Thursday 27 August 2009

2.Qh5

Given that Hikaru Nakamura has played 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 on occasion, the tendency is to be a little more respectful of the queen move than we otherwise would have been. Nonetheless, away from the hit and giggle of schools chess (and online chess servers) this move still scores horribly. And yet buried away in the huge databases that we rely on so much, there is one line that has an almost respectable score. After 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Nf6 White doesn't chance it with 5.g4? (5. ... Nd4 being a good reply), but plays a little more solidly with 5.Ne2 This was the line that Nakamura chose in a couple of GM games, although he only ended up with 0.5/2 However it proved more successful for others (albeit with weaker opponents).
Now I'm not cheer leading this opening, having spent the last 3 weeks demonstrating to hordes of juniors how NOT to fall for the 4 move checkmate, but here is a win for White in the line anyway.

Rouleau,J (2269) - Minear,P (2131) [C20]
34th NCC Philadelphia USA (3), 29.11.2003

1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 g6 4.Qf3 Nf6 5.Ne2 d6 6.h3 Be6 7.d3 Bg7 8.Nbc3 Nd4 9.Nxd4 exd4 10.Bxe6 fxe6 11.Ne2 Nd7 12.0-0 Qe7 13.Qg3 0-0 14.Bg5 Bf6 15.Bxf6 Qxf6 16.f4 Rae8 17.Rf3 c5 18.Raf1 Qg7 19.Qf2 Rf6 20.g4 h6 21.Ng3 Rff8 22.Qd2 b6 23.R3f2 Kh7 24.h4 Qf7 25.g5 hxg5 26.hxg5 1-0

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