kinderboy
31 ( +1 | -1 )
Unusual openings Anyone care to post weird openings like the Talon? Please explain them, as this forum is meant to help the average player.
Contact numis with questions.
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spurtus
3 ( +1 | -1 )
Tranvestite Attack anybody :o)
1.d4 e6 2.c4 Ke7 3.Nc3 Qe8 4.Nf3 Kd8
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tim_b
24 ( +1 | -1 )
How about the Hammerschlag (Fried fox/Pork chop opening) (A00) which begins with the following fine moves:
1. f3 e5 2. Kf2
I can't really explain it, maybe it's an attempt to c*** a snook at your opponent or lull him into a genuine sense of security.
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ionadowman
142 ( +1 | -1 )
What is the Talon? Of course, no one in their right minds would play the Transvestite, or the Fried Fox ... would they? Huh?
There are more "Chessic" openings that are unusual, but known to have been played, many at Master level. E.g Anderssen's Opening 1.a3. In his match against Paul Morphy, Adolf Anderssen opened the first game with this debut: 1.a3 e5?! 2.c4, with a Reversed Sicilian. Anderssen went on to win the game, but then got hammered in the rest of the match.
More weirdly, Tony Miles (playing Black) once responded to Anatoly Korpov's opening move by 1....a6, and went on to win that game!
I've always been rather intrigued by Breyer's Gambit - a strange-looking offshoot of the King's Gambit. 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Qf3!? Capablanca once played it and won comprehensively (can't remember against whom, though).
I recall reading an article and accompanying poem (rather a better effort than the usual kind of thing) in a British Chess Magazine about the King's Own Gambit, a.k.a. the Tumbleweed. 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Kf2. The thing is more playable than it looks.
Finally, though probably most players know of it, few would dare play the opening I'm about to mention There was one Kiwi player out of Dunedin, apparently, who played it regularly, but, given his name, perhaps he could call it his own. Peter or Philip (can't recall which) Paris was the name; and 1.Nh3 is the Paris Opening.
Do these qualify?
Cheers,
Ion
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lighttotheright
57 ( +1 | -1 )
Breyer's Gambit is interesting.
The biggest problem I have with it is that Queens are likely to be traded early. That could make it drawish, even though White gains a slight initiative. Another problem I have with it is that the White's Queen lands on a good square that more rightfully belongs to the White knight.
It might be good for a surprise weapon OTB; but you would need a pair of brass ones to use it in competition these days.
As far as the Paris Opening is concerned, it is deceptive too but somewhat less sound.
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blake78613
14 ( +1 | -1 )
[Event "?"]
[Site "St Louis"]
[Date "1929"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Anderson, J"]
[Black "Amateur"]
[Result "1-0"]
1. h3 g6 2. g3 Bg7 3. f3 Nf6 4. e3 O-O 5. d3 d5 6. c3 e5 7. b3 Nh5 8. Kf2 Qg5 9.
Ne2 Bf5 10. a3 e4 11. f4 Qh6 12. g4 exd3 13. g5 dxe2 14. Bxe2 1-0
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easy19
46 ( +1 | -1 )
Halasz Gambit > a rare opening with some nice sharp lines
1 e4 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 f4,
Jerome Gambit > very effective wen playing F2F confusing and winning if they do not know it
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+
Crazy anti sicilian very very sharp
1.e4 c5 2. f4 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Ng5 Nf6 5.Bc4 Bg4 6.Qxg4 Nxg4
Dresden Variation
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c4
Latvian Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5
Patzer Opening : always fun against lower rated players
1. e4 e5 2.Qh5
There are many more but these above are a few of the best..
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easy19
8 ( +1 | -1 )
If you like explaining or example games of one of the above i wil be happy to provide a few.. or explain a bit.. ±P
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blake78613
19 ( +1 | -1 )
I don't think the f4 attack against the Sicilian is either unusual or crazy. MCO 15 devotes 6 columns to it and it's very popular at the club level. It also common on the English Grand Prix circuit.
ionadowman
145 ( +1 | -1 )
The line ... ... given by easy19 is rather wild though. The position reached is
w
What has given up a Q+P for a B. To what end?
7.Bxf7+ Kd7 8.Be6+ Kc6 9.Bxg4 ...
White emerges with 2 pieces for the Q, a threatened fork, an active position, and the immediate threat to pick up the e-pawn. For certain types of player, that is quite sufficient to justify the sac! So much I can figure out - but I have to admit I've never seen the thing before!
The Latvian can be fun, but it has I think been rather over-explored in some lines. Check out the recent ionadowman vs jstevens (accessible via the latter's profile and annotated game list).
Interestingly enough, I've never seen in any chess primer, a proper treatment of how to combat the "Patzer Opening". Very occasionally it appears in Master chess, would you believe?! Although it is no trivial matter to meet, I quite like the standard 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Nf6, with ...d6 and ...Bg7 to follow and a fine game for Black. But don't imagine that White has lost all that much by the Queen sortie: a tempo or two, nothing more, and certainly not fatal.
Cheers,
Ion
alice02
20 ( +1 | -1 )
evans gambit jrobichess youtube have just discovered jrobichess on you tube. I have only watched Evans gambit so far. He describes it then illustrates it with a bobby Fischer game. He explains really clearly.
easy19
142 ( +1 | -1 )
The sicilian Crazy variation. ( aldo Blake say,s it is common it is not after a few more moves )
Played games
gameknot.com 1-0 gameknot.com 0-1 gameknot.com 1-0 Jerome Gambit ( stil really nice wen playing face to face )
en.wikipedia.org < Info J Gambit Patzer opening ( i love to play it sometimes against 1600 avarge rated players)
letmetellyouaboutmybestfriend.blogspot.com < info about patzer opening Halasz Gambit ( very very rare opening)
I wil play a Halasz tournament soon on THEM >>
users.skynet.be www.chesscafe.com < info page H Gambit 
easy19
30 ( +1 | -1 )
And i just remember the Halloween Gambit. Stun your opponent with a real agressive opening + sacrifice..
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Nc3 Nf6
4. Nxe5
I have played a tournament so you can look up several games
gameknot.com
easy19
22 ( +1 | -1 )
ION Jstevens made a annotated game of the patzer opening me vs here
gameknot.com She handled it quite well. :)
chessnovice
74 ( +1 | -1 )
... I played several games using 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 b5, with some reasonable success. I think my rating is a little bit inflated, actually, because I played that opening almost exclusively for over a year. I've played it in tournament play as well, usually in the more insignificant rounds where I could afford to be risky.
I stopped playing it after a while, though. I'm not completely satisfied with the value of the gambit. Black can definitely take advantage of subtle mistakes by white, but I dunno... I never managed to find black's very best line.
I've wanted to go through some of those old games (I think I played 97 of the 344 games on the database) and annotate a few of them. I dunno if I'll ever find the time to, though.
ionadowman
95 ( +1 | -1 )
easy19... ... I recall playing through that game. Joanne seemed to stay level for quite a long time in that game and really just went wrong in the ending, as I recall it.
I suppose one might consider this sort of thing rather unusual:
1.e4 g7 2.c4 e5 ...
(The Great Snake Opening. The game sago vs ionadowman began this way; an epic 100-mover that I annotated some time ago)
It's 'unusualness' is considerably mitigated by the fact that it is susceptible to considerable transposition. After half a dozen moves or so the thing looked fairly 'normal'.
A couple of years ago I had a discussion with someone on GK about the Jerome Gambit. It's quite hard to meet if you don't know what you're doing...
Cheers,
Ion
schnarre
29 ( +1 | -1 )
I've played 1. a3 for some time now & it's usually held me in good stead. (my best recorded game is an 1. a3 game) I've also essayed other Openings such as 1. Nh3, 1. Na3, 1...h6, 1...a6 among others too numerous to list (I also play a Sicilian with 2...Na6).
I'll have to check out some of these others!
spclpnngslknc
25 ( +1 | -1 )
I always play the Dunst opening (1.Nc3) with white, with black I play the Chigorin defence (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Nc6), the Philidor defence (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6) and against 1. c4 and 1. Nf3 I play Nc6, because I like to play special openings and I know theory on them, most of my opponents don't.