This opening became popular in the Saragossa chess club (Zaragoza, Spain) in 1919. The next year club member José Juncosa analyzed the opening in Revista del Club Argentino.[1] In 1922 a theme tournament requiring the players to open with 1.c3 was arranged in Mannheim with three participants, Siegbert Tarrasch, Paul Leonhardt and Jacques Mieses, which Tarrasch won.
Basicsedit
The opening of 1.c3 seems at first to be an unambitious move. It opens a diagonal for the queen, but it makes only a timid claim to the center. It prepares to play d4, but White could simply have played that move immediately. Also, the pawn on c3 has the apparent disadvantage of taking the c3-square away from the knight.
It is not a terrible move, however, because it is likely to transpose into many solid systems, including a reversed Caro-Kann Defence or Slav Defense (but with an extra tempo for White); the Exchange Variation of the Queen's Gambit Declined, after 1.c3 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.cxd4 d5; to a solid but passive type of Queen's Pawn Game after 1.c3 Nf6 2.d4 or 1.c3 d5 2.d4; or to a reversed Scandinavian Defense after 1.c3 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.Qxd4!? Nc6 4.Qa4; as well as the Ponziani and Center Game openings, to name just a few.
Black has a number of responses, the most common (and effective) being 1...d5, 1...e5, and 1...Nf6. After 1...d5, White can essay the Plano Gambit, 2.e4?!, in effect an unusual response to the Scandinavian Defense. After 2...dxe4, 3.Qa4+ recovers the pawn, but Black gets quick development with 3...Nc6 4.Qxe4 Nf6 5.Qc2 e5. Also reasonable is 1...f5, when 2.d4 transposes into a Dutch Defense where White has played the passive move c3.
The reply 1...c5 is also playable, but gives White more opportunity than other moves to transpose into standard openings where he may have a small advantage. The move 1...c5 2.e4 transposes into the Alapin Variation of the Sicilian Defence. The sequence 1...c5 2.d4 is also possible, when 2...cxd4 (2...e6 3.e4 d5, transposing into a French Defence after 4.e5 or 4.exd5, is also possible) 3.cxd4 d5 transposes into a regular Exchange Variation of the Slav Defense (usually reached by 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.cxd5 cxd5), which gives White a slight advantage.
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
8
8
7
7
6
6
5
5
4
4
3
3
2
2
1
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
The move 1...Nc6 is also possible, as it transposes into the 1.Nc3 system (with colors reversed), where Black embarks on a rather dubious plan with c6 and d5. After 2.d4 d5, Black seems to be holding the admittedly unusual position without particular difficulties.
The Wikibook Chess Opening Theory has a page on the topic of: Saragossa Opening
May 01, 2024
saragossa, opening, chess, opening, defined, opening, move, abcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghmoves1, c3ecoa00, since, white, usually, plays, more, aggressively, opening, saragossa, considered, irregular, opening, classified, encyclopaedia, chess, openings, cont. The Saragossa Opening is a chess opening defined by the opening move Saragossa Openingabcdefgh8877665544332211abcdefghMoves1 c3ECOA00 1 c3 Since White usually plays more aggressively in the opening the Saragossa is considered an irregular opening classified as A00 by the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings Contents 1 History 2 Basics 3 See also 4 ReferencesThis article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves History editThis opening became popular in the Saragossa chess club Zaragoza Spain in 1919 The next year club member Jose Juncosa analyzed the opening in Revista del Club Argentino 1 In 1922 a theme tournament requiring the players to open with 1 c3 was arranged in Mannheim with three participants Siegbert Tarrasch Paul Leonhardt and Jacques Mieses which Tarrasch won Basics editThe opening of 1 c3 seems at first to be an unambitious move It opens a diagonal for the queen but it makes only a timid claim to the center It prepares to play d4 but White could simply have played that move immediately Also the pawn on c3 has the apparent disadvantage of taking the c3 square away from the knight It is not a terrible move however because it is likely to transpose into many solid systems including a reversed Caro Kann Defence or Slav Defense but with an extra tempo for White the Exchange Variation of the Queen s Gambit Declined after 1 c3 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 cxd4 d5 to a solid but passive type of Queen s Pawn Game after 1 c3 Nf6 2 d4 or 1 c3 d5 2 d4 or to a reversed Scandinavian Defense after 1 c3 e5 2 d4 exd4 3 Qxd4 Nc6 4 Qa4 as well as the Ponziani and Center Game openings to name just a few Black has a number of responses the most common and effective being 1 d5 1 e5 and 1 Nf6 After 1 d5 White can essay the Plano Gambit 2 e4 in effect an unusual response to the Scandinavian Defense After 2 dxe4 3 Qa4 recovers the pawn but Black gets quick development with 3 Nc6 4 Qxe4 Nf6 5 Qc2 e5 Also reasonable is 1 f5 when 2 d4 transposes into a Dutch Defense where White has played the passive move c3 The reply 1 c5 is also playable but gives White more opportunity than other moves to transpose into standard openings where he may have a small advantage The move 1 c5 2 e4 transposes into the Alapin Variation of the Sicilian Defence The sequence 1 c5 2 d4 is also possible when 2 cxd4 2 e6 3 e4 d5 transposing into a French Defence after 4 e5 or 4 exd5 is also possible 3 cxd4 d5 transposes into a regular Exchange Variation of the Slav Defense usually reached by 1 d4 d5 2 c4 c6 3 cxd5 cxd5 which gives White a slight advantage abcdefgh8 nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 877665544332211abcdefgh The move 1 Nc6 is also possible as it transposes into the 1 Nc3 system with colors reversed where Black embarks on a rather dubious plan with c6 and d5 After 2 d4 d5 Black seems to be holding the admittedly unusual position without particular difficulties See also editList of chess openings List of chess openings named after placesReferences edit Hooper amp Whyld 1992 p 354 Bibliography Dunnington Angus 2000 Winning Unorthodox Openings Everyman Chess ISBN 978 1 85744 285 4 Hooper David Whyld Kenneth 1992 The Oxford Companion to Chess 2nd ed Oxford University Press p 354 ISBN 0 19 280049 3 Schiller Eric 2002 Unorthodox Chess Openings Second ed Cardoza Publishing p 329 ISBN 1 58042 072 9 nbsp The Wikibook Chess Opening Theory has a page on the topic of Saragossa Opening Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Saragossa Opening amp oldid 1195096195, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
