Chess Opening Theory/1. f4/1...Nh6
| Bird's Opening, Horsefly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moves: 1. f4 Nh6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Bird's Opening: Horsefly Defence
[edit | edit source]1...Nh6!?
[edit | edit source]This move looks odd, as it develops a knight to a really odd square and to the edge, but it has some benefits:
Psychological Advantage
[edit | edit source]This move puts opponents off their comfort zone and they may get confused and make a mistake and a blunder and fall into a trap.
Controls the f5, g4, and f7 squares
[edit | edit source]This move controls the f5 square, which white may use to start a kingside attack with the f-pawn, the g4 square, also if white is going for a kingside attack or an aggressive plan (such as putting the queen on g4 to attack the g7 pawn which attacks the rook that might be trapped), and the f7 squares, where white uses to fork the queen and rook with the knight, sacrifices the bishop to get an insane kingside attack, and to checkmate the uncastled (or sometimes when the king short castled) king.
"Develops" a piece
[edit | edit source]It doesn't look like 1...Nh6 actually develops a piece, however it can get closer to the center with Nf7, Nf5, NG4, and sometimes even Ng8 to reroute the knight to f6 or e7.
1.f4 Nh6!?