Kádas Opening

The Kádas Opening, also called the Desprez Opening, begins with 1. h4. The move contributes nothing to the center and develops no minor piece. Its practical justifications are modest. The h1-rook gains a little scope, and the pawn can advance further to h5 to harass a Black kingside fianchetto. The price is a loosened kingside, which makes castling short less appealing, and a tempo that Black can spend on central space.

Black has a wide choice of good replies. The most common is 1...e5, which occupies the center and opens lines for the queen and dark-squared bishop. Next comes 1...d5, which also claims the center and opens the c8-bishop's diagonal to h3. That is why the rook lift 2. Rh3, catalogued as the Beginner's Trap, simply loses the rook. White can instead switch to a central plan, as in the Myers Variation, 1. h4 d5 2. d4 c5 3. e4. Quieter moves such as 1...e6 are also frequent. The fianchetto with 1...g6 is considered dubious, because it gives the h-pawn a target and invites 2. h5.

Several gambit lines carry names. In the Schneider Gambit, 1...g5, Black offers a pawn on the wing; it is regarded as unsound, and Black scores poorly with it. The Kádas Gambit, 1. h4 c5 2. b4, is a Wing Gambit by White. The Steinbok Gambit, 1. h4 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. d3, sacrifices a pawn against the Dutch-style reply. The Koola-Koola Variation, 1...a5, answers one rook's pawn with another.

The engine rates the position after 1. h4 as roughly balanced, with a faint lean toward Black. In online play Black outscores White by a clear margin. The opening is essentially absent from serious over-the-board practice, and its use is mostly psychological, as a way to take an opponent out of preparation. Magnus Carlsen and Hikaru Nakamura have both played it in blitz. Carlsen used it in the November 2023 Titled Tuesday, where he beat strong grandmasters, Alireza Firouzja among them.