Danvers Opening

Danvers Opening
abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
b8 black knight
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
e5 black pawn
h5 white queen
e4 white pawn
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white bishop
e1 white king
f1 white bishop
g1 white knight
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Moves 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5
ECO C20
Parent Open Game
Synonym(s) Kentucky Opening
Queen's Attack
Queen's Excursion
Wayward Queen Attack
Patzer Opening
Parham Attack

The Danvers Opening,[1] also known as the Kentucky Opening,[2] Queen's Attack,[3] Queen's Excursion,[4] Wayward Queen Attack,[5] Patzer Opening[6] or Parham Attack[7] is an unorthodox chess opening characterized by the moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Qh5


History and nomenclature

Like many rare openings, 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 has acquired several names over the years, none of which are universally used. The earliest known appearance in print was in the Dubuque Chess Journal in May 1875, where it was dubbed the Kentucky Opening,[2] perhaps in reference to a game played in Danville, Kentucky, which was published in the August issue of the same magazine.[8] (This name was also applied by J. H. Blackburne to the unsound Jerome Gambit.) In the American Chess Bulletin in 1905, the opening was referred to as the Danvers Opening, so named by E. E. Southard, a well-known psychiatrist and a strong amateur chess player, after the hospital where he worked.[1]

Bernard Parham of Indianapolis is the first master-level player known to have advocated this line. Parham is known for his eccentric theories on the game of chess, which he has developed into what he calls the "Matrix System". Parham's Matrix System advocates early development of the queen in several positions, as in his favored line as White against the Sicilian Defence, 1.e4 c5 2.Qh5?! Parham argues that just as Richard Réti and Aron Nimzowitsch pioneered the hypermodern style of chess, his own ideas which are considered strange today may well be considered viable in the future. Several internet-based sources refer to 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 as the Parham Attack or Parham Opening.[7]

The most notable use of 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 by a grandmaster occurred in 2005, when U.S. Champion and future World Championship contender Hikaru Nakamura played it in two tournament games. The best known of these was against Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran at the May 2005 Sigeman Tournament in Copenhagen/Malmö, Denmark.[9] Nakamura got a reasonable position out of the opening but lost the game due to a mistake made in the middlegame. He later wrote on the Internet, "I do believe that 2.Qh5 is a playable move, in fact I had a very good position in the game, and was close to winning if I had in fact played 23.e5."[10] The previous month, Nakamura had played 2.Qh5 against GM Nikola Mitkov at the April 2005 HB Global Chess Challenge in Minneapolis. The game ended in a draw after 55 moves.[11]

More often the opening is adopted by chess novices, as when actor Woody Harrelson played it against Garry Kasparov in a 1999 exhibition game in Prague.[12] Harrelson achieved a draw after being assisted by several grandmasters who were in Prague attending the match between Alexei Shirov and Judit Polgár.[13] The next year Kasparov again faced the opening as Black when tennis star Boris Becker played it against him in an exhibition game in New York.[14] This time Kasparov won in 17 moves.

Assessment

The Danvers Opening violates a conventional opening principle by developing the queen too early, subjecting it to attack (although it is relatively safe after retreating to f3). Nonetheless, the opening causes Black some problems. Left to his own devices, Black would probably develop with ...Nf6, ...Bc5, and ...Nc6. The Danvers Opening hinders this by forcing Black (unless he wants to sacrifice a pawn) to first defend the e-pawn (usually with 2...Nc6), then after 3.Bc4 to either play 3...g6 (virtually committing Black to fianchettoing his king bishop), 3...Qe7 (blocking the bishop), or 3...Qf6 (taking away the knight's best square). In 2005, the Dutch grandmaster Hans Ree called 2.Qh5:

[...] a provocative but quite sensible move. White's presumptuous early queen development hopes to make black suffer from psychological indifference in a similar fashion to the Scandinavian defense. If black becomes careless in simply warding off the queen, he often fails to develop his pieces and likely runs into early trouble. Black is forced to play into White's hands, whether he likes it or not. Thus, even if black plays well, he may be unable to truly understand white's motives.[15]

As with the similar Napoleon Opening (2.Qf3?!), White hopes for the Scholar's Mate, e.g. 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7#. In both cases, Black can easily avoid the trap, but 2.Qf3 does not pose the impediments to natural development of Black's pieces that 2.Qh5 does. Incidentally, Black's worst possible response to 2.Qh5 is 2...Ke7?? 3.Qxe5#.[16] (This line ties with a few others for the fastest possible checkmate by White.) Another bad response is 2...g6?? 3.Qxe5+, losing not only the pawn on e5, but also the rook on h8.

Possible continuations

Because most games with the Danvers Opening have been played at weak scholastic tournaments, 2...g6?? has often been seen, losing a rook to 3.Qxe5+. The two moves that have received attention from higher-level players are 2...Nc6 and 2...Nf6!?[13]

abcdefgh
8
a8 black rook
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
c6 black knight
f6 black knight
g6 black pawn
e5 black pawn
c4 white bishop
e4 white pawn
f3 white queen
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
e2 white knight
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white bishop
e1 white king
h1 white rook
8
77
66
55
44
33
22
11
abcdefgh
Main position after 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Ne2

2...Nc6

This is the most common continuation. Black defends his e5-pawn from the queen and prepares to meet 3.Bc4 with 3...Qe7 (followed by ...Nf6)[4] or 3...g6. The latter move is more common, however, and after 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Ne2 the main position is reached (see diagram). Black can adopt different plans, one of the most popular being 5...Bg7, where 6.0-0 is White's best try for dynamic play, as 6.d3 d5 will lead to an even position with few attacking chances, and 6.Nbc3 Nb4 is interesting but promises little for White.

Grandmasters Sasikiran and Mitkov both played this move against Nakamura in 2005.[9][11] Garry Kasparov also chose it in his exhibition games against Boris Becker and Woody Harrelson.[12][14]

2...Nf6!?

Introducing a speculative gambit called the Kiddie Countergambit.[17] It is not necessary to sacrifice a pawn for development, since the White Queen will have to lose a tempo eventually, however FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussos advocates the move as the "psychologically correct" response.[18]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Edward Winter, Danvers Opening at chesshistory.com
  2. 1 2 Kentucky Opening, Dubuque Chess Journal, May 1875, page 250 scanned at Hathitrust (original from New York Public Library)
  3. ↑ Bronstein, David, 200 Open Games, chapter 1, page 1, Batsford 1973
  4. 1 2 Joel Benjamin; Eric Schiller (1987). "Queen's Excursion". Unorthodox Openings. Macmillan Publishing Company. p. 113. ISBN 0-02-016590-0.
  5. ↑ Schiller, Eric (1998). "Wayward Queen Attack". Unorthodox Chess Openings. Cardoza Publishing. pp. 247–49. ISBN 0-940685-73-6.
  6. ↑ Lev Alburt & Al Lawrence,Chess for Everyone, Rowman & Littlefield, 2010
  7. 1 2 The Chess Drum, The Talking Drum featuring Bernard Parham, 6 July 2003
  8. ↑ Fields-Young, Danville Kentucky 1875, Dubuque Chess Journal, August 1875, page 371 scanned at Hathitrust
  9. 1 2 Nakamura-Sasikiran, 13th Sigeman & Co 2005. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09.
  10. ↑ Nakamura on 2.Qh5. Mig Greengard. Published 2005-05-05. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
  11. 1 2 Nakamura-Mitkov, HB Global Chess Challenge 2005. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09.
  12. 1 2 Harrelson-Kasparov, Consultation game 1999. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09.
  13. 1 2 Hans Ree, Jake, Joe and Garry. ChessCafe.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
  14. 1 2 Becker-Kasparov, New York exhibition 2000. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09.
  15. ↑ Hans Ree, Perils of the Sea. ChessCafe.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
  16. ↑ Eric Schiller-Pack, 1969. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
  17. ↑ http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1527454
  18. ↑ Dennis Monokroussos, Nakamura-Sasikiran and Junk Openings, thechessmind.net, 23 April 2005

External links

The Wikibook Chess Opening Theory has a page on the topic of: Danvers Opening
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