Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...f5/2. Bg5

Hopton attack A80 Dutch defence 2. Bg5 · Hopton attack White develops the Bishop so as to hinder Black's development. The bishop pins Black's e-pawn, and in the event of ...Nf6 White will be happy to trade the bishop for the knight and upset Black's pawn structure. Therefore Black usually postpones the development of their knight and chooses whether they wish to fianchetto or to drive the bishop off first. 2...h6 kicks the bishop. 3. Bh4 g5, and though it may appear that Black will trap White's bishop with ...f4, in fact White lays a sly trap of their own: 4. Bg3 f4? 5. e3! fxg3?? 6. Qh5#. The main move is 4. e3 (where 4...gxh4?? 5. Qh5# also) Nf6 (now guarding h5) 5. Bg3 Bg7. Black has been able to develop their knight and bishop successfully and avoided doubled f-pawns, but the expansion of their kingside pawns is weakening. h4 is a plan for White, eliciting ...g5 and playing on the dark squares. 2...g6 is a straightforward alternative: Black wishes to avoid doubled f-pawns by playing ...Bg7 before ...Nf6, so they may recapture with the bishop instead. Unlike after 2. c4 g6, even though Black has postponed developing their knight they need not worry about the sharp h4 & h5 manoeuvre as 3. h4? h6! comes with tempo on the bishop. If 2...Nf6 3. Bxf6 and Black must take back with the e-pawn else weaken the e8-h5 diagonal further. 3...gxf6? (following the "rule" to take back towards the centre) 4. e4! fxe4?? 5. Qh5# occurs more often in amateur games than you might imagine. History An 1860 game in this line is attributed to an "R. Hopton", which continued 2...h6 3. Bh4 c5 4. e3 Qb6 5. b3 Nf6 6. dxc5? Qb4+ (winning the bishop by a fork), White resigns.Hopton v Eastwood, 1860. Chessgames.com Otherwise, this line has been known simply as the "queen bishop attack".Winning With The Dutch Bellin Robert B T Batsford 1990 0 7134 5760 0 London 66-77 Garry Kasparov favoured this line against the Dutch defence.e.g. Kasparov v Illescas, 1996. Chessgames.com Theory table 0 Hopton attack 2...g6 3. Nc3 Bg7 4. e3 d5 5. h4 c6 6. h5 h6 7. Bh4 g5 8. Bg3 + 2...h6 3. Bh4 g5 4. e3 Nf6 5. Bg3 d6 6. h4 g4 7. h5 + (illustrative trap) 2. ... ... 3. ... ... 4. ... gxh4?? 5. Qh5# 1-0 2...Nf6!? 3. Bxf6 exf6 4. e3 d5 5. c4 Be6 6. cxd5 Qxd5 7. Nc3 Bb4 + (illustrative trap) 2. ... ... 3. ... gxf6? 4. e4 fxe4?? 5. Qh5# 1-0 Dutch Defence References