Van 't Kruijs Opening

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Van 't Kruijs Opening
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
8  black rook  black knight  black bishop  black queen  black king  black bishop  black knight  black rook 8
7  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn  black pawn 7
6  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king 6
5  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king 5
4  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king  black king 4
3  black king  black king  black king  black king  white pawn  black king  black king  black king 3
2  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn  black king  white pawn  white pawn  white pawn 2
1  white rook  white knight  white bishop  white queen  white king  white bishop  white knight  white rook 1
Solid white.svg a b c d e f g h Solid white.svg
Moves 1.e3
ECO A00
Named after Maarten van 't Kruijs
Parent Irregular chess opening
Synonym(s) Van 't Kruys
Chessgames.com opening explorer

The Van 't Kruijs[1] Opening (Dutch pronunciation: [vɑn ət ˈkrœys]) is a chess opening defined by the move

1. e3

It is named after the Amsterdam player Maarten van 't Kruijs (1813–1885) who won the sixth Dutch championship in 1878. As this opening move is rarely played, it is considered an irregular opening, and thus it is classified under the A00 code in the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings (ECO).

The opening 1. e3 is not popular according to ChessBase; it ranks eleventh in popularity out of the twenty possible first moves. It releases the king's bishop, and makes a modest claim of the centre, but the move is somewhat passive. The queen's bishop's development is somewhat hindered by the pawn on e3, and White usually wants to take more than a modest stake of the centre.

Although not very aggressive for a first move, play may transpose to lines of the English Opening (c2-c4), Queen's Pawn Game (d2-d4), or reversed French Defence (delayed d2-d4) or reversed Dutch Defence (f2-f4) positions.

The Van 't Kruijs Opening is not a common choice for Grandmasters, but its ability to transpose into many different openings explains its attraction for some people such as the Czech Grandmaster Pavel Blatny, Aron Nimzowitsch[2] and Bent Larsen. Garry Kasparov has used the move against the Fritz chess-engine to get it "out of book."

This opening is beginning to age. After 1. e3 f5! 2. d4 Nf6, Black is in a Dutch Defense where White's e3 is not a really helpful move, and so forth virtually wastes a tempo.

Contents

[edit] Named variations

  • Amsterdam Attack: 1. e3 e5 2.c4 d6 3.Nc3 Nc6 4.b3 Nf6
  • Ekolu Variation: 1. e3 e5 2. Nc3 d5 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3
  • Alua Variation: 1. e3 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3
  • Akahi Variation: 1. e3 e5 2. Nc3 Nf6 3. f4 exf4 4. Nf3
  • Bouncing Bishop Variation: 1. e3 e5 2. Bc4 d5 3. Bb3

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Also spelled Van 't Kruys.
  2. ^ Aron Nimzowitsch playing 1.e3 at Chessgames.com

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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