Defending Against Bishop

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[COMMENT DELETED]

How should I react to this bishop openning?

[Site "Chess.com iPhone"]
[Date "03/29/2017 06:56PM"]
[White "MaherTwal (1377)"]
[Black "Therealfisher (1367)"]

1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 f6 3.Bxg8 Rxg8 4.Qh5 g6 5.Qxh7 Rg7 6.Qh8 Qe7 7.Qh3 Nc6 8.c3 f5 9.d4 d6 10.Qe3 f4 11.Qd3 Bd7 12.Na3 Qg5 13.g3 Rh7 14.Nf3 Qg4 15.dxe5 Nxe5 16.Nxe5 dxe5 17.Nb5 O-O-O 18.Nxa7 Kb8 19.Nc6 Bxc6 20.Qxd8 Qc8 21.Qxc8 Kxc8 22.gxf4 Bxe4 23.O-O exf4 24.Bxf4 Rh5 25.Rfe1 Bc6 26.Bg3 Bd6 27.Re3 Bc5 28.Re5 b6 29.Rxh5 gxh5 30.a4 Be7 31.a5 h4 32.Bf4 h3 33.a6 Kb8 34.a7 Ka8 35.Bxc7 b5 36.Bb6 Bh4 37.Re1 Kb7 38.Bc5 Bg5 39.Re2 Bc1 40.b4 Bg5 41.Re5 Bf6 42.Re3 Bd7 43.Rf3 Ka8 44.Rxf6 Bc6 45.Rf8 Kb7 46.a8Q Kc7 47.Qc8# {MaherTwal won by checkmate}

Man, you got slammed.

First, you should know that moving your f-pawn in an opening is usually dangerous. If you don't know that your intended f-pawn move is safe in the position you've encountered, it's safer to find another move.

Next, here's where you should look at a book or database to extend your repertoire one more move. The most popular response to 2. Bc4 is 2...Nf6. Now you know why 2...f6 was extra bad: it blocked the square where your knight should go, on top of weakening your kingside.

2... Nf6 is the most popular move and white will usually respond with 3 d3 or Nc3, but there's also a gambit line that starts with 3 d4.

 

Oh, Damiano Defense 2...f6 in bishop's setting.  It's funny though bad for black. 3. Bxg8 isn't so good, 3. d4 leads to an interesting attack.

Why does only the Bishop get an opening named after it? Why not the "Knight's Opening"? Or the "Queen's Opening"? Or the "King's Opening"? Or the "Pawn's Opening"? Or the..you get my drift. What makes the Bishop so special?

Because, unlike the knights, only one bishop can develop at that point?

Let's say I did the popular move of Nf6, what stops that bishop from checking my king and forcing my king to move to capture it?  Would that advantage of my king not being able to castle make it worth it for someone to do that straight out of the gate, right after I move to Nf6?

3. Bxf7+ is an amateurish and unsound attack. Black would get 3-1 = 2 pawns ahead in material, which would win the game with proper play, though Black would have to handle the next several moves carefully until White's initiative fizzles out. Preventing Black from castling in the opening when the queens are on the board is worth one pawn, it is said, but normally not two pawns unless there has been a mistake.

Ah, I didn't realize that convention- thank you!  Now I know what to do in this circumstance!  Thank you all for your help

"History has been cruel on Damiano. This is not the sort of opening  that anyone would want named after themselves." - Graham Burgess, "The Mammoth Book of Chess"

Can white's crushing response to the Damiano defence be attempted here? White's crushing response to the usual Damiano defense (in the knight's setting...):

 

 

Nope, there is no such crushing response. There is the following main line with 3. Qh5+ :

 

 

Couldn't you try to trap them, with reasonable "normal development"? (The following game has Knight first... but you get the idea...)

 

Yigor did not say the OP's opening was a Damiano's Defense, only that it is similar to Damiano's Defense, with a bishop substituted for a knight. The OP's game is *not* a Damiano's Defense. In fact, the OP's game may well be sound for Black, just not very good. In fact, Damiano's Defense is probably sound, too--the problem is not 2...f6 but 3...fxe5??--just not very good. I sometimes play Damiano's Defense with 3...Qe7 when I'm playing someone very weak and want to give them a chance without having a forced loss.

As for Damiano's reputation, he also has a type of mate named after him, so he's not doing too badly!

Damiano's Mate:

The high school chess team I coached played the Bishop's Opening often when it had been out of favor for 60 years in the 1990's.  We had the most problems when Black posted a Bishop on c5. The opening with two good players would usually go something like that below. Note that White's game plan in your game is very unusual for the Bishop's opening, but your ...f6 was an awful move.  if Black doesn't play ...Bc5 as shown below, it's usually a lot easier for White to get in an f4 fairly early and, often castling Q-side, launch an attack on Black's K-side.  Here are what some consider the best initial opening moves on each side:

 

Can you elaborate why it is important to play Bc5?

As a result of this thread, the question about why 3. Bxf7+ loses, and the lack of any quality games with that attack in the database I'm using, I began to play a few games as White to see how exactly Black wins. I played Chess Titans level 10 out of convenience, even though that program is weak in a few ways. As White I was able to get one draw out of about four games, the rest losses. I'll try to post a normal (non-blunder) loss when I get one. So far I've been losing by blundering.

Typical loss for White:

Lucky draw for White: