the key idea was, in reaction to the older ideas of siegbert tarrasch, to dispute control of the centre by more subtle methods. whereas old theory was to occupy the centre with two or three pawns immediately, the hypermoderns concentrated more on attacking the opponent's centre. a characteristic first move was 1nf3 with white, or 1...nf6 with black, especially in reply to 1d4. to 1e4 they favoured an asymmetric defence such as 1...e6 or 1...c5 rather than the classical reply 1...e5.