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The Napoleon Opening is an irregular chess opening starting with the moves:
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| Moves | 1.e4 e5 2.Qf3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ECO | C20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Named after | Napoleon Bonaparte | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent | Open Game | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
As with the similar Danvers Opening (2.Qh5), White hopes for the scholar's mate (2...Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5?? 4.Qxf7#), but Black can easily avoid the attack.
The Napoleon Opening is named after the French general and emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, who had a deep love of chess but was said to be a mediocre player.[1] The name came into use after mid-nineteenth century publications reported[2] that he played this opening in an 1809 game[3] that he lost to The Turk, a fake chess automaton operated at the time by Johann Allgaier.[4]
The Napoleon is a weak opening because it develops the white queen prematurely and subjects it to attack, and deprives the white king's knight of its best development square.
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