Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. c3

Centre pawn opening C20 Open game 2. c3?! · Centre pawn opening White wishes to build a big, two-pawn centre, and plays 2. c3?! to support pushing the pawn to d4. This idea, c3 to support d4, is a common plan for White in many open games (games beginning 1. e4 e5): c3 after developing the knight is the Ponziani (2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3), and it comes after developing the knight and bishop in the Italian and Spanish games (3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3 or e.g. 3. Bb5 Bc5 4. c33...Bc5 is a sideline today, the classical defence. The same idea occurs in the main line later: 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Be7 6. Re1 b5 7. Bb3 d6 8. c3, but the line is longer and makes for a worse illustration of the point.). However, played on White's second move without any pieces developed, it is simply too slow. Black can respond vigorously with 2...d5 to eliminate transpositional possibilities. After 3. exd5 Qxd5-, there is no 4. Nc3 to chase the queen away and gain a tempo as the c3 pawn is occupying the square. Staunton suggested that by avoiding taking the pawn, White could keep the game competitive: 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe5 Bd6!? 5. Nc4 Be6 6. d4 exd3 e.p. 7. Bxd3+. However, 4...Qe7! is an improvement, which forces White to move the knight again and gums up White's play for the centre, as d4 will be met with exd3 e.p. and a discovered check. Black sweeps ahead in development to a reach a dominating position. 5. Nc4 Nc6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. O-O O-O-O-. History 1. e4 e5 2. c3 Nf6 3. Qc2 Bc5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Bb5 d6 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb4+ 8. Nc3 Bd7 9. O-O Position given by Ruy López. 1 right 2. c3?! is very unusual today but has a long history. It is the first opening Ruy López de Segura chose to cover in his 1561 treatise, where he gives the line 2...Nf6 3. Qc2 Bc5 4. Nf3 Nc6 (López gives 4...Qe7 5. d4?? exd4 with threat of ...Qxe4 as an improvement for Black) 5. Bb5 d6 (a mistake, given it pins the knight) 6. d4 exd4 7. cxd4 Bb4+ 8. Nc3 Bd7 9. O-O++.The Art of the Game of Chess López Ruy The Catholic University of America Press 2020 Washington D.C. 119-120 1561 McGrath Michael J. However, López reckoned without the reply 2...d5. By the time of Philidor this was known to be the best retort, and on account of ...d5 he dismissed 2. c3?! as "very ill played."Analysis of the game of chess Philidor F. A. D. P. Elmsly 1790 London 50-63 https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_analysis-of-the-game-of-_philidor-f-d-franco_1790_1 After this discovery the opening must have fallen out of fashion. When Staunton analysed the opening in his 1847 bookThe Chess-Player's Handbook Staunton Howard Henry G. Bohn 1847 London 238-243 https://archive.org/details/chessplayershan00staugoog (calling it the "the queen's bishop's pawn opening"), he offered a survey of previous analyses and surmised, "This mode of commencing the battle was probably a favourite in the early days of European chess play, as Ruy Lopez has devoted more than ordinary space and attention to it in his often-quoted work of the sixteenth century." Eric Schiller re-christened 2. c3 after MacLeod Call, who "was not a very good player, but he was persistent in his use of this opening. At the 6th American Chess Congress of 1889, he relied on his pet opening, but finished at the bottom of the crosstable."Unorthodox Chess Openings Schiller Eric Cardoza Publishing 1998 239 In recent years some databases have begun to call this, confusingly, the "Lopez opening". Unlikely to be in reference to Ruy López's book (from which 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 is the better known line, which more usually bears his name), the misunderstanding may have arisen from a longstanding editorial gaffe at Wikipedia. Theory table 1. e4 e5 2. c3 2 3 4 ...d5 exd5Qxd5 d4Nc6 =+ ...d5 exd5Qxd5 Qf3Be6 Bd3Nf6 Qxd5Bxd5 =+ References See also Centre Pawn Opening