Dunst Opening
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Moves | 1.Nc3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ECO | A00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Origin | Blackburne–Noa, London 1883 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Named after | Ted A. Dunst | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Synonym(s) | 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 der Linksspringer |
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.
Origin of names
The names Heinrichsen and Baltic derive from
General remarks
The opening move 1.Nc3 develops the
The reasons for 1.Nc3's lack of popularity are that it does not stop Black from occupying the center (while 1.Nf3 prevents 1...e5, 1.Nc3 does not prevent 1...d5 because the d-pawn is guarded by the queen), and it blocks White's c-pawn from moving, thus making it impossible to play c3 or c4 (which are often desirable moves) without moving the knight first. In addition, after 1...d5, the knight's position is unstable because Black may attack it with ...d4. Although 1.Nc3 develops a piece to a good square (unlike 1.Na3 or 1.Nh3), and does not weaken White's position (unlike, e.g., 1.g4 or 1.f3) or waste time (unlike, e.g., 1. c3), the above-stated drawbacks make it an inferior way of attempting to exploit White's
Possible continuations
1...d5
This is one of Black's best replies, occupying the center and undermining the unsettled position of White's knight. White can prevent 2...d4 by playing 2.d4 himself, transposing to a well-known position in the Queen's Pawn Game, where after 2...Nf6 white can choose to play a Jobava London system with 3.Bf4, a Veresov attack with 3.Bg5 or he may transpose to the Blackmar-Deimer Gambit with 3.e4?!.
Also possible is 2.Nf3 (and if 2...d4, 3.Ne4), a sort of Black Knights' Tango with an extra move (Harding 1974:10). A third line is 2.e3, which Keilhack calls "the Müller game," when White hopes for 2...e5 (other moves are also playable, of course) 3.Qh5!?, e.g. 3...Nc6 4.Bb5 Qd6 5.d4 exd4 6.exd4 Nf6 7.Qe5+! Be6?! (Keilhack recommends 7...Kd8!! 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Nf3 Bg4) 8.Bf4 0-0-0 9.Bxc6 Qxc6? 10.Nb5!, when White wins at least a pawn (Keilhack 2005:307–11).
White's most common response to 1...d5 is 2.e4. This is the same position as 1.e4 d5 2.Nc3, an obscure branch of the
The fifth alternative, 1...d5 2.e4 dxe4, leads to more open play. After 3.Nxe4, Black has a number of playable moves, including 3...e5, 3...Nc6, 3...Bf5, 3...Nd7, 3...Nf6, and even 3...Qd5!?, when 4.Nc3 transposes to the Scandinavian Defense (Keilhack 2005:131, 144, 146, 158, 172, 176). After 3...e5, White's thematic move is 4.Bc4, when several of Black's plausible moves lead to disaster, e.g. 4...Be7? 5.Qh5! and White wins at least a pawn after 5...g6 6.Qxe5 or 5...Nh6 6.d3; or 4...Nf6? 5.Ng5! Nd5 and now 6.d4!, 6.Qf3!, and 6.Nxf7!? Kxf7 7.Qf3+ are all possible, with positions similar to the line of the Two Knights Defense beginning 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Nxd5?! (Keilhack 2005:133–34). However, 3...e5 4.Bc4 Nc6! is playable (Keilhack 2005:135–43).
International Master Richard Palliser, in his 2006 book Beating Unusual Chess Openings, recommends 1...d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nxe4 Nd7 for Black. He explains, "Black doesn't attempt to refute White's opening or to gain lots of space (as with 2...d4), but simply settles for sensible development. The position should be compared to both a
1...c5
1...c5 is often played by devotees of the Sicilian Defence, into which the game often transposes, either immediately after 2.e4 or at a later point. Alternatively, White can remain in independent 1.Nc3 lines, at least for the time being, with 2.Nf3 followed by 3.d4, which gives Black a large choice of possible responses. One line Palliser recommends for Black is 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.d4 (3.e4 transposes to a Sicilian) cxd4 4.Nxd4 d5!? (seizing the center) 5.Bg5 Nbd7! 6.e4 (more critical than the passive 6.e3?!) dxe4 7.Qe2 e6!? 8.0-0-0 Be7 9.Nxe4 0-0 when "White doesn't appear to have any advantage" (Palliser 2006:154–56).
If White chooses to transpose to standard Sicilian lines, the fact that his knight is committed to c3 may be a disadvantage in certain lines. The Closed Sicilian, commonly reached by 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3, without an early d4 by White, gives Black few theoretical difficulties (de Firmian 2008:346). If White instead chooses to play an Open Sicilian with 2.e4 and 3.Nf3 or Nge2, followed by d4, the knight's placement on c3 prevents White from playing the Maróczy Bind with c4. This makes the Accelerated Dragon Variation with 2...Nc6 and 3...g6 particularly attractive (Gallagher 1994:146). Black may also stop White's intended d4 by playing an early ...e5, e.g. 1.Nc3 c5 2.e4 Nc6 3.Nf3 e5 (Gallagher 1994:151–55) or 3.Nge2 e5 (Gallagher 1994:148–51).
1...Nf6
1...e5
This natural move is probably playable, but already a slight inaccuracy as White maintains an opening advantage in all lines. It is also particularly dangerous if Black does not know what he is doing, with numerous traps and knight tactics which Black must avoid. One of the main lines is 1...e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4, known as the Napoleon Attack, with poor chances for Black, continued by 3...exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Bg5. 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" (Keilhack 2005:26). (See, e.g., the Dunst–Gresser game given below.)
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
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
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) 1–0 (notes based on those by Tim Harding)[5]
- Van Geet, another champion of the opening, routs his opponent almost as quickly:
- Van Geet vs. Guyt, Paramaribo 1967
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)[6]
See also
Notes
- ^ Blackburne–Noa, London 1883. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
- ^ a b c d Opening Explorer. ChessGames.com. Retrieved on 2009-02-06.
- ^ White's overall winning percentage is derived by taking the percentage of games won by White and adding half of the percentage of drawn games, in this case 34.8 plus half of 23.9.
- ^ Steinitz–Loyd, London 1867
- ^ Who Dunst It?
- ^ http://www.chessgames.com/perl/nph-chesspgn?text=1&gid=1335774 [bare URL plain text file]
References
- ISBN 978-0-8129-3682-7
- ISBN 978-1-85744-285-4
- ISBN 0-8050-3575-3
- Harding, T. D.(1974), Irregular Openings, Chess Digest Magazine
- ISBN 0-19-280049-3
- ISBN 0-8129-3571-3
- ISBN 1-888690-19-4
- Myers, Hugh (2002), A Chess Explorer, Myers Opening Bulletin
- ISBN 1-85744-429-9
- ISBN 1-58042-072-9
- Wall, Bill (2002), 1. Nc3 Dunst Opening, Chess Enterprises, ISBN 0-945470-48-7
External links
- Harding, Tim (June 1998), Who Dunst It, ChessCafe.com, archived from the original on 17 July 2011