Dunst Opening

The Dunst Opening is a chess opening in which White opens with the move:

: 1. Nc3

This fairly uncommon opening may have more names than any other: it is also called the Heinrichsen Opening, Baltic Opening, Van Geet Opening, Sleipnir Opening, Kotrč's Opening, Meštrović Opening, Romanian Opening, Queen's Knight Attack, Queen's Knight Opening, Millard's Opening, Knight on the Left, and (in German) der Linksspringer. It is considered an irregular opening, so it is classified under the A00 code in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings.

Origin of names

The names Heinrichsen and Baltic derive from Lithuanian chess player Arved Heinrichsen (1879–1900). The opening was analyzed and played by the New York master Ted A. Dunst (1907–1985), giving the opening its most popular name in the United States. The Dutch International Master (IM) and correspondence grandmaster Dirk Daniel ("Dick D.") van Geet (1932–2012) frequently played 1.Nc3, so it is often called the Van Geet Opening in the Netherlands. The appellation Sleipnir seems to come from Germany. Sleipnir is Odin's (Wotan in German) magical eight-legged horse, and chess knights are horses with up to eight different possible moves each turn. Czech Jan Kotrč (1862–1943), editor and publisher of the magazine České Listy, said the opening was analyzed by English players. Zvonimir Meštrović (b. 1944) is a Slovenian IM who often adopts this opening. Tim Harding refers to it as the "Queen's Knight Attack" . National Master Hugh Myers called it "Millard's Opening" after Henry Millard (1824–1891), a blind correspondence chess player who drew with the opening in a simultaneous exhibition against Joseph Henry Blackburne. Blackburne later played the opening himself against Josef Noa in the London 1883 international chess tournament . The German FIDE Master Harald Keilhack in his 2005 book on the opening states that it has also been referred to as the Romanian Defense, and that he prefers the neutral appellation "Der Linksspringer" or, in English, "the Knight on the Left" .

General remarks

The opening move 1.Nc3 develops the knight to a good square where it attacks the central e4 and d5 squares. Although quite playable, 1.Nc3 is rarely seen; it is only the eighth most popular of the 20 possible first moves, behind 1.e4, 1.d4, 1.Nf3, 1.c4, 1.g3, 1.f4, and 1.b3. As of February 6, 2009, out of the over 500,000 games in ChessGames.com's database, only 644—about 1 out of every 780—begins with 1.Nc3. The third-ranking 1.Nf3 is 66 times as popular. White scores much better with the more popular 1.e4 (54.25%), 1.d4 (55.95%), 1.Nf3 (55.8%), 1.c4 (56.3%), and 1.g3 (55.8%). Keilhack writes that this variation "occurs rather often and offers excellent chances for an early knockout" by White and that "only two [moves] (5...Bb4 and 5...Bc5) do not immediately ruin Black's game" . (See, e.g., the Dunst–Gresser game given below.)

The Napoleon Attack often leads to very sharp branching lines in which White, in the early phase of the opening, develops both knights to the 5th rank on the opponent’s half of the board. When this setup is achieved, the two white knights stand on light squares separated by a single dark square. This geometric pattern resembles two light layers divided by a darker filling, which led to the name Pancake Variation.

Example continuations:

3...exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be7 7.Nf5 Bf8 8. Nd5 and

3...exd4 4.Nxd4 g6 5.Nd5 Nb4 7.Nd5,

or very risky

3...exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bg5 Bc5 6.Nf5 Bf2+ 7.Kf2 Qf6 8.e4 g6 9.Nd5.

Additionally, White can opt to immediately transpose into mainstream opening territory with 2.e4, leading the game into King's Pawn Openings such as the Vienna Game, or Four Knights Game, however, it is thought that 2.Nf3 followed by 3.d4 is White's best chance of gaining an advantage out of the opening.

Transpositions to other openings

The move 1.Nc3 is considered an irregular opening, so it is classified under the A00 code in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (also see List of chess openings). Transpositions to more common openings are possible, many of which are discussed in the preceding section. In addition, 1.Nc3 d5 2.e4 reaches a position in the Scandinavian Defense; 1.Nc3 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.e4 leads to a Scotch Four Knights Game; 1.Nc3 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.e4 Bc5 or 3...g6 gives a Three Knights Game; 1.Nc3 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3.e4, or 2...e5 and now 3.d5 Nce7 4.e4 or 3.dxe5 Nxe5 4.e4, yields a Nimzowitsch Defense; and 1.Nc3 b6 2.e4 Bb7 3.d4 is an Owen's Defense. Transposition to a Dutch Defense is also possible after 1.Nc3 f5 2.d4, but Keilhack considers 2.e4! more dangerous, intending 2...fxe4 3.d3, a reversed From's Gambit . Black alternatives to 2...fxe4 include 2...d6, when 3.d4 transposes to the Balogh Defense; and 2...e5?!, when 3.Nf3 produces a Latvian Gambit, but 3.exf5!, as in a game between Steinitz and Sam Loyd, may be stronger.

Sample games

Here is a quick victory by Dunst himself against nine-time U.S. Women's Champion Gisela Gresser. It illustrates the problems that White's rapid development can pose if Black is not careful:

:Dunst vs. Gresser, New York 1950 <br />1. Nc3 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6 5. Bg5 d5? (better is 5...Bb4 6.Nxc6 bxc6 7.Qd4 Be7 8.e4 0-0 9.Bd3 h6 10.Bf4 d5 11.0-0 dxe4 and the game was soon drawn in Ekebjaerg–Oim, 14th World Correspondence Chess Championship) 6. e4! Be7 7. Bb5 Bd7 8. exd5 Nxd5 9. Nxd5 Bxg5 10. Qe2+ Ne7? (Losing at once. 10...Be7 11.0-0-0 is also very awkward. Although it's unpleasant, Black should have tried 10...Kf8.) 11. Qe5! Bxb5? (11...0-0! 12.Qxg5 Nxd5 13.Qxd5 c6 and Black wins a piece back) 12. Nxc7+ Kf8 13. Nde6+ (now 13...fxe6 14.Ne6+ wins Black's queen) (notes based on those by Tim Harding)

Van Geet, another champion of the opening, routs his opponent almost as quickly:

:Van Geet vs. Guyt, Paramaribo 1967 <br />1. Nc3 d5 2. e4 d4 3. Nce2 e5 4. Ng3 g6 5. Bc4 Bg7 6. d3 c5 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. c3 Nge7 9. Ng5 0-0 (Now White has a surprising attacking move.) 10. Nh5! Bh8 (10...gxh5 11.Qxh5 h6 12.Nxf7 is disastrous; 10...Na5 11.Nxg7 Nxc4! 12.dxc4 Kxg7 is forced.) 11. Qf3 Qe8 12. Nf6+ Bxf6 13. Qxf6 dxc3 (This loses by force. Again it was necessary to harass the bishop at c4 by ... Na5.) 14. Nxf7 Rxf7 15. Bh6 1–0 (notes based on those by Eric Schiller at Chessgames.com)

References

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