Four Knights Game Four Knights Game The Four Knights Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves: This is the most common sequence, but the knights may in any order to reach the same position. The opening is fairly popular with beginners who strictly adhere to the opening principle: "Develop knights before bishops." It was one of the workhorses in the family of the Open Game, at even the highest levels, until World War I. Thereafter it fell by the wayside, along with a number of open games. In this period ambitious players explored the Ruy Lopez, believing it a better
Ruy Lopez (also called the Flohr–Zaitsev Variation) was advocated by Igor Zaitsev, who was one of Karpov's trainers for many years. A Karpov favourite, the Zaitsev remains one of the most important variations of the Ruy Lopez. With 9...Bb7 Black prepares to put more pressure on e4 after 10.d4 Re8 11.Nbd2 Bf8 when play can become very sharp and tactical. One drawback of this line is that White can force Black to choose a different defence or allow a draw by repetition of position with 11.Ng5 Rf8 12.Nf3. Karpov tried 9...Nd7 several times in the 1990 World Championship match, but Kasparov achieved