Bishop's Opening
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| Moves | 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| ECO | C23–C24 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Named after | Bishop in 2.Bc4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Parent | Open Game | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Bishop's Opening is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
White attacks Black's f7-square and prevents Black from advancing the d-pawn to d5. Black's most common reply is 2...Nf6, followed by 2...Nc6 and 2...Bc5. By ignoring the beginner's maxim "develop knights before bishops", White leaves the f-pawn unblocked, preserving the possibility of an f2–f4 push. This gives the Bishop's Opening an affinity with the King's Gambit and the Vienna Game, two openings that share this characteristic. The Bishop's Opening can transpose into either of these openings. Transpositions into the Giuoco Piano and the Two Knights Defense and other openings are also possible.
The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings assigns the Bishop's Opening the codes C23 and C24.