Debut of Napoleon. Chess alphabet

Sometimes a novice chess player starts a game with 1.e4 e5 2.Qf3 (diagram 1) in the hope of giving the opponent a shoemaker checkmate after further moves 2… Nq6 3.Bc4 Bc5 ?? 4.Х:f7#. Of course, black can easily avoid the trap by playing, for example, 3… Nf6 instead of 3… Bc5 ??

This opening is a bad opening, as the prematurely removed white queen is attacked by the opponent's pieces and occupies a better development position (f3) for the king's knight. The name of this discoveryNapoleon's debut, also known as Napoleon's attack) has been in use since Napoleon Bonaparte's game with the Clockwork Turk at Schönbrunn Castle in 1809.

The leading Austrian chess player Johann Baptist Allgaier was hidden in the Mechanical Turk. Readers interested in the design, operation, and extraordinary history of the Mechanical Turk built by Wolfgang von Kempelen should refer to Issue 4/2016 of The Young Technician.

2. Napoleon Bonaparte – Mechanical Turk (Johann B. Allgaier), Vienna, 1809. Position after 9… Nf4.

Napoleon Bonaparte - Mechanical Turk (Johann B. Allgaier), Vienna, 1809 1.e4 e5 2.Qf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ne2 Bc5 5.a3 d6 6.0-0 Gg4 7.Qd3 Sh5 8.h3 G: e2 9.H: e2 Nf4 (diagram 2) 10.He1? (the white queen is forced to move for the fourth time. Losing move - should have played 10.Qg4) 10…Nd4 (10…Qg5 also wins) 11.Bb3 S:h3 + 12.Kh2 (if 12.g: h3, then 12 … Nf3 +) 12… Hh4 13.g3 Nf3+ 14.Kg2 S: e1+ 15.W: e1 Hg4 16.d3 G: f2 17.Wh1 H: g3+ 18.Kf1 Gd4 19.Ke2 Hg2+ 20.Kd1 H: h1 + 21. Kd2 Hg2 + 22. Ke1 Sg1 23. Sc3 G: c3 + 24. b: c3 He2 # 0-1.

Napoleon's debut it presents no great difficulty in developing the opponent's pieces and is currently even less popular than the previously discussed Danvers opening.