The Danvers Opening,''Edward Winter''

at chesshistory.com also known as the Kentucky Opening,Kentucky Opening
Dubuque Chess Journal, May 1875, page 250 scanned at Hathitrust (original from New York Public Library) Queen's Attack, Queen's Excursion, Wayward Queen Attack, Patzer Opening

Lev Alburt Lev Osipovich Alburt (born August 21, 1945) is a chess Grandmaster, writer and coach. He was born in Orenburg, Russia, and became three-time Ukrainian Champion. After defecting to the United States in 1979, he became three-time U.S. Champion. ...

& Al Lawrenc
''Chess for Everyone''
Rowman & Littlefield, 2010 or Parham AttackThe Chess Drum
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'' 6 July 2003 is an unorthodox chess opening characterized by the moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4">e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5">e5 :2. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Qh5">Qh5

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, perhaps in reference to a game played in Danville, Kentucky, which was published in the August issue of the same magazine. (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. Bernard

Bernard Parham of Indianapolis is one of the few master level players to advocate this line. Parham is known for his eccentric theories on the game of chess, which he has developed into what he calls the "Matrix System". Parham's Matrix System advocates early development of the queen in several positions, as in his favored line as White against the Sicilian Defence, 1.e4 c5 2.Qh5?! Parham argues that just as

Richard Réti Richard Selig Réti (28 May 1889 – 6 June 1929) was an Austro-Hungarian, later Czechoslovakian, chess player, chess author, and composer of endgame studies. He was one of the principal proponents of hypermodernism in chess. With the exc ...

and

Aron Nimzowitsch Aron Nimzowitsch ( lv, Ārons Nimcovičs, russian: Аро́н Иса́евич Нимцо́вич, ''Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich''; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimz ...

pioneered the hypermodern style of chess, his own ideas which are considered strange today may well be considered viable in the future. Several internet-based sources refer to 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 as the Parham Attack or Parham Opening. The most notable use of 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 by a grandmaster occurred in 2005, when U.S. Champion

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru NakamuraIndia India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

n GM

Krishnan Sasikiran Krishnan Sasikiran (Tamil: கிருஷ்ணன் சசிகிரண்; born 7 January 1981) is an Indian chess grandmaster. He was one of Viswanathan Anand's seconds in the World Chess Championship 2013. Chess career Born in Madra ...

at the May 2005 Sigeman Tournament in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Malmö Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal pop ...

, Denmark.Nakamura-Sasikiran, 13th Sigeman & Co 2005
ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09. 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 Nikola () is a given name which, like Nicholas, is a version of the Greek ''Nikolaos'' (Νικόλαος). It is common as a masculine given name in the South Slavic countries (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montene ...

at the April 2005 HB Global Chess Challenge in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

. The game ended in a

draw Draw, drawing, draws, or drawn may refer to: Common uses * Draw (terrain), a terrain feature formed by two parallel ridges or spurs with low ground in between them * Drawing (manufacturing), a process where metal, glass, or plastic or anything ...

after 55 moves.Nakamura-Mitkov, HB Global Chess Challenge 2005
ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09. More often the opening is adopted by chess novices, as when actor

Woody Harrelson Woodrow Tracy Harrelson (born July 23, 1961) is an American actor and playwright. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

played it against

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born 13 April 1963) is a Russian chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist and commentator. His peak rating of 2851, achieved in 1999, was the highest recorded until being surpassed by ...

in a 1999 exhibition game in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...

.Harrelson-Kasparov, Consultation game 1999
ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09. Harrelson achieved a

after being assisted by several grandmasters who were in Prague attending the match between

Alexei Shirov Alexei Shirov (, lv, Aleksejs Širovs; born 4 July 1972) is a Latvian and Spanish chess player. Shirov was ranked number two in the world in 1994. He won a match against Vladimir Kramnik in 1998 to qualify to play as challenger for the classic ...

and

Judit Polgár Judit Polgár (born 23 July 1976) is a Hungarian chess grandmaster, generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time. In 1991, Polgár achieved the title of Grandmaster at the age of 15 years and 4 months, at the time the yo ...

. Hans Ree
Jake, Joe and Garry
ChessCafe.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-06. 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.Becker-Kasparov, New York exhibition 2000
ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2006-02-09. This time Kasparov won in 17 moves.

Assessment

The Danvers Opening violates a conventional opening principle by developing the

queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

too early, subjecting it to attack and loss of . Nonetheless, the opening causes Black some problems. Left to his own devices, Black can develop naturally with moves like ...Nf6, ...Bc5, and ...Nc6. The Danvers Opening hinders this by forcing Black (unless he wants 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

fianchetto In chess, the fianchetto ( or ; "little flank") is a pattern of wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent b- or g-, the having been moved one or two squares forward. The fianchetto is a staple of many " hypermodern" ...

ing the

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...

, 3...Qe7 blocks the bishop, and 3...Qf6 occupies knight's best square. In 2005, the

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

grandmaster 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 The Napoleon Opening is an irregular chess opening starting with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Qf3 As with the similar Danvers Opening (2.Qh5), White hopes for the Scholar's mate (2...Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Qxf7), but Black can easily avoid the attack. ...

(2.Qf3?!), 2.Qh5 is frequently played with the hope of delivering the

Scholar's Mate In chess, the scholar's mate is the checkmate achieved by the following moves, or similar: :1. e4 e5 :2. Qh5 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Nf6?? :4. Qxf7 The same mating pattern may be reached by various move orders. For example, White might play 2.Bc4 ...

, e.g. 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6?? 4.Qxf7#. However, Black can easily avoid this, 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.) 2...g6?? is also losing after 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.

2...Nc6

Black defends the e-pawn and prepares to meet 3.Bc4 with 3...Qe7 or 3...g6. The latter move is more common and after 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Ne2 the main position is reached (see diagram). White is not worse, but also has no advantage. Black can adopt different plans, one of the most popular being 5...Bg7, where 6.0-0 is White's best try for dynamic play, as 6.d3 d5 will lead to an even position with few attacking chances, and 6.Nbc3 Nb4 is interesting but promises little for White. Grandmasters

and Nikola Mitkov played this move against

Hikaru Nakamura Christopher Hikaru Nakamura

2...Nf6!?

This is a speculative gambit sometimes called the Kiddie Countergambit. It is unnecessary to sacrifice a pawn for development, since the White queen will have to lose a eventually; however,

FIDE Master FIDE titles are awarded by the international chess governing body FIDE (''Fédération Internationale des Échecs'') for outstanding performance. The highest such title is Grandmaster (GM). Titles generally require a combination of Elo rating and ...

Dennis Monokroussos advocates the move as the "psychologically correct" response. Dennis Monokroussos
Nakamura-Sasikiran and Junk Openings
thechessmind.net, 23 April 2005

2...d6

Black defends the center pawn and simultaneously opens a diagonal for the queen's bishop, 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.

References

External links

Jake, Joe and Garry
(column by Hans Ree)
Nakamura-Sasikiran, Sigeman 2005
{{Chess Chess openings