Ware Opening
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The Ware Opening, also known as Meadow Hay Opening, is an uncommon
chess opening The opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established Chess_theory#Opening_theory, theory. The other phases are the chess middlegame, middlegame and the chess endgame, endgame. Many opening sequences, known as ''op ...
for White beginning with the move: : 1. a4 It is named after
Preston Ware Preston Ware Jr. (August 12, 1821 – January 29, 1890) was an American chess player. He is best known today for playing unorthodox chess openings. Ware was born in Wrentham, Massachusetts, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Mandarins Wa ...
, a
U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...
chess player who often played uncommon openings. The Ware is considered an irregular opening; it is classified under the A00 code in the ''
Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings The ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') is a reference work describing the state of Chess theory#Opening theory, opening theory in chess, originally published in five volumes from 1974 to 1979 by the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugos ...
''.


Opening idea

The Ware Opening attacks the b5-square and prepares to bring the a1-rook into the game. The b5-square is non-essential and if Black plays 1...e5, the f8-bishop prevents the development of the white rook for the moment. The reply 1...e5 also gains space for Black in the center, a typical objective of most openings but one completely ignored by the Ware Opening. Noting all this, the Ware Opening is normally seen played only by players completely new to chess. An experienced player using the Ware Opening will usually meet a response of 1...d5 or 1...e5 with 2.d4 or 2.e4, respectively, since a reversed Scandinavian or Englund Gambit would be unsound here. After 1...d5 2.Nf3, 2...Nf6 is recommended, since a reversed Fajarowicz can arise after 2...c5 3.e4!? dxe4 4.Ne5 where a4 has some utility. In the 2012 World Blitz Championship, 1.a4 was employed as a little joke by
Magnus Carlsen Sven Magnus Øen Carlsen (born 30 November 1990) is a Norwegian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. Carlsen is a five-time World Chess Championship, World Chess Champion, five-time World Rapid Chess Championship, World Rapid Chess Champio ...
against
Teimour Radjabov Teimour Boris oghlu Radjabov (also spelled Teymur Rajabov; , ; born 12 March 1987) is an Azerbaijani Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster. A former child prodigy, he earned the title of Grandmaster (chess), Grandmaster in March 2001 at age 14, ...
, who during the blitz championship two years earlier had told him "Everyone is getting tired. You might as well start with 1.a4 and you can still beat them." The game soon turned into a sort of
Four Knights Game The Four Knights Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Nc3 Nf6 This is the most common sequence, but the knights may in any order to reach the same position. The Four Knights usually leads to quiet ...
where Carlsen finally prevailed. Carlsen also played this in the blitz portion of the 2022 Norway chess tournament, ultimately losing to
Wesley So Wesley Barbossa So (born October 9, 1993) is a Filipino and American chess grandmaster, a three-time U.S. Chess Champion, and the first World Fischer Random Chess Champion. He is also a three-time Philippine Chess Champion. On the March 201 ...
.


Variations

There are several named variations of the Ware Opening. The best known of these are: * 1...e5 2.a5 d5 3.e3 f5 4.a6 (Ware Gambit). Schiller (1998), p. 475. In this variation, White attempts to create an
open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gerd Dudek, Buschi Niebergall, and Edward Vesala album), 1979 * ''Open'' (Go ...
file in exchange for a pawn. * 1...e5 2.h4 (Crab Variation). This version is generally chosen more for its aesthetic considerations than its strategic ones; white's pawns extend like a crab's pincers, preparing to attack on the sides. * 1...b6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nd7 (Cologne Gambit).Schiller (1998), p. 474. * 1...b5 2.axb5 Bb7 (Wing Gambit of the Ware Opening). * 1...a5 (Symmetric Variation). * 1... e5 2. Ra3 (Meadow Hay Trap)


See also

* Corn Stalk Defense – sometimes known as the "Ware Defense" *
List of chess openings This is a list of chess openings, organised by the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' (''ECO'') code classification system. The chess openings are categorised into five broad areas ("A" through "E"), with each of those broken up into one hundred ...
*
List of chess openings named after people ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' lists 1,327 named openings and variants. Chess players' names are the most common sources of opening names. The name given to an opening is not always that of the first player to adopt it; often an opening is name ...


References

Bibliography * * * * * {{White's twenty opening moves in chess Chess openings de:Unregelmäßige Eröffnungen#Ware-Eröffnung