Napoleon Opening


The Napoleon Opening is an irregular chess opening starting with the moves:
As with the similar Wayward Queen Attack, White hopes for the Scholar's Mate, but Black can easily avoid the trap.

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. The name came into use after mid-nineteenth century publications reported that he played this opening in an 1809 game which he lost to The Turk, a chess automaton operated at the time by Johann Allgaier.

Assessment

The Napoleon is a weak opening because it develops the white queen prematurely and subjects it to attack, and deprives the white kingside knight of its best development square. By comparison, the Wayward Queen Attack is more forcing and stronger—2.Qh5 requiring Black to first defend his e-pawn, and then after 3.Bc4 forcing Black to play a sub-optimal move. 2.Qf3 places no such impediments on Black's development.