Advance Variation

The idea

White plays 3.e5, gaining space and locking the center. Black develops the bishop to f5 straight away, outside the pawn chain. After that, Black usually plays ...e6 and ...c5, hitting the base of White's center.

It looks like the French Advance, but Black's light-squared bishop is already active, which makes Black's life easier. White aims to make up for this with space and an attack.

Plans for White

There are two main approaches. The quiet one is Nigel Short's 4.Nf3 e6 5.Be2, then c3 or Be3 and castling, which was popular in the 1990s. White keeps a space advantage and a solid center.

The aggressive one uses the pawns to chase the bishop: Tal's 4.h4, the Bayonet Attack 4.g4, or 4.Nc3 e6 5.g4, the Van der Wiel Attack.

Plans for Black

Play ...e6, then ...c5 to attack d4, and develop with ...Nc6, ...Nd7 or ...Ne7. The queen often comes to b6, hitting d4 and b2.

Keep the bishop safe. In lines where White pushes the kingside pawns, give it a retreat square before it is needed.

Watch out for

For Black, the trapped bishop. After 4.h4, the routine 4...e6? allows 5.g4 Be4 6.f3 Bg6 7.h5, and the bishop has no safe square: g6 is attacked, f5 is covered by the g-pawn, e4 by the f-pawn, and h7 is blocked by Black's own pawn. Answer 4.h4 with 4...h5 or 4...h6 first.

For White, the danger is overextending. Pushing the kingside pawns gains time, but it also leaves weaknesses, and Black's ...c5 can open the center while White's king is still there.

History

After Capablanca's win in 1927, Mikhail Tal later tried the aggressive 4.h4, and in the 1990s Nigel Short's quiet 4.Nf3 and 5.Be2 made the Advance popular.