The Alekhine's Defence and my thoughts on playing uncommon openings on an intermediate level.

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ricorat

I think the Alekhine is a good weapon. It catches many players off guard and it’s an opening you can use to play for a win as black.

NikkiLikeChikki
If you go to that other chess site and look at games for players under 2000, the Alekhine actually wins more games than it loses. For players up to 2500, wins and losses are exactly even at 47% each.

Sure there are a few gambit lines, like the Stafford, that do slightly better, but if you play the refutation line from Naroditsky, black loses badly. In other words, it does better than any other traditional non-gambit line that I have seen.

Of course you should play what you like, because what you feel comfortable with is more important, but the opening does well.