Impatiens

by | Dec 19, 2023 | Impatiens

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The Napoleon Opening is an irregular chess opening starting with the moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Qf3

As with the similar Danvers Opening (2.Qh5), White hopes for the scholar's mate (2...Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5?? 4.Qxf7#), but Black can easily avoid the attack.

This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

History

The Napoleon Opening is named after the French general and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had a deep love of chess but was said to be a mediocre player.[1] The name came into use after mid-nineteenth century publications reported[2] that he played this opening in an 1809 game[3] that he lost to The Turk, a fake chess automaton operated at the time by Johann Allgaier.[4]

Assessment

The Napoleon is a weak opening because it develops the white queen prematurely and subjects it to attack, and deprives the white king's knight of its best development square.

See also

References

  1. ^ Murray, H.J.R. A History of Chess (London: Oxford University Press), 1913, p. 877.
  2. ^ Winter, Edward. "Napoleon Bonaparte and Chess by Edward Winter". Retrieved 18 January 2013.
  3. ^ "Napoleon Bonaparte vs. The Turk (Automaton), Vienna 1809". Chessgames.com.
  4. ^ Murray, H.J.R. A Short History of Chess (London: Oxford University Press), 1963 posthumously, p. 79.

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