How to play the Alekhine's Defence (1. ... Nf6!) with confidence?

Alekhine's Defence is a sharp and aggressive defence, and any inaccuracy move can be severely punished for both sides. The beauty of that defence is finding dynamic positions under pressure throughout the entire game. For that reason, it is hard to play it, mainly in the classical tournaments. A few GMs in the History of Chess added Alekhine's Defence into their repertories for classical games. What's the secret of playing Alekhine's Defence with confidence? Which chess background is required to?

Good questions. I have been playing Alekhine's Defense to get away from opponent's preparation. I have won a few but also had some disasters due to poor preparation.

This is a great starting point :

https://www.chess.com/lessons/guide-to-the-alekhines-defense

Yes, those lessons are really great for starting point! Thank you! 👍🏻

However, it doesn’t explain why GMs don’t play Alekhine’s Defence in elite classical tournaments like Sicilian Defence. Is that defence “inferior” to the others? As I remember who played Alekhine’s Defence in an important classical tournament/match was Bobby Fischer. He played it twice against Spassky. Great games!!!

Dear Bortnyk,

Would you please comment your experience playing Alekhine’s Defence in tournaments as well as the above posts? I appreciate your point of view about choosing Alekhine’s Defence as a part of repertoire for classical tournaments sounds an interesting idea.

Thank you!