MacLeod Attack

The MacLeod Attack, 1. e4 e5 2. c3, prepares d2-d4 so that White can recapture with the c-pawn and keep pawns on both e4 and d4. The c3-and-d4 plan is a familiar one in the Open Games, appearing in the Ponziani, Italian and Spanish once some pieces are out. Played on move two, before any development, it spends a tempo and takes c3 away from the queen's knight. Some databases list it as the Lopez Opening, a label that seems to stem from an editorial mix-up rather than from Ruy López's book.

The most direct answer, and the engine's first choice, is 2...d5. After 3. exd5 Qxd5 White cannot gain time against the queen with Nc3, since the pawn already stands on that square, and Black develops freely. Staunton proposed keeping the e-pawn instead with 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Nxe5. After 4...Bd6 5. Nc4 Be6 6. d4 exd3 7. Bxd3 White's position holds together, but 4...Qe7 is stronger: the knight has to move again, and d4 can be met by an en passant capture that uncovers check on the e-file. After 5. Nc4 Nc6 6. Be2 Bf5 7. O-O O-O-O Black is well ahead in development.

In online practice 2...Nc6 is the most frequent reply, followed by 2...Nf6 and 2...d6; the engine rates 2...Nf6 and 2...Nc6 just behind 2...d5. These quieter moves let White carry out d4 and leave more room for transposition into recognizable Open Game structures. Two gambit lines carry their own names: the Lasa Gambit, 2...f5, which hits e4 with the f-pawn, and the Norwalde Gambit, 2...d5 3. Qh5 Bd6, where Black guards e5 with the bishop and leaves the d-pawn hanging. The engine regards the starting position as roughly balanced with a faint lean toward Black, while on Lichess White scores marginally better and draws are rare.

The move is centuries old. López opened his 1561 treatise with it, analyzing 2...Nf6 3. Qc2, but he overlooked 2...d5. By Philidor's day that reply was recognized as the best, and Philidor judged 2. c3 a poor move. Staunton, discussing it in 1847 under the title of the queen's bishop's pawn opening, guessed it had been popular in early European play. Its present name comes from Eric Schiller, who honored MacLeod Call, a modest player who stuck with it at the 6th American Chess Congress in 1889 and finished last.