What is the worst chess opening u have ever played? black or white?
As far as any major opening? I think style clashes between players and openings sometimes. Further, I would think that sometimes not understanding the objectives of an opening would cause problems.
Personally, I have tried most of the major openings, in an effort to learn. That helped me find ones that I have enjoyed playing. As I like razor sharp games with tactics galore I like the Sicilian and the Benoni/Benko Gambit arrangements.
However, it does give the options of transposing into a reverse dutch (1.f3 d5 2. f4!) or a reverse latvian gambit (1.f3 e5 2. e4 Nf6 3. f4!) Its not all that bad once your think about it.
In my opinion, the worst openings are those which try for a "trap" (with the most known being probably the Scholar's mate.) It gives players who rely on them a false sense of achievement when they take the heads of much weaker players, but then causes them to play like babies once a stronger player comes up and stops the "trap".
Now, of course I am not speaking objectively, and flame me if your want, but I was simply stating my opinion. For a single move I choose either 1.a4 or 1.h4 because they only cause weakness in your own camp with no chance to fix itself.
Worst I've ever tried was Desprez (1. h4) when i was 8 =P
Although i have heard of 1 high rated player that adores it.
Its not all bad. The king might wish to take residence om f2 or even g3! If hes really ambitious he might head for d8 but i think we should leave that to Lenny!
If we are talking about the worst single 1st move, I would say the grob. g4. I truly believe with correct play, black already has a won game. There are complications black must be aware of, but once he has a formula down, he can start giggling. There was an earlier thread on the fried fox which starts f3, and then 2)kf2. A proponent claimed he could beat anyone unaware of its tricks and implied there was only one winning formula. I googled it (also called the Hamerstern, Hamsberg or some such) and found several winning (for black) formulas. Someone on another site claimed Morphy lost a game to an unknown who played it. I looked up the game, and it was a half truth. The winner was a famous player in a national match which Morphy won 7 out of 11 games (I think) and the other fella did indeed play f3, but did not follow it up with Kf2.
I am USCF rated 1770 and have won all my games against g4, however, there is a local 1450 or so guy who has played it twice against me, and both times, he has made me think. It helps to take everything seriously.
<Escapest Pawn: If we are talking about the worst single 1st move, I would say the grob. g4. I truly believe with correct play, black already has a won game.>
how would you compare it to 1. a4? Something like... "It gain crucial control for the important b5 square!! Using INSANE prophylaxis to prevent black's queenside counterplay and assures white that black can only fight for the change of not embarrasing himself! 1.g4 just loses..."
1.g4 is not "that" bad, it actually has a plan involved with it. Some other openings(1. h4 1. a4) are just created to be jokes, and to me, thats worse. Grob can show some decent results, and its takes some preparation to actually take advantage of it. Though, while I will agree that the grob isn't ideal for tournament play, I do believe its a fine opening for blitz, and, because of that, it can't possibly be the worst opening.
Nimzo,
Valid point. In terms of actual complete openings, beyond the first move, the bongcloud must get some sort of prize. Iceman13 started a forum about it called "A game of David and Goliath" where I stupidly attempted to make a point.
The grob does indeed have agressive thought behind it. The king's bishop easily gets to g2, and g5 threatens to kick black's f6 knight. Further, when combined with a somewhat English looking queenside, c4, Qb3, (now called the spike, I believe spike and grob were used interchangably back in the 70s) white can put great pressure on d5, and black's queenside. However, (and I don't want to seem argumentative or defensive), nothing weakens white's kingside more than g4, where a4 (or h4) only do so about half as much, and their weaknesses show up generally later in the game. They are (to me) more wasted moves, at least during early development and mid-game fencing, than losing moves. Although you are completely right, they are weakening, and greatly so if white "attacks" with f4 after a4. They actually hinder mid-game attacking or center strengthening formulas.
C4 is the English, Sicilian in reverse, sound and sensible.
I think a3 is the worst.
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