Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...d5/2. c4/2...c5

Austrian Defense
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/pp2pppp/8/2pp4/2PP4/8/PP2PPPP/RNBQKBNR w
Moves: 1. d4 d5 2. c4 c5

Austrian Defence

The Austrian chess players Hans Haberditz (c. 1901–57), Hans Müller (1896–1971), and GM Ernst Grünfeld studied this defense, which was initially introduced by Italian chess player Alessandro Salvio in 1604. Black creates a lot of tension and aims to disrupt White's center and prevent white from seizing the initiative by mirroring White's moves, adding a little complexity to the position. This defence can be prone to equalizing quickly, if white doesn't know opening theory, but current theory suggests that white should gain a sizeable advantage with the appropriate moves.

White's responses

White will probably reply with one of the following options:

• 3. cxd5 - The classical main line in the Austrian Defence.
• 3. dxc5 - Exchanging a central pawn for a flank pawn.
• 3. Nf3 - Inviting a transposition to the Tarrasch Defence.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1. d4 d5 2. c4 c5

	3	4	5	6	Eval	Notes
Austrian Defence	cxd5 Qxd5	Nf3 cxd4	Nc3 Qa5	Nxd4 Na6	+=	Main Line
Austrian Defence, Gusev Countergambit	... Nf6	e4 Nxe4	dxc5 Qa5+	Bd2 Nxd2	+/−
	... ...	... ...	... Nxc5	Nc3 e5	+/−
	... ...	Nf3 cxd4	Qxd4 Qxd5	Nc3 Qxd4	+=
Austrian Attack, Salvio Countergambit	dxc5 d4	Nf3 Nc6	e3 e5	exd4 exd4	+=
Tarrasch Defence, Psuedo-Tarrasch	Nf3 e6	cxd5 exd5	g3 Nc6	Bg2 Nf6	+=	By Transposition
Queen's Gambit Accepted, Gunsberg Defence	... dxc4	d5 e6	e4 exd5	exd5 Bd6	+=	By Transposition

References

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.

• 1 d4 d5 and Unusual Replies to the Queen's Gambit, Nunn, John (ed.), et al. (1999). Nunn's Chess Openings. Everyman Chess, ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.