Chigorin Three Knights Overview

Here I'm going to give an overview of what is currently I think a very overlooked line in the chigorin setup. It doesn't have a name but I'm just going to call it the chigorin three knights.

1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. Nf3

This line can also be reached from the Van Geet via 1. Nc3 d5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 (first playing the mexican defense) or 1. Nc3 d5 2. d4 (heading straight into the chigorin). Blacks move 1... d5 is the critical line against the Van Geet and this mexican / chigorin setup is an uncommon but strong option white has for responding. I know you're probably thinking "not another Van Geet rant". Yes, we are flooded with Van Geet forum topics currently due to the spammer... so I almost don't even want to mention the name Van Geet because it's going to become a meme and probably this thread will be spammed as well. But I have to mention it briefly...

This chigorin three knights is very transpositional. But I think the lines it transposes into are all good lines. So let's take a look -

3... Bf4 - played in 29% of games - this is actually a unique line, and blacks most common response. It's also where white scores the best in this setup. This is kind of an alternate version of many Jobava Ne5 jumps where we followup with a pawn storm and attack the bishop / knight, leading to trades and complications in all of the lines. But here black can't avoid the line, and he has to play sharply to remain even, otherwise he has a severe disadvantage. Playing this perfectly is very uncommon, here's what black needs to play. If he plays this the game is even and your position is good anyway -

Pretty much anything else leads to a major advantage for white here, and white has 60%+ winrates in these lines.

Another move black can play is 3... e6, played 18% of the time. This can transpose into the Jobava or Veresov. I like the Veresov line... it will usually transpose into the french, burn variation, a good line for white and one he'll probably be playing against the french anyway -

But there are a few other interesting lines -

Overall this is a fine line in the veresov and if this is all you had to face in that opening it'd be more popular.

Another common move is 3... g6, played 10% of the time. This is probably the line I like seeing the least. It's not testing for white, it's just difficult for white to make something interesting happen. In the mainline Jobava, if you go by the engine, it will actually prefer that you play it slow with Nf3 / e3. So we're not at an objective disadvantage with our setup. However, usually players will play f3 instead, this leads to more complications on the kingside and is more in the spirit of  how Jobava / Veresov positions are played. We can't do that here due to the early Nf3 move. So what should we do? 

One option would be to just concede and play it slow with Nf3 / e3. This does get played, it just doesn't contain the early complication we generally prefer as chigorin players - 

Another option is to play the Tarzan attack, a line in the Jobava with Qd2 early, allowing us to trade off these bishops - 

But in practice these attacks usually lead to early trades and don't amount to very much, just equal positions without too many complications. As chigorin players we really want complications, without them we're just giving black easy equality. 

Another option is the Amazon attack. This is a rare move, usually the mainline Amazon attack reached via 3... Qd3 is rejected by the engine due to 4. c5, but here we avoid that and transpose into a sound variation of it  -

The Amazon attack has some advantages - it allows us to push e4 / liberate our c3 knight very quickly / easily. It leads to less trades than the Tarzan attack. However, in practice it's still drawish and there aren't too many complications. White doesn't have any major problems, his queen is blocking his bishop from developing to active squares but nothing too major... but there's little complexity and black doesn't have any major problems either.

A final alternative, which is what I really prefer, is to play h4 early on and transpose into the Veresov. While the ideal engine line favors black, the actual line black has to play is very sharp and in practice it is is very rare for black to maintain that edge. But what we get in exchange is a sharp messy game against this fiancetto setup. This will typically lead to an advantage with superior prep - 

So that's 3... g6.

Another move is 3... c6, played 16% of the time. Again we have the option of transposing into the jobava or veresov. The Jobava line is a great one and something you can investigate. In the Jobava I prefer e3 > Bf5 > f3 in response to c6 over Nf3, but Nf3 is quite good too. But the Veresov has never really handled 3... c6 very well, I wouldn't recommend it... though 4. Nf3 is one the best options it has for handling it.

But here we have two unusual options which I actually like quite a bit. First, we can play Qd3 which prevents Bf5, blacks most common next move and what he usually wants to play. This is another fine line in the Amazon attack -

The second option though, which I like more, is a bit odd - we play the waiting move 4. h3, and after black plays 4... Bf4 (most common move played 64% of the time) we can jump in with Ne5 and get another version of the knight attack we got earlier. Here h3 turns out to be an improvement over Bf4 in the Jobava, since it enables us to play g4, forcing the bishop to move where we can take it with the knight - in the Jobava we can't force that and you have to delay Ne5 until after e3 is played so that your queen bolsters the pawn move. Afterwards we can bump the black knight and we get to push e4, always a critical break in the chigorin since it frees the queens knight -

If black doesn't play Bf5 we just play Bf4 and we already have h3 to keep our bishop safe against moves like Nh5. Surprisingly, in blacks other lines here - such as g6 - h3 is the top engine move, because Nh5 attacking the bishop is recommended for black, and furthermore to deal with our bishop black must forego pinning our knight on c3. So h3 isn't technically a wasted move in these positions. 

Alright, last but not least we have 3... c5, played in 15% of games. This transposes directly into the critical line in the two knights sicilian. As a Van Geet player you should be playing this anyway, so you'll already know this line. There are a few different responses here, I like this Bf4 > e4 line because it's sharp and interesting, however dxc5 is a more solid option -

There's also this other option a6... in some lines white is threatening dxc5 > b4. These lines tend to be more complex / dynamic than the previous ones, and provide white with plenty of play -

Those are all the major lines. But before we end this let's look at two less common lines very briefly. 

There's the unusual chigorin four knights setup, we'll reach this about 3% of the time. Here I like the look of the mirrored spannish four knights - 

We also have this inverted Ruy Lopez bird line which we'll reach about 5% of the time - 

It's also worth noting that the french and caro-kann can often be transposed into this system - 

And for one final tangent, for the Van Geet or Reti player, it's also worth noting that the chigorin three knights can be reached from the Mexican Defense. This is another viable line that's overlooked, especially for the Van Geet player who needs something resourceful against 1... d5 - 

So to summarize:

- against 3... Bf4 you can play 4. Ne5, white has 60%+ winrates here, this is similar to many knight jumps that occur in the Jobava after the bishop comes out, but it's unique and looks to be quite effective

- against 3... e6 you can play the Jobava or Veresov line, I like the Veresov which often just becomes a french burn - a line the Chigorin or Van Geet player probably already plays. And otherwise there are a few unique lines with some traps but nothing too significant

- against 3... g6 - this is really the most challening move, but it's only played about 10% of the time. Here you can play a Jobava Barry attack and possibly the Tarzan attack. You can also play the Amazon attack and avoid boredom that way. But I prefer the move h4 which can lead to a sharp game with more complications

- against 3... c6 you can play Bf4, Qd3 or h3. Bf4 is just a good line in the Jobava, it has great winrates and I'm sure you will score well. With h3, after white plays his typical Bf5, you get a quicker Ne5 jump over what you get in the Jobava, so it's reached more reliably, it also won't be known by people.

- against 3... c5 you play your two knights sicilian, the center attack line which... as a Van Geet player you should be playing anyway, because why play the Van Geet and pass up one of its best lines, the two knights sicilian?

So I think this is clearly a better option for the Van Geet player than the straight up Jobava or Veresov. As Van Geet players we already play two of the lines, two others are improvements... Honestly, it might even be an improvement over the mainline Jobava / Veresov for the chigirin player, because you can choose which lines to transpose into - if your opponent is prepared for the Jobava or Veresov in some specific way they likely won't be prepared for whatever line you transpose into. And we can avoid the difficult lines, i.e. 3... Nbd7 in the veresov, 3... e6 against the jobava.  

Okay that wraps it up I hope this post was informative for some people.