most obscure but awesome and useful opening

@ultra-laser - Great thanks a lot I play that opening but on 2. i play g6 instead of the nardorff. Thnkx

Laser, that position is completely lost for black. I'm not saying I could convert the advantage but it is.

Damiano Defense, the Magikarp of chess openings!

It's inherent strength derives mainly from the surprise effect on your opponent , not so much from it's usability...

@bigdecline thnkx

I think it's supposed to be theoretically equal...

ya

Well you take it up with Houdini then. .90-1.00 advantage for white.

That's only because computers can't understand dynamic compensation.

dzindzi indian rocks!

@franken_berry - true enough but openings can be unknown and silly and still be awesome - it doesn't mean that they aren't cool if they arent good

awesome =/= good opening/playable at master level. "Awesome" just refers to personally thinking it is cool. For example. I think the Polish is pretty awesome, yet I never play it OTB because it isn't playable against someone who knows what they're doing.

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the Alekhine Defense with 1. e4 Nf6!? yet. It is a very useful weapon - especially in blitz - against opponents who might get overly ambitious in the first few moves.(four- and three pawns attack for example) There are only two, rather modest looking variations which save a small, but solid plus for white, most other tries equalize easily and can even get quite dangerous for white.

One example for this would be this line in the four pawns variation, which worked for me at least a dozen times in blitz:

I just run the end position of Alekhnine and it doesn't look that bad to white: at depth of 19 moves it's only -1.04 points for white. Maybe if you don't know what you are doing or in a blitz setting it could be useful. Definately doesn't seem busted.

"None of the above." You don't even have to play chess to logically deduce that a genuinely "awesome and useful opening" would not be obscure for very long. Concentrate on playing Double KP Openings as much as possible with both Black and White (as recommended for beginners by the great hypermodern GM Richard Reti)  and don't waste time looking for the Fountain of Youth or Holy Grail of chess openings. Instead spend your time on learning basic principles of openings, middlegames and endgames, and figuring out which openings work for you and which ones don't. The Italian Game is a good one to start out with. 

http://www.chess.com/blog/NimzoRoy/chess-opening-principles?_domain=old_blog_host&_parent=old_frontend_blog_view

http://www.chess.com/blog/NimzoRoy/beginner-chess-book-recommendations

http://www.chess.com/blog/NimzoRoy/endgame-faqs?_domain=old_blog_host&_parent=old_frontend_blog_view

Pessimus, I did overread a bit. The end-result of Alekhnine seemed at first to have an unplayble advantage for black, and the comment "white is busted" lead me to run the position on computer. As I found out, it is a very useful defense leading to advantage for white, it just isn't the miracle game-ender I first thought it was.

In chess there are unsung openings that are great for blitz. And don't ruin the fun :)

My friend said once when playing speed chess stay away from long complicated openings simple openings are better, but why do people play Philidor too much, i guess its a good learning tool, how to beat it.  Later.  Scotch Gambit is cool five min game.