1. f3 2. Kf2 & 1. ... f6 2. ... Kf7 What kind of system is this?

Hi,

I accidentally came across a chess player who always plays 1. f3 2. Kf2 as white, and 1. ... f6 2. ... Kf7 as black, and consistently scores great with 1900+. It is amazing that none of his opponents are able to refute this somewhat insulting kind of opening play (even in 10 mins time control). What system is this? Is this even an opening?

https://www.chess.com/games/archive?show=live_blitz&username=rossi2016&gameType=live_blitz&rated=rated

This opening is almost never played in classical chess games by strong players. Suprisingly, it does have a name: the Hammerschlag Variation.

With 30 min + time control for both sides, that opening is not good, since their opponent would be able to come up with a positional or strategic plan focusing on the king misplacement.

In rapid play at a slightly lower level, I believe rossi's intention was to build his own repertoire in order to play an opening which is not familiar to his opponent. This tests the opponent's capability of playing intuitively and with general positional ideas rather than a memorised line. It seems to be working for him.

After playing through many of his games, it appears to me that his opponents goes into some sort of rage after seeing this bizzare 1. f3 2.Kf2 3. Kg3 and end up overextending their central pawns. It is impressive that he still keeps winning with this opening in 10 mins time controls.

I remember playing a 2000 rated player that played this in rapid against me on an old account. He was black and after Kf7 every move he made was engine #1 choice.... That was also the day I quit playing chess for awhile.

Depending on the setup it actually wins by force.

See my article on it.

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/how-did-i-crush-computer4-impossible-in-4-moves

It is often played in Kriegspiel as an attempt to locate some of the opponent's pieces.