The Danvers Opening is an unorthodox chess opening characterized by the moves:

:1. e4 e5

:2. Qh5

It is also known as the Kentucky Opening, Queen's Attack, Queen's Excursion, Patzer Opening, and Parham Attack.

The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings code C20 includes the Danvers Opening and other miscellaneous second moves for White after 1.e4 e5.

History and nomenclature

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 has acquired several names over the years, none of which are universally used. The earliest known appearance in print was in the Dubuque Chess Journal in May 1875, where it was dubbed the Kentucky Opening, (This name was also applied by J. H. Blackburne to the unsound Jerome Gambit.) In the American Chess Bulletin in 1905, the opening was referred to as the Danvers Opening, so named by E. E. Southard, a well-known psychiatrist and a strong amateur chess player, after the hospital where he worked. Nakamura got a reasonable position out of the opening but lost the game due to a mistake made in the middlegame. He later wrote on the Internet, "I do believe that 2.Qh5 is a playable move, in fact I had a very good position in the game, and was close to winning if I had in fact played 23.e5." The previous month, Nakamura had played 2.Qh5 against GM Nikola Mitkov at the April 2005 HB Global Chess Challenge in Minneapolis. The game ended in a draw after 55 moves.

More often the opening is adopted by chess novices, as when actor Woody Harrelson played it against Garry Kasparov in a 1999 exhibition game in Prague. Harrelson achieved a draw after being assisted by several grandmasters who were in Prague attending the match between Alexei Shirov and Judit Polgár. The next year Kasparov again faced the opening as Black when tennis star Boris Becker played it against him in an exhibition game in New York. This time Kasparov won in 17 moves.

Assessment

The Danvers Opening violates a conventional opening principle by developing the queen too early, subjecting it to attack and loss of tempo. Nonetheless, the opening causes Black some problems. Left to their own devices, Black can develop naturally with moves like ...Nf6, ...Bc5, and ...Nc6. The Danvers Opening hinders this by forcing Black (unless they want to sacrifice a pawn) to first defend the e-pawn (usually with 2...Nc6), then 3.Bc4 forces Black to make some compromise to defend against the mate threat; 3...g6 commits Black to fianchettoing the , 3...Qe7 blocks the bishop, and 3...Qf6 occupies the knight's best square. In 2005, the Dutch GM Hans Ree called 2.Qh5 "a provocative but quite sensible move", and suspected it would have been effective because of its shock value.

As with the Napoleon Opening (2.Qf3?!), 2.Qh5 is frequently played with the hope of delivering the Scholar's Mate, e.g. 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7. Black can easily avoid this, however, and unlike 2.Qh5, 2.Qf3 poses no impediments to Black's development.

Possible continuations

Black's worst possible response to 2.Qh5 is 2...Ke7?? 3.Qxe5#. (This line ties with a few others for the fastest possible checkmate by White.) Also losing is 2...g6?? 3.Qxe5+, winning a rook and pawn. The most frequently played move is 2...Nc6; 2...Nf6, 2...d6 and 2...Qe7 are also occasionally seen. or 3...g6. The latter move is more common and after 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Ne2 the main position is reached (). White is not worse, but also has no advantage. It is unnecessary to sacrifice a pawn for development, since the white queen must lose a tempo eventually; however, FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussos advocates the move as the "psychologically correct" response.

2...d6

Black defends the and simultaneously opens a diagonal for the , but blocks the king's bishop.

2...Qe7

Black defends the center pawn and simultaneously guards the f7-pawn, but blocks the king's bishop.

See also

  • List of chess openings

References

  • Jake, Joe and Garry (column by Hans Ree)
  • Nakamura vs. Sasikiran, Sigeman 2005
  • Article on Parham in Indianapolis paper 2007