Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...f6

Barnes defence
	a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h
	Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/ppppp1pp/5p2/8/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR
	Moves: 1. e4 f6
	Parent: King's pawn opening

1...f6? · Barnes defence

1...f6? is considered a poor reply. Black has squandered their chance to prevent 2. d4, hampered their own development and weakened their king:

1...f6? opens no lines for Black to develop his pieces. Compared to 1...e5 (for example), which allows Black's bishop and queen to "see" more of the board, Black's pieces are going to be stuck behind their pawns for a while longer, while White can get a lead in development.
It takes away the f6 square from the g8 knight. Black will have to find a less active square to develop it to.
It weakens Black's king by exposing the e8-to-h5 diagonal. This issue is compounded by how slow Black's development will be: the king will be stuck in the centre for some time yet before Black can castle him to safety.
It attacks the e5 square, but it is wrong to say that this prepares for Black to play e5. This is not just because e5 did not need preparation and could have been played on turn one, but because f6 is a poor defender of e5: 1. e4 f6 2. d4 e5 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qxe5+ (see also the Damiano defence, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6?).

The sole redeeming feature of 1...f6? is exclusively psychological: an attempt to rattle White by playing something so incongruous so early. If you don't believe in psychology^[1], then it has no redeeming feature at all and it is simply bad.

After 1...f6?, White can happily respond 2. d4 and achieve their two-pawn centre. Black then has to solve the problem of their development. This means either:

Playing g6 and Bg7, playing the game a bit like a Modern with the hope they can eventually move the f6 pawn away from the bishop. The g8 knight can develop to f7 via h6.
Playing e6 to put the knight on the e7 square. e6 then supports playing d5, playing in a French manner.

Of course, 2...e5? does not work (see above) and 2...g5?? allows 3. Qh5#, the Fool's mate and fastest possible checkmate.

As 1...f6? is not forcing, White also has the option of 2. Nf6 or 2. Nc6 as they like.

On the other hand, if White does believe in psychology, but thinks their psychology is superior to Black, they can play 2. Qh5+!? immediately. After 2...g6□ 3. Be2 is a trap: 3...gxh5?? to take the queen blunders 4. Bxh5#.

History

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The position after move 11 of Morphy v Barnes 1858. The dark squares around Barnes's kingside are weak, and his bishop is tied down to defend them.

Morphy played 12. c4?, losing his advantage: Barnes trades the knight for White's dark-square bishop, and now Black's bishop is uncontested on the dark squares. An improvement would be to play 12. Bh6! to trade off the dark square bishops and exploit the weakened kingside.

The Barnes defence is named after Thomas Wilson Barnes, who caused an upset when he used it to defeat chess prodigy Paul Morphy in a game in their 1858 match series.^[2] Barnes continued with e6, Ne7 and d5.