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Off the Wall Chess - A Rare Ware to Beware

Submitted by billwall on Fri, 06/13/2008 at 10:43pm.

The move 1.a4, called Ware's Opening, is probably the rarest first opening move.  It doesn't do too much except to be different.  So where did the Ware come from?  It was first analyzed and played by Boston player Preston Ware (1821-1890) in 1880, in which he played it in the 5th American Chess Congress in New York (a loss and a draw).  It is also known as the Meadow Hay Opening.  Gerard Welling of the Netherlands calls it the science-fiction opening.  I've experimented with this opening over the years and recently tried it here at www.chess.com.  In this game, I got jammed against Jam, but got out of a jam (I almost got mated) with a clever discovered check that saved the day just in time.  Beware of the Ware.  Play the Ware if you dare.

 


» posted in billwall's Blog
 

Comments:

by BirdBrain - 21 days ago
KY United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 503

I wouldn't say that the Ware is unsound, but unorthodox - he has gained queenside space, and can play comfortable moves that make a4 a good choice - advancing the a-pawn is common in openings like King's Indian and Dutch.  You could continue with his plan and have a comfortable development, seeking for a later battle - plus a4 becomes useful as a thorn in the queenside.

by rush40 - 26 days ago
USA United States
Member Since: Jul 2008
Member Points: 111

move 30 was impressive

by Fuz - 2 months ago
Austin, Texas United States
Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 129
Off the Wall indeed!
by normajeanyates - 2 months ago
london [often in calcutta india] International
Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 1760
This is the 21st century update of Steinitz's provocative-moves play :)
by normajeanyates - 2 months ago
london [often in calcutta india] International
Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 1760

A few years ago I had loved the 'knight moves' and the grob games from Bill Wall's site [i still do, but ykwim - the past/present-tense thing in english - sometimes very annoying!]

- and now Wall has progressed to winning-with-1. a4  :)

 


by BasicLvrCH8r - 2 months ago
Burlington, VT United States
Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 1091
I like how you win with so many unsound opening systems.
by Dozy - 2 months ago
Blue Mountains Australia
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 757

You've obviously been checking out the Games Explorer.  I hadn't heard of the Ware till I saw it listed there.

That opening has to be at least as outrageous as the St.George that Tony Miles perpetrated on Karpov in 1980.  I'm sure Karpov only lost because he couldn't stop laughing.

Thanks for the illustrative game.  It's interesting to see what can be done with that sort of thing.  Just the same, remind me not to challenge you to a game any time you get serious! 


by Dragonknightx - 2 months ago
Sydney Australia
Member Since: Mar 2008
Member Points: 400
did u calculate re1+ before re7?
by oginschile - 2 months ago
Salt Lake City, UT United States
Member Since: Aug 2007
Member Points: 940
Great game thx. Certainly a Bill Wall can make this opening work... I think an Oginschile would suffer badly. But the discovered check there at the end was sweet.
by jay - 2 months ago
San Jose, CA United States
Member Since: May 2007
Member Points: 1028
Wow, what a crazy wild game. Fun!
by CrazyTactics - 2 months ago
Marikina Philippines
Member Since: Jun 2008
Member Points: 10

Rxe7! was really nice...

 

Thanks for sharing it. 


 

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