Napoleon Opening

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Template:Short description Template:Confusion Template:Infobox chess 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 Bc5Template:Chesspunc 4.Qxf7Template:ChessAN), but Black can easily avoid the attack. Template:AN chess

History

The Napoleon Opening is named after the French general and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had a deep love of chess but was said to be a mediocre player.[1] The name came into use after mid-nineteenth century publications reported[2] that he played this opening in an 1809 game[3] that he lost to The Turk, a fake chess automaton operated at the time by Johann Allgaier.[4]

Assessment

The Napoleon is a weak opening because it Template:Chessgloss the white queen prematurely and subjects it to attack, and deprives the white Template:Chessgloss of its best development square.

See also

References

Template:Reflist

External links

  1. Murray, H.J.R. A History of Chess (London: Oxford University Press), 1913, p. 877.
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  4. Murray, H.J.R. A Short History of Chess (London: Oxford University Press), 1963 posthumously, p. 79.