Openings From Weimar III

I HAVE had the position after 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.exd5 exd5 4.Nf3 60 times as White.

In the vast majority of those games Black has replied with 4...Nf6 or 4...Bd6.

But in round three of the Thuringia seniors' championships, my opponent, Kurt Wiest (1800), preferred 4...Nc6, which I faced twice in 2024, three times 2025, and twice already this year.

The move is not new - it goes back to at least 1849 - but I suspect its sudden relative prominence must be the result of being recommended recently in a book or magazine, or online.

How should White respond?

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Capablanca in a 1901 game chose 5.Bd3, which has also been played by Kramnik and Anand, even though it allows the irritating 5...Nb4.

Anand is apparently the only one of the three to have actually faced 5...Nb4, and he replied with the slightly surprising 6.Bb5+.

After the further moves 6...c6 7.Ba4, Viswanathan Anand (2751) - Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa (2746), London WR Masters 2024, went 7...a5 8.a3 Na6 9.c3 Bd6 10.0-0 Ne7 11.Bc2 Bf5 12.Bxf5 Nxf5 13.Re1+ Ne7, when Dragon1 gives White a slight edge, but Stockfish17.1 calls the game equal (½–½, 48 moves).

More popular in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database is the move I played, 5.Bb5, to which KW replied with the commonest continuation, 5...Bd6.

After the further moves 6.0-0 Ne7 7.Re1 0-0 the engines, as is often the case with the Exchange Variation of the French, reckon the position is equal.

What else is there?

First, it should be noted that 5.Ne5 is simply bad as 5...Qe7 wins a pawn.

Dragon1 suggests 5.c3, preparing Bd3, or developing the bishop more modestly with 5.Be2.

Stockfish17.1 likes 5.Bb5 and 5.Nc3, but without awarding White anything but a token advantage.

The move 5.c4, which is played early in many modern treatments of the French Exchange, can be effectively answered with 5...Bb4+, when 6.Nc3 Nf6 (the engines slightly prefer this over the more popular 6...Nge7) appears to give Black at least equality.

The bottom line seems to be that whatever hopes White can realistically expect from 1.e4 e6 2.exd5, a theoretical opening advantage is not among them.