Barnes Defense

Infobox chess opening
openingname = Barnes Defense

Chess diagram|=


=
rd|nd|bd|qd|kd|bd|nd|rd|=
pd|pd|pd|pd|pd| |pd|pd|=
| | | | |pd| | |=
| | | | | | | |=
| | | |pl| | | |=
| | | | | | | |=
pl|pl|pl|pl| |pl|pl|pl|=
rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl|nl|rl|=|
moves=1.e4 f6
ECO=B00
birth=
nameorigin = Thomas Wilson Barnes
parentopening = King's Pawn Game
AKA=
chessgid=1396252&move=2&moves=e4.f6

Barnes Defense is a dubious chess opening characterized by the moves:

:*1. e4 f6?!

This is similar to the irregular Barnes Opening a tempo down. It is considered a very poor move, as it opens no lines for Black to develop his pieces, allows White free and easy development, deprives the g8 knight of its most natural square (f6), and weakens the position of the black king. It does attack a central square, e5, but 1...d6 (the Pirc Defense), or even 1... Nc6 (the Nimzowitsch Defense) are better moves to attack this square. Alternatively, 1...e5, occupying the square immediately, is considered one of Black's most reliable moves. Barnes Defense is named after Thomas Wilson Barnes, an English master who, amazingly, defeated one of the greatest players of the time, Paul Morphy, with it in an offhand game played in London in July 1858 [Philip W. Sergeant, "Morphy's Games of Chess", Dover Publications, 1957, pp. 238-40. ISBN 0-486-20386-] [ [http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1266586 Morphy-Barnes, 1858] ]

White's and Black's second moves

White's most common response is 2. d4, opening up the diagonal for the c1 bishop and taking control of the center. Now, these are Black's options:

* 2... g5??This allows "Fool's Mate". See section on Fool's Mate

* 2... h6??This also allows a type of "Fool's Mate", although allows mate in two moves instead of one.

* 2... e5?This looks like a natural follow-up to 1...f6, but loses a pawn to 3.dxe5, since 3...fxe5?? 4.Qh5+ is disastrous for Black. Note that even if White plays 2.Nf3, 2...e5 would still be weak. See Damiano Defense, to which this variation transposes.

* 2... Kf7?!This is known as the Fried Fox Defense. It is basically a Hammershlag with a tempo less. Chessmaster 10th edition describes 2... Kf7?! as " Awful" and " A Joke Opening".

* 2... b6The line 3. c4 Bb7 is known as the Speers Gambit.

* 2... g6This line is recommended by Chessmaster, hoping to transpose to the Hippopotamus Defense, a variation of Adams Defense.

* 2... e6This was played in Morphy-Barnes 1858. This is probably Black's best try here, but White should still gain the initiative.

Fool's Mate

Barnes Defense allows two possibilities of "Fool's Mate".

*2... g5?? Qh5#

*2... h6?? 3. Qh5+ g6 4. Qxg6#

Named variations

*Fried Fox Defense 2. d4 Kf7?!
* Speers Gambit 2. d4 b6 3. c4 Bb7
* Fool's Mate 2. d4 g5?? 3. Qh5#

See also

* Barnes Opening
* Semi-Open Game
* Fool's Mate
* Thomas Wilson Barnes
* Paul Morphy

References