The chess move that Napoleon gave his name to

The stories of the time are clear and the chronicles from then are also clear: Napoleon was a mediocre chess player. Although there are hardly any recorded games of his, different close sources from that time hardly attributed any notable qualities to him in his chess performance. The record of some of his games, we said, in addition to being scarce, does not seem very reliable. Games have been attributed to Napoleon that did not exist directly or that were actually played by other contenders. Pierre-Charles Fournier de Saint-Amant, a famous French chess player who during the 19th century dedicated himself to lying about Napoleon's chess qualities, should respond to this, probably with the intention of praising him.

But beyond this aspect, what has always been clear is that the man from Corsica was a great fan of chess and that he practiced it regularly. When he was still a nobody on the military scene and among European statesmen, it was common to see him at the Café de la Régence in Paris, a place of recognized prestige and the nucleus of great chess games. He always kept that hobby with him, even in times of intense work, around military campaigns and even during his exile in Santa Elena, where he would meet his death in 1821.

'The Napoleon Opening'
Surely, if it had been played by someone with less impact on the historical narrative of humanity, the move made by Napoleon Bonaparte against 'The Turk' in one of the two games played between both contenders, back in 1809, would have gone unnoticed. Those duels against 'El Turco' do know that they happened and it is also known that Napoleon was scalded.

Who was 'The Turk'? Or perhaps it would be better to ask what 'The Turk' was. The person who created it was the Hungarian inventor and writer Wolfgang von Kempelen, who in 1769 devised the device to surprise the Austrian Empress Maria Theresa, something he achieved in front of her with the exhibition of his invention in 1870. Wolfgang von Kempelen sold that ' The Turk was an automaton, a device capable of playing chess independently. The truth is that over the years - many had to pass - it ended up being discovered what many suspected but could not reliably prove (in reality the journey of 'The Turk' is enough for another article): that a skilled chess player operated within 'The Turk'.

And it was against 'The Turk', in Vienna, in 1809, where Napoleon began the second of his games against the machine with the movement that would go down in posterity as 'The Napoleon Opening'. It is an irregular opening, of little importance, ultimately weak, because it quickly develops the queen, makes other subsequent movements difficult since it blocks the exit of the knight and bishop and exposes a lot to the player who makes it.

In short, it is not a good idea if you are not a great player and, above all, if you have a quality enemy on the other side of the board. We do not know if this weak opening (1.e4 e5 2.Qf3) was useful to Napoleon in subsequent games, but it was not enough to defeat 'The Turk', who got rid of the Frenchman without too many problems.

'The Napoleon Opening' is an irregular and risky opening because it exposes the queen very early
Why then did Napoleon open his games in such a reckless way? Some of those who were by his side during different stages of his life highlighted Bonaparte's lack of patience in many facets of his daily life and chess was no exception. The lack of patience together with his aggressiveness when playing chess, a practice that was taken without much reflection, explain movements such as 'The Napoleon Opening', which as a historical anecdote is a very interesting movement but as a quality movement leaves a lot be desired.