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Chess Opening Theory/1. Nh3

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Ammonia Opening
a b c d e f g h
8a8 black rookb8 black knightc8 black bishopd8 black queene8 black kingf8 black bishopg8 black knighth8 black rook8
7a7 black pawnb7 black pawnc7 black pawnd7 black pawne7 black pawnf7 black pawng7 black pawnh7 black pawn7
6a6 black kingb6 black kingc6 black kingd6 black kinge6 black kingf6 black kingg6 black kingh6 black king6
5a5 black kingb5 black kingc5 black kingd5 black kinge5 black kingf5 black kingg5 black kingh5 black king5
4a4 black kingb4 black kingc4 black kingd4 black kinge4 black kingf4 black kingg4 black kingh4 black king4
3a3 black kingb3 black kingc3 black kingd3 black kinge3 black kingf3 black kingg3 black kingh3 white knight3
2a2 white pawnb2 white pawnc2 white pawnd2 white pawne2 white pawnf2 white pawng2 white pawnh2 white pawn2
1a1 white rookb1 white knightc1 white bishopd1 white queene1 white kingf1 white bishopg1 black kingh1 white rook1
a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN)
Moves: 1. Nh3
ECO code: A00
Parent: Starting position

1. Nh3?! · Ammonia Opening

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The Ammonia opening is based on the chemical formula of ammonia (NH3) and the fact that ammonia, like this opening, 'stinks'. Other titles for this opening include; the Amar Opening, the Paris Opening, and Drunken Knight Opening. Chess author Tim Harding has jokingly suggested that "Amar" is an acronym for "Absolutely mad and ridiculous"; that sums up this move!

Jokes aside, this move isn’t actually bad, it just does not improve White's position. White has made an odd decision to develop the knight to a square where it has very little influence on the game (knights generally hate the edge of the board, and love the centre). As such, Black can fairly easily get an edge.

Black's responses

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White’s choice has effectively surrendered the first move to Black. Any one of White's opening moves may be employed by Black (except, of course, 1... g5??, which loses a pawn and weakens the kingside).

Statistics

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No statistics as 1. Nh3 occurs rarely among serious chess players.

All possible Black's moves

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Na6
a6
a5

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b5
Nc6
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c5

d6
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e6
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Nf6
f6
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g6
g5
Nh6
h6
h5

References

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  • Eric Schiller (2002). Unorthodox Chess Openings (Second Edition ed.). Cardoza. ISBN 1-58042-072-9. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)

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