About this opening
Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, Main Line is an opening in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings,
classified under code B00. ECO group B (B00–B99)
covers semi-open games (1.e4 with Black playing anything other than 1…e5), with the Sicilian, French, Caro-Kann and Pirc/Modern at its heart. This particular variation is reached
after 8 half-moves from the
starting position, with the move sequence 1. e4 Nc6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 Nxe5 4. f4 Ng6.
It belongs to the Nimzowitsch Defense family.
Within that family this is a level-2 branch (the Kennedy Variation → Main Line line). The immediate parent line is Nimzowitsch Defense: Kennedy Variation, transitioned via 4…Ng6.
The opening sequence in prose form: 1.e4 Nc6, 2.d4 e5, 3.dxe5 Nxe5, 4.f4 Ng6. From this position the encyclopaedia records no further canonical continuations — practical play branches into unnamed transpositions or returns to the parent line for alternative ideas.
Use the interactive board above to walk through the moves position-by-position. Click any move in the navigation to step backwards, or use the keyboard arrow keys. For statistical data — how often master-level players have reached this position, White's win-rate, draw frequency, Black's score — see the panel in the right column.
Caissly's coverage of B00 extends through every named sub-variation in this line and across all four locales (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian). Where editorial commentary exists for a specific variation it appears as the page body; otherwise the page presents the structural data, board, and statistics as shown here.