Does anyone have any experience playing Alekhine's Defense?
Has it been "refuted"?

The wikipedia article only had a few mainlines, and I was looking more for input.
Do you think this is an opening worth spending time on?

Any general advice/tips/feedback would be greatly appreciated.

How high are you rated , I would not recommend it for beginners , black gets a too cramped position , and you have to play very carefully to get any kind of advantage .

Here is a cool line. Of course this particular line depends on a big mistake by black. Still, 3. Sc3 is good even without black´s mistake. Black is forced out of his/her prepared lines.

To clarify, the line leading to the diagram is this: 1. e4 Nf6, 2. e5 Nd5 3. Nc3 NxN, 4. dxN d6 5. Bc4 dxe5?? 6. Bxf7+ KxB 7.QxQ

3 Nc3 may force Black out of his prepared lines, but this isn't necessarily a "good" move because Black gets immediate equality. This would rarely be played at the GM level, although for the average club player I agree that it might be useful.

To the original poster, if you want in-depth analysis Wikipedia isn't going to cut it. John Cox and Nigel Davies each have books on Alekhine's Defense that should suit your purposes. As for White's responses to the Alekhine, the Exchange Variation is very solid.

I used the alekhine defense for several years while still playing in the "amateur" sections of US swiss events, normally under 1800 back then. It served me well against players under 1800 but once I moved "up" to the open section I had to give it up as my results were awful against good players. I switched to the french and quit playing alekhines. I think now the modern variation is very popular and does well against alekhines.

Ah yes, the Modern Variation is an excellent suggestion. I don't have exact numbers on me, but it has been scoring nicely.

I was used to play Alekhine defence for some time and I had good results both blitz and in live tournement (1600-1900 Elo). I agree that is not for beginners but I would recommend to play it for some time as it leads to interesting position and can be quite instructive on how to play defensively but...with fantasy!

im playing the Alekhine right now, its pretty rough though, as people already mention here, its not for begginers, its easy to to get squeezed, or make a big positional mistake that will lead to a lost position right away. Nevertheless, i do recomend it, maybe not for very beginers, but what its does to you, is that it imporves your middle game significantly, because the openning is quite thight. Ive really like it so far.

I don't try to gain a huge center in the Alekhine.  I get a pawn duo on c4 and d4 and play from there.

The always had good luck with the Panov Botvinnik type attacks:

1e4..Nf6

2e5..Nd5

3d4..d6

4c4..Nb6

exd followed by Nc3

You build up your game similiar to that of a queens pawn game and just play slow and steady.

I played it as black some, especially in 5 minute type games as it was easy to play as Black. The 4 pawn attack was in vogue back in the 70s but I never really thought it was as strong as the Panov-Botvinnick type positions.

I echo the others above in that it can be cramped and is not to most people's liking. If you have access to a games database and want to see some good examples of how to play it: try Larsen and Hans Berliner (former world correspondence champion) they handled the black pieces well with it.

Good luck. 

Fotoman wrote:

The always had good luck with the Panov Botvinnik type attacks:

1e4..Nf6

2e5..Nd5

3d4..d6

4c4..Nb6

exd followed by Nc3

You build up your game similiar to that of a queens pawn game and just play slow and steady.

I played it as black some, especially in 5 minute type games as it was easy to play as Black. The 4 pawn attack was in vogue back in the 70s but I never really thought it was as strong as the Panov-Botvinnick type positions.

I echo the others above in that it can be cramped and is not to most people's liking. If you have access to a games database and want to see some good examples of how to play it: try Larsen and Hans Berliner (former world correspondence champion) they handled the black pieces well with it.

Good luck. 

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What you refer to is the exchange variation of alekhine's defense.

After 1...Nf6, 2 e5 otherwise Black would have the initiative. The point of Black's opening is to make you make commiting pawn moves which he'd snipe later on. You don't have to charge at the horsie with pawns; instead maintain a strong center as he'll be lashing out at your center with pawn moves like ...c5 etc. Not much theory is known about the Alekhine (practical ones) by the way so keep a firm position and let him cramp himself.