Some Rubbish Openings

What makes a rubbish opening

Some rubbish openings just lose by force, some lead to a clear advantage to your opponent, and some are just difficult to play. These openings tend to neglect development, fail to strive for adequate control of the centre, or else create chronic weaknesses. This page looks at just a few of the more common examples of rubbish openings and gives some advice on how to defeat them quickly and cleanly.

Damiano's defence - 1. e4 e5, Nf3 f6?!

I have given this the symbol for a dubious move rather than a mistake because if black does not fall in with white's plans then he will give his opponent nothing more than an edge.
After 1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 f6, White should play 3. NxP. Black now has two options.
a) 3. ... fe?? (a terrible blunder) 4. Qh5+ now:
a1) 4. ... g6, 5. Qxe5+ picks up the rook in the corner.
a2) 4. ... Ke7, and white is simply winning. e.g. 5. Qxe5+ Kf7, 6. Bc4+ Kg6 [6. ... d5, 7. Bxd5+ is still winning for white] 7. Qf5+ Kh6, 8. d4+ g5, 9. h4 etc.
b) 3. ... Qe7! and when white retreats his knight Qxe4 retrieves the pawn with nothing worse than a slight development lag. Clearly white should avoid 4. Qh5+? as 4. ... g6, 5. Nxg6 Qxe4+ would leave black on top.

The Latvian gambit - 1. e4 e5, Nf3 f5?!

Amazingly there are still books being written advocating this weak move. Apart for hanging the e-pawn black has put another pawn en prise and has created a terrible weakness on the h5 to e8 diagonal. I should really have given the move a simple question mark but I'm a generous guy.
1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 f5, 3. Nxe5 Qf6, 4. Nc4 fe, 5. Nc3 Qf7, 6. Ne3 c6, 7. Nxe4! d5, 8. Ng5 Qf6, 9. Nf3. Black's compensation for the pawn is either invisible or non existent.

The Reversed St George - 1. e4 a6 2. d4 b5

The St George 1. b4 is almost respectable but you can't really say the same for it's counterpart with the black pieces. There just isn't enough time for black to get away with this.
1. e4 a6 2. d4 b5 3. c4!? (3. a4 is also good) 3. ... bc 4. Bxc4 e6 (4. ... Bb7? 5.Qb3 is winning for white) 5. Nc3 Bb7 6. d5! ed 7. ed Nf6 8. Qb3 is clearly better for white. White's space advantage and his lead in development give him plenty of compensation for the ... wait a minute ... white hasn't sacrificed anything ... he has these advantages for free!

The Basman Defence - 1. e4 g5?! 2. d4 h6

This is essentially a reversed Grob, but basically black doesn't have time for this.
1. e4 g5?! 2. d4 h6 3. f4!? (3. h4 is also good, eg. 3. ... gh 4. Nc3 Bg7 5. f4 d6 6. Nf3 which must be better for white) 3. ... ef 4. Bxf4 Bg7 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nf3 and white stands clearly better with his superior control of the centre, lead in development, and potential for an attack down the 'f' file.

The Wandering King Opening - 1. f3?! e5 2. Kf2? d5 3. Kg3?

This has actually been played a few times against respectable players on various internet chess servers. It isn't any good though!
1. f3?! e5 2. Kf2? d5 3. Kg3? Nf6 4. Kf2 (4. d4?? Nh5+ 5. Kf2 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. hg Qxh1-+; 4. e4?? Nh5+ 5. Kf2 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. hg Qxh1-+; 4. e3?? [can't you guess?!] 4. ... Nh5+ 5. Kf2 Qh4+ 6. g3 Nxg3 7. hg Qxh1-+; 4. Nh3? Nh5+ 5. Kf2 Bxh3 6. gxh3 Qh4+ 7. Kg1 Bc5+ 8. e3 Nc6 9. Nc3 0-0-+) 4. ... Bc5+ 5. e3 d4! 6. Qe2 (6. Bc4?? de+ 7. de?? Qxd1--++) 6. ... Nc6 when black must be clearly better. Black's lead in development, space advantage, and white's misplaced king should leave black almost winning.

The 'Big Ears' Opening - 1. a4 e5 2. h4

Objectively black should be doing very well after 2. ... e5. It's difficult to know what white's plan is. One way of trying to justify the pawn's presence on h4 would be 3. d4 e4 4. Bg5 trying to provoke a weakness, exchange bishops, or pin a knight. After 4. ... Nf6 5. e3 white's position isn't yet desperate. Perhaps therefore black should treat this as a centre counter reversed and try 3. ... ed 4. Qxd4 Nc6 when the natural square for the queen to move to - a4 - is already occupied. Black must be doing well here. 5. ... Be7 will harass the h4 pawn and if white plays 6. Nf3 then Bg4 will be a more annoying pin than usual as the bishop can't be kicked with h3.

Owens defence - 1. e4 b6?!

The clear problem with this opening is that it neglects the centre.
1. e4 b6?!, 2. d4 Bb7, 3. Bd3. Now 3. ... f5? would of course lead to disaster after 4. ef Bxg2?, 5. Qh5+ g6, 6. fg Nf6, 7. gh! NxQ, 8. Bg6++ (oh dear!)
Alternatively black could play 3. ... e6, to which white might play c4 transposing to the english defence (below) or else develop naturally with Nf3, Nc3, or Bf4 intending to play Nd2 to stop black pinning a knight on c3 with his bishop. White has more space and better developed pieces.

The English defence - 1. d4 e6, 2. c4 b6

This opening should be squashed by forming an enormous centre with pawns on c4, d4, e4, and f4. Thus a good line against the English defence runs. 1. c4 e6, 2. d4 b6, 3. e4 Bb7, 4. Bd3 Nc6, (4. ... f5, is possible but the last I heard was that it was refuted by the sequence 5. ef Bxg2, 6. Qh5 g6, 7. fg Bg7, 8. gh+ Kf8, 9. Ne2! with the idea of playing Nf4 and Ng6. To be honest, this position just looks unclear after 9. ... Bxh1, 10. Nf4 Nf6, when I really don't know what is going on. Put it on Fritz to find out!) 5. Ne2 Nb4, 6. O-O NxB, 7. QxB Ne7, 8. f4 when white has a massive centre and no weaknesses. Objectively, black should try to transpose to a Queen's Indian or Bogo Indian with 2. ... Nf6, or 2. ... Bb4.