Chess openings that don't exist
Chess Openings that Don't Exist
Ladies and gentlemen, Openings set the tone of a chess game. A good one can crush the opponent from the start, while a bad one will ruin your development. However, there are some strange ones that you never heard of and will never probably see them unless someone is a 300 or a 2300 playing on an alt account. So lo and behold, here are openings that simply don't exist on the chessboard.
The Desprez Opening
Thanks to multiple successful uses of the strategy, French chess player Marcel Desprez had the opening move of 1 h4 named after him. Alternatively, this step is also referred to as the Samurai opening. Its a weird opening that has no use at all. But a skilled player can escape from this.
The Fried Fox
In the 19th century, Thomas Wilson Barnes (who invented the questionable barnes defense) defeated Paul Charles Morphy, one of the best chess players of his time, with the aggressive 1 e4 f6 opening. Since that day, moving the f-pawn as either black or white has been permanently associated with his name.
The Sodium Attack
Yes, you read that right. As you can probably guess, the Sodium Attack refers to the periodic table, which uses the symbol Na for sodium. This same symbol is used in a chess game when the knight goes to the a-file, which is annotated as Na (hence the element symbol) Simply put, there’s only a single square that the White knight can reach with this opening.
The Apocalypse Attack
Picture a single person trying to take down an army, and you’ll understand how the Apocalypse Attack got its name. Even though changing the knight’s position more than once goes against traditional principles, this is still a playable opening among beginners.
The Bongcloud
Frequently considered a joke move, the Bongcloud opening gained significant recognition after chess winner Andrew Fabbro used it during a match and later wrote a free book about it. This lead it into becoming a popular meme, culminating in the hotbox variation in which Magnus and Hikaru drew a dead rubber match. (pictured above)
The Flick-Knife Attack
As an alternative to Modern Benoni, the Flick-Knife Attack is said to be an aggressive response. The set-up of this opening resembles a (you guessed it) knife, and some aspects are particularly risky for the Black, considering the fact that the 8 Bb5+ check places them in danger.
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