Anderssen's Opening: How Playable Is It ?
Hello! chess.com friends 
I've brought an interesting topic today, The Anderssen's Opening 
. Some of you might have come across this unusual first move while some may not.
So, today we are going to discuss 
about this opening, it's popularity 
, playability 
, transpositions 
and players 
who employed it.
Let's start 
What is Anderssen's Opening?
Instead of learning so much history about it let us keep it simple... The move 1.a3 is the Anderssen Opening named after Adolf Anderssen who employed it against Morphy Paul for the first time in 1858 at Paris. You can see that game here.
Popularity...
From the database I use there is a total of 2685 games played using 1.a3 and the results are quite good for white. It may not be too popular but the psychological value this move holds is quite high.
Playability
It is completely playable but, It depends on the person who plays it and the situation he/she is employing it. In many OTB events there may be situations where we need a compulsory win, during those times when we are completely out of our surprise weapons we can try to employ it. It can be very well suited for blitz chess. It will be a very good venture to try it!
Top Players Who Have Played 1.a3
- Magnus Carlsen (yes! he plays it)
- Mamedyarov
- Hikaru Nakamura
- Firouzja
- Fedoseev Vladimir
- Dubov
- Van Forest Jordan
- Gawain Jones
- Keymer
- Aryan Tari
- Anton Demchenko
- Abdusattorov Nodirbek
The list goes on... It has been employed by players from FIDE rating 1082 to Magnus Carlsen FIDE Rated 2864.
Transpositions
From the games I've seen, the positions are transposed to so many different structures and openings. It is often based on the players and their familiarity with the other openings. The plays are transposed to...
- The English Opening
- The Polish Opening
- Fianchetto lines
- The Queen's Pawn Opening / similar to 1.d4 and even...
- The King's Pawn Opening
My Tries... 
After realizing that the game can also be opened using 1.a3 I tried playing some blitz here. The games had so many tactics 
. One such game against a 2468 player (in blitz chess.com) is here.
Explorer
You can use Chess.com's explorer here to familiarize the opening transpositions or to find the games of your favorite chess player.
My favorite Games
- Keymer vs. Le Thao
- Keymer vs. Leonardo Tristan
- Nihal's Game
- Keymer vs. Danilo Besedes
- Keymer vs. Uurtsaikh Agibileg
Hope you enjoyed reading this blog 
and make sure you share your thoughts 
in the comments and do try playing a game 
on 1.a3 and post it in the comments below!
If you like reading my blog you can find my other blogs here.
Have a great day ahead! 
