Opening 1.d4 d5 2.h3

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Avatar of matthiasdolfeyn

Hi, I just played a game against a friend. He played white and opened 1.d4. I went for a closed game and played 1. ... d5, and he reacted with 2.h3. This was new to me, and the chess.com database did not give me a name. I can't find it on wikipedia either, but the analysis-section of chess.com gives white no disadvantage, and after my 2. ... Nf6 I even gave white an advantage. Why is this a good opening and why hasn't it gotten a name (yet)?

Avatar of FatihEfe80

Kkkk

Avatar of morphy1023

It obviously close to loses a move. There are like 50 games with it in 365.com, but not many by masters. I would play 2... c5, but most lines for white's move 2, such as 2... Nf6 and 2 ... Bf5 are fine.

Avatar of ShamusMcFlannigan

 Chess.com isn't known for their engine evals, so I wouldn't pay much attention to them in the opening. White can't hope for any theoretical advantage here, but practically both players have an entire game ahead of them. 

Avatar of matthiasdolfeyn
ShamusMcFlannigan wrote:

 Chess.com isn't known for their engine evals, so I wouldn't pay much attention to them in the opening. White can't hope for any theoretical advantage here, but practically both players have an entire game ahead of them. 

Where can I find a good evaluator for openings?

Avatar of ShamusMcFlannigan

I like Stockfish since it's free/opensource, but engines in general aren't recommended for opening analysis.  If you find an opening that seems interesting to you, try to play it on your own first and develop your own ideas.   Then once you have a decent grasp of your version of the opening you should look at videos, books, higher level games, etc.    

Avatar of magipi

2. h3 is a silly move, hence it is not a real opening. However, it is dangerous to assume that you are already in a winning position just because your opponent made one silly move. What really happened is that they lost a tempo, so effectively you are white. Life and the game goes on.

If your opponent continues to play nonsensical moves, you will get a winning position soon enough. If not, you have to win by playing good chess.

(As an aside, 2. h3 is still a million times better than the infamous Bongcloud.)

Avatar of PSV-1988
matthiasdolfeyn wrote:

Why is this a good opening

It's not.

Avatar of pfren

2.h3 is a odourless move, but certainly not a bad one.

I guess Erik Prie's 2.a3 is also odourless, but potentially more dangerous a move.

Avatar of morphy1023

I guess I can't argue with an IM saying it is not a bad move. However, h3 and h6 aren't even played that much in the first 10 moves or so after d4 d5 and then usually only to attack a piece on g4 or g5. I guess it does sort of take things out of the book.

Avatar of poucin

There is nothing wrong with 2.h3. White just plays with black avoiding the pin Bg4.

2.h3 is kind of clever move because now black has to play like he/she is the one playing 1.d4 d5 as white!

2.h3 weakesn kingside but I don't think black can use this so it is ok, thought 2.a3 as mentionned by pfren must be better (a3 having some ideas to continue, while it is unlikely white will play g4 after h3...).