chess

3

UNORTHODOX CHESS OPENINGS

UNORTHODOXCHESS

OPENINGS

Eric Schiller

CARDOZA PUBLISHING

4

CARDOZA PUBLISHING • ERIC SCHILLER

To the participants in the Internet newsgroup rec.games.chess.analysis,who have provided me with many interesting ideas and useful feedback

in the preparation of this book.

Copyright © 1998 by Eric Schiller- All Rights Reserved -

First Edition

Library of Congress Catalogue Card No: 96-71755ISBN: 0-940685-73-6

CARDOZA PUBLISHINGPO Box 1500 Cooper Station, New York, NY 10276

Phone (718)743-5229 • Fax(718)743-8284 • Email:[email protected] Site - www.cardozapub.com

Write for your free catalogue of gaming and chess books, equipment,advanced strategies and computer games.

5


TABLE OF CONTENTSI. INTRODUCTION 13

II. OVERVIEW 15The Goals of this Book 16The Organization of the Book 18How Openings Get Named 18Transpositions 19Formations 20The Life Cycle of an Unorthodox Opening 20The Opening Underground on the Internet 21

III. EVALUATING UNORTHODOX OPENINGS 22“Show-Me” Method 23Analogy Method 23Pedantic Method 24Statistical Method 24Cult Hero Method 24Authoritative Method 24Psychological Method 25Positional Method 25Scales of Unorthodoxy 26

IV. CONTROVERSIAL LITERATURE 30

V. WEIRD OPENING SPECIALISTS 32Michael Basman 32Joel Benjaming 32Stefan Bücker 33Lawrence Day 33Tim Harding 33Johnny Hector 33Kari Heinola 33Tony Miles 34Hugh Myers 34Clyde Nakamura 34Rainer Schlenker 35Duncan Suttles 35Antoaneta Stefanova 35Savielly Tartakower 35Gerard Welling 36

6


VI. THE OPENINGSAlekhine Defense 38

Brooklyn Variation 38Krejcik Variation 39Mokele Mbembe 40Welling Variation 43Zaire Defense 44

Amar Opening 45Paris Gambit 46

Anderssen Opening 48Baltic Defense 50

Argentinian Gambit 50Barnes Opening 50

Walkerling 50Benoni Defense 52

Cormorant Gambit 52Hawk Variation 52Nakamura Gambit 54Snail Variation 55Vulture Defense 55Woozle 57

Bird Opening 60Batavo-Polish Attack 60From Gambit 61Hobbs Gambit 63Horsef ly Defense 64Lasker Attack 65Sturm Gambit 66

Bishop’s Opening 67Kitchener Folly 67Lewis Gambit 67King’s Gambit Reversed 68MacDonnell Gambit 69

Borg Defense 71Troon Gambit 71

Budapest Defense 73Assorted Variations 73

Canard Formation 76Double Duck Variation 76

Caro–Kann Defense 77Advance Variation: Bayonet 77De Bruycker Defense 78Edinburgh Variation 79Goldman Variation 80Gurgenidze Counterattack 81

7


Hillbilly Attack 82Maroczy Variation 83Mieses Gambit 86Ulysses Gambit 87Von Hennig Gambit 88

Carr Defense 91Catalan Opening 93

Hungarian Gambit 93Clemenz Opening 94Creepy Crawly Formation 97Döry Indian 98Double Fianchetto Formation 101Dutch Defense 103

Hopton Attack 103Kingfisher Gambit 105Korchnoi Attack 107Krejcik Gambit 109Manhattan Gambit 110Senechaud Gambit 112Spielmann Gambit 113Staunton Gambit: American Variation 114

Elephant Gambit 117Maroczy Gambit 117Paulsen Countergambit 118Wasp Variation 120

English Defense 123Hartlaub Gambit 123English Defense: Main Line 124

English Opening 130Anglo – Scandinavian Defense 130Anti-English 131Bellon Gambit 132Drill Variation 134Halibut Gambit 135Löhn Gambit 136Myers Defense 137Nei Gambit 139Porcupine Variation 142Schulz Gambit 143The Whale 143Wade Gambit 145Wing Gambit 146

Englund Gambit 147Felbecker Gambit 147Main Line 148

8


Mosquito Gambit 153Soller Gambit 154Soller Gambit Deferred 156

Fajarowicz Defense 157Four Knights 160

Halloween Gambit 160Fred Defense-and Mao Tse Tung 164French Defense 165

Advance Variation: Nimzowitsch Attack 165Alapin Gambit 166Bird Invitation 170Diemer-Duhm Gambit 171Exchange Variation: Canal Attack 172Extended Bishop Swap 174La Bourdonnais Variation 174Orthoschnapp Gambit 175Shaposhnikov Gambit 177Steinitz Attack 178Wing Gambit 180

Grob Opening 183Alessi Gambit 183Double Grob 184Grob Gambit 185Keene Defense 186London Defense 188Spike: Hurst Attack 189

Grünfeld Defense 191Gibbon Gambit 191

Guatemala Defense 193Hippopotamus Formation 194Horwitz Defense 196Hungarian Opening 197

Reversed Alekhine 197Indian Game 200

Alekhine Anti-Gruenfeld 200Devin Gambit 201Gedult Attack 202Gibbins-Wiedehagen Gambit 203Maddigan Gambit 211Medusa Gambit 212Omega Gambit 212Schnepper Gambit 214

Italian Game (Giuco Piano) 215Fried Liver Attack 215Jerome Gambit 218

9


Shilling Gambit 220Traxler Counterattack 221

Kadas Opening 225Kangaroo Defense 227Keres Defense 228

Transpositional Variation 228King Pawn Game 230

Alapin Opening 230Beyer Gambit 232Clam Variation 233Clam: King’s Gambit Reversed 235Damiano Defense 235Danish Gambit 236Dresden Opening 238Macleod Attack 239Napoleon Attack 243Norwalder Gambit 244Philidor Gambit 245Tayler Opening 245Tortoise Opening 246Wayward Queen Attack 247

King’s Gambit 250Allgaier Gambit 250Basman Gambit 251Breyer Gambit 252Bryan Countergambit 254Carrera Gambit 258Double Muzio Gambit 259Eisenberg Variation 260Gaga Gambit 260Keene Defense 261Leonardo Gambit 264Mafia Defense 265Marshall Countergmbit 266Dodo Gambit 270Norwald Variation 270Orsini Gambit 273Paris Gambit 274Senechaud Countergambit 275Tumbleweed/Drunken King 277

Latvian Gambit 279Lemming Defense 284Lizard Defense-Pirc 285

Diemer Gambit 285Norwegian Defense 285

10


Maroczy Defense 286McConnell Defense 287Mexican Defense 288Modern Defense 294

Beefeater Variation 294Pterodactyl 297Pterodactyl Variation II 298Randspringer Variation 301

Nimzo–Larsen Attack 304Assorted Variations 304Norfolk Gambits 307Paschmann Gambit 310Ringelbach Gambit 311Spike Variation 311

Nimzowitsch Defense 313Lean Variation 313Kennedy Variation 315Neo-Mongoloid Defense 318Wheeler Gambit 318Williams Variation 319

Owen Defense 323Matinovsky Gambit 326Naselwaus Gambit 328

Polish Defense 329Spassky Gambit 332

Polish Opening /Orangutang 335Birmingham Gambit 335Bugayev Attack 337Karniewski Variation 338Schühler Gambit 339Tartakower Gambit 341Wolferts Gambit 346

Portuguese Opening 348Queen Pawn Game 351

Anti-Torre 351Bishop Attack 352Blackmar-Diemer Gambit 353Hübsch Gambit 355Morris Countergambit 357Zurich Gambit 357

Queen’s Gambit Declined 359Von Hennig Gambit 359

Queen’s Gambit Refused 361Albin Countergambit 361Alekhine Defense 364

11


Austrian Defense 365Chigorin: Lazard Gambit 366Chigorin: Tartakower Gambit 370

Rat Defense 374Balogh Defense 374

Reti Opening 375Penguin Variation 375

Russian Game 376Cochrane Gambit 376Damiano Variation 378

Scandinavian Defense 379Bronstein Variation 379Icelandic-Palme Gambit 380Main Lines 383Schiller Variation 386

Scotch Game 391Göring Gambit: Double Pawn Sacrifice 391Steinitz Variation 395

Semi-Slav Defense 399Gunderam Gambit 399

Sicilian Defense 401Accelerated Paulsen Variation 401Acton Extension 402Brussels Gambit 403Frederico Variation 404Hyperaccelerated Pterodactyl 404Katalymov Sicilian 405Mengarini Gambit 408Mongoose Variation 409Morphy Gambit 410Snyder Variation 412Snyder Variation: ...b6 413Wing Gambit 4152...h6 Variation 418

Sodium Attack 420Various lines 420

Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez) 421Alapin Variation 421Brentano Variation 424Vinogradov Variation 425

Spike Deferred 427St. George Defense 428

San Jorge Variation 433St. Georgs Gambit 434

Trompowsky Attack 436

12


Borg Variation 436Raptor Variation 436

Van Geet Opening 438Anti-Pirc Variation 439Napoleon Attack 440Novosibirsk Variation 441Reversed Nimzowitsch 443Reversed Scandinavian 444Sicilian Two Knights 444Tübingen Gambit 446Twyble Attack 448

Venezolana Formation 449Veresov Atack 452

Shropshire Defense 452Anti-Veresov 453

Vienna Game 455Frankenstein – Dracula Variation 455Giraffe Attack 458Hamppe – Meitner 459Mengarini Variation 461Steinitz Gambit 462Zhuravlev Countergambit 465

Wade Defense 467Ware Defense 471Ware Opening 473

Cologne Gambit 474Wing Gambit 475Ware Gambit 475

Zukertort Opening 476Ampel Variation 476Herrstrom Gambit 477Reversed Mexican Defense 478Santasiere’s Folly 479Tennison Gambit 482Lisitsin Gambit 486

VII. FINAL NOTE 488

INDEXES 489Violations Index 489Openings Index 491Opening Moves Index 498ECO Codes Index 511SCO Index 518

13


1. INTRODUCTION

This encyclopedic guide to all the significant unorthodox openingused by chess players, contains more than 1,000 weird, contentious,controversial, unconventional, arrogant, and outright strange openingstrategies. There are loads of surprises, and hundreds and hundreds ofnamed openings and variations.

From their tricky tactical surprises to their bizarre names, theseopenings f ly in the face of tradition. They are a sexy and exotic way tospice up a game, as well as a great tactical weapon to spring on unsus-pecting and often unprepared opponents.

You’ll not only meet such unusually-named openings as theOrangutang, Raptor Variation, Halloween Gambit, Double Duck, Fran-kenstein-Dracula Variation and Drunken King! but unorthodox varia-tions off mainstream lines such as the Spanish Game (Ruy Lopez),French Defense, and Sicilian Defense.

We’ll also visit with exciting and unusual gambits such as the UlyssesGambit, Lisitsin Gambit, and Double-Muzio Gambit, and of course,take a stroll into my pet unorthodox opening, the Schiller Defense.

We’ll discuss the pros and cons of each unorthodox strategy, presentthe basic moves along with a representative diagram, and go over thethinking behind the moves and the direction the opening is heading,so that you can fully understand and take advantage of the situation asit develops on the board.

Where appropriate, I’ve included illustrative and famous gamesthat have occurred in tournament play so that you can see how weak-nesses in the openings were exploited in actual games, or where a sur-prise unorthodox opening took an opponent off guard, and was car-ried to victory. Indeed, while many of these sample games were playedat the amateur level, a suprising number we’ve included appeared attop levels and included grandmasters and World Champions!

There’s lots here to explore, so let’s get on with the fun!

chess

Documents