Chess Opening Theory/1. Nh3

1. Nh3?! · Ammonia Opening
The Ammonia opening is based on the chemical formula of ammonia (NH3) and the fact that ammonia, like this opening, 'stinks'. Other titles for this opening include; the Amar Opening, the Paris Opening, and Drunken Knight Opening. Chess author Tim Harding has jokingly suggested that "Amar" is an acronym for "Absolutely mad and ridiculous"; that sums up this move!

Jokes aside, this move isn’t actually bad, it just does not improve White's position. White has made an odd decision to develop the knight to a square where it has very little influence on the game (knights generally hate the edge of the board, and love the centre). As such, Black can fairly easily get an edge.

Black's responses
White’s choice has effectively surrendered the first move to Black. Any one of White's opening moves may be employed by Black (except, of course, 1... g5??, which loses a pawn and weakens the kingside).


 * 1... e5
 * 1... d5

Statistics
No statistics as 1. Nh3 occurs rarely among serious chess players.