Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Qh5/2...Nc6/3. Bc4

=Parham Attack=

3. Bc4
With this aggressive move, White now threatens checkmate called "Scholar's Mate" by taking the pawn on f7 with the queen. Black has some ways to adequately prevent this mate from happening. The two decent replies are 3...g6 and 3...Qe7. Kasparov chose Qe7 when he met this position in a game against the actor Woody Harrelson in a consultation game.

At the lower level many players may be tempted to play 3…Nf6?? attacking White’s queen. However, Black leaves f7 undefended, and White can play the move she was intending to play when 2. Qh5 was played: 4. Qxf7#!, known as the Scholar’s Mate.

Theory table
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'''1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6'''