacrificing a piece on e5, e4 or f7 without counting what comes back.
The ideas in 7 positions
Click a card to see it on the board. 0/7 viewed
Choose your path
White chooses on move four: open the centre with d4, pin with Bb5, invite the fork trick with Bc4, or fianchetto with g3.
Common mistakes, by level
Real patterns from club games. Every line is engine-checked; in the evals, plus is good for White.
These are the patterns worth knowing. For the full count, see the Four Knights Game mistakes players make most often at each rating.
Middlegame plans
What to do once the book runs out.
Now make it stick
Reading is the easy part. Solve the real mistakes from this opening until the patterns fire by themselves.
Sources: Wikipedia: Four Knights Game (history, Scotch and Spanish variations, Rubinstein, Halloween Gambit) · Wikibooks: Chess Opening Theory, 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 (CC BY-SA) · Our own game data: most frequent flagged mistakes in the Four Knights (Lichess games, both players rated 1800+) and fall rates from analysed Lichess games at 1200–1400, 1500–1700 and 1900–2100 (May 2024 sample) · Stockfish 19, depth 20 on every mistake; every idea, variation and plan line checked move by move at depth 16
Four knights out, nothing committed
Move 1 of the line — press → or waitEach side has developed both knights towards the centre and kept every pawn break in reserve. White's fourth move chooses the game: d4 to open it, Bb5 or Bc4 to develop first, g3 to fianchetto.