Bishop's Opening - Quepos System

This is a system for White to play against 1.e4 e5. This main idea of this opening is to play like this:
Plan A: (1.e4 e5) 2 Bc4 3 Nc3 4 d3 and then f2-f4.

Plan A works against most moves by Black, but sometimes there are good reasons to deviate. For example, sometimes Black develops in such a way as to allow you to play f2-f4 earlier:

 rnbqkbnr
pppp*ppp
* * * *
* * p *
*B*PP *
* NP* *
PPP* *PP
R BQK NR

Plan B: Play f2-f4 early
(before moving the d pawn.)
This way, you can play d2-d4 in one move and get a big center - but you may have to sacrifice a pawn.

There is third plan that can be used against certain black setups:

 rnbqkbnr
ppp *ppp
* p * *
* * p *
*B*PP *
* * * *
PPPP *PP
RNBQK NR


Plan C: Play Qd1-g4 attacking Black's g-pawn.

See Mieses--Chigorin, Ostend 1906.

r*bqk*nr
pppp*ppp
*n* * *
* b p *
*B*P*Q*
* N * *
PPPP PPP
R B K NR

Tactically you should be alert for shots based on Black's weak f7 square. Early bad moves by Black should be crushed mercilessly.

This "Quepos System" is a quick and easy opening for White to learn, and should be good for many a victory. For a more detailed treatment of the Bishop's Opening, see this excellent article.


Quepos System - Analysis

1 e4 e5 2 Bc4

Now Black has four reasonable moves and a number of weak ones. First, the weak replies.

  1. Weak/Unusual 2nd Moves
    1. 2...Be7? 3 Qh5 +-
    2. 2...Ne7? 3 Qh5 Ng6 4 Nf3 f6 5 Nh4+-
    3. 2...b6 Use Plan A: 3 Nc3 & 4 d3 (or d4) with f4 coming up.

  2. 2...Bc5 3 Nc3
    1. 3...Nf6 4 d3 d6 (...Nc6 5 f4 is IIIB1 below - the King's Gambit Declined) 5 f4! The Surprise Attack variation. ...Ng4 6 f5 Nf2 7.Qh5 +- White has a winning attack. For an example, see game #1, Emms - Jackson, Port Erin 1999.
    2. 3...Nc6 4.Qg4! The C-File Full variation.
      1. 3...d5 5 Qg7 dc4 6 Qh8 Qg5 7 d4 Qg2 8 Bg5!+ or 8 dc5+
      2. 3...Bf8 5 Qg3 5.Qg3 d6 6.Nge2 Nf6 7.O-O Na5 8.Bb3 Nxb3 9.axb3 Nh5 10.Qe3 a6 11.d4 +=
      3. 3...g6 5.Qf3 (5 Qg3!?) Nf6 6.Nge2 d6 7.d3 Bg4 8.Qg3 h6 (8....Qd7 9.Qh4!) 9.f4! Qe7 10.Nd5 Nxd5 11.Qxg4 Nf6 (11....Ne3 12.Bxe3 Bxe3 13.f5 +=) 12.Qh3 Na5 13.Bb5+ c6 14.Ba4 b5 15.Bb3 += Larsen--Portisch, Santa Monica 1966.
      4. 3...Kf8 5 Qg3 d6 (5....Nd4 6.Bb3) 6.Nge2 Nd4 7.Nxd4 exd4 8.Na4 Be6 9.Bxe6 fxe6 10.Nxc5 dxc5 11.Qb3 += Anand-Ravisekhar, New Delhi 1986, 1-0 in 57.
      5. 3...Qf6 5 Nd5 Qf2ch 6 Kd1+ See game game #2, Mieses-Chigorin, Ostend 1906.
    3. 3...d6 Stick with Plan A, i.e. 3 Nc3 & 4 d3 & 5 f4. This will likely transpose to A or B when Black develops a knight.

  3. 2...Nf6 3 Nc3 The most common line.

    1. 3...Ne4 4 Qh5 Nd6 5 Qe5

      The Quepos variation. For a wild and wooley alternative, study the Frankenstein-Dracula Variation: 5 Bb3 Nc6 6 Nb5! g6 7 Qf3 f5 8 Qd5 Qe7 9 Nc7 Kd8 10 Na8 b6 11 d3! Bb7 12 h4 f4 13 Qf3 Nd5 14 Qg4! Bg7 15 Bd2 and 16 0-0-0.

      There are two subvariations of the Quepos, depending on how black blocks the check. Black can choose whether to go into a slightly worse endgame with ...Qe7, or get a middle game where the knight on d6 is misplaced by playing ...Be7.

      1. 5...Qe7 The Quepos Endgame. 6 Qe7 Be7 7 Be2 In an endgame, it's best the bishop eye both sides of the board. White has a slight edge.
      2. 5...Be7 The Quepos Middlegame. 6 Bb3 0-0 7 d4 Nc6 (...Re8 8 Nge2) 8 Qf4 The Queen seems quite safe here, eyeballing the black's king-side. The "Weaver Adams Plan" is to play Nf3(or e2), Be3, and 0-0-0 with a good game.

        1. 8...b6 9 Nge2 Ba6 10 Be3 Nc4 11 0-0-0 N6a5 12 h4 d5 13 Ng3! See game #3, Suder - Drygalski, Sponsorow 1995.
        2. 8...b5 9 Nf3 Bb7 10 Be3 Na5 11 0-0-0 with some advantage (Weaver Adams-Lyman, Boston 1945)

    2. 3...Nc6 4. d3
      1. 4...Bc5 5 f4 Be6 6 f5 is better for white.
      2. 4...Be7 5 f4 d6 6 Nf3 see game #4 Alekhine-Rethy, Munich 1941.
      3. 4...Bb4 5 Nf3!
        1. 5...d5? 6 ed5 Nd5 7 0-0!
        2. 5...d6 6 0-0 Bc3 7 bc3 Na5 8 Bb3 Nb3 9 ab3 see game #5 Larsen-Lengyel, Amsterdam 1964.
      4. 4...Na5 5 Ne2 Nc4 6 dc4

        This is the Grab the Two B's variation.

        1. 6...Bb4? 8 0-0 Bc3 9 Nc3 d6 10 Bg5 is better for white.
        2. 6...Bc5 8 0-0 c6 9 Qd3 h6 10 b4 Bb6 11 Bb2 0-0 12 Rad1 slight edge for white as in Schoneberg-Blatny, Leipzig 1974.
        3. 6...Be7 7 0-0 d6 8 b3 0-0 9 Bb2 Larsen-Geller, Las Palmas 1976.
        4. 6...d6 7 0-0 Be6 8 b3 c6 9 a4 or 9 Qd3 +=
    3. 3...Bc5 3 d3 d6 4 f4 transposes to the Surprise Attack variation shown above.
    4. 3...d6 Stick to Plan A with 4 d3 and 5 f4
    5. 3...Bb4 4 f4 Ne4 5 Ne4 d5 6 Qe2
    6. 3...c6 4 Nf3!

  4. 2...Nc6 3 Nc3 Na5? (other moves transpose to lines above) 4 Bf7ch! Alert to the f7 shot. +-

  5. 2...d6 3 f4 ef4 4 d4 Qh4ch 5 Kf1 += This is the Bishop's Gambit. In the books you'll find it under "King's Gambit."