Chess has really been taken by the media due to tournaments like Pogchamps hosted by GM Hikaru Nakamura one of the prominent members of the chess community. There has lately been a huge spike in the interest of playing unique and normally non-advantageous openings. Hikaru has a series on his YouTube dedicated to playing the bongcloud which exposes the king (clearly for fun and seeing an added challenge in games). Other popular YouTubers such as Eric Rosen, Chessbrah, GothamChess, and TheChessWebsite have made it a challenge to play creative yet difficult openings and to archive these for the world to see. We have a unique opening to see if you can achieve it (almost certainly requires a >1500 player). As more information is added this page will be updated with data and images of games of players using it. Apparently it’s pretty fun to play according to Chess.com Forums
The AcquaNINJA
This is the move order (I. NC3, e5, II. Rb1, d5, III. Nf3, e4, IV. Nd4, c5, V. Nb3). Computer evaluation has this position at around -1.15 and the unique attribute to this position is the black has almost complete central control, yet white has some counterplay opportunities on the queen side.
There is one example of a game being played by SophiaSocial vs GriffRey1 – https://chess.com/live/game/5195680850. It’s a typical under 1000 match only the first moves showed that white can way take two pawns if black incorrectly pushes the d pawn with the sequence (d4, Nxe4, Nf6, Nxc5) the computer heavily favours this as the knights protect each other and center control is rebalanced.
If you are an IM, FM, CM, and GM we implore you to take the AcquaNINJA challenge and win, it’ll be interesting to see the best case scenarios and alternative ways to play this opening.
Delayed & Alternative Variations
In the event of the opponent playing (Nf6) on the first move instead of a central pawn push you can stall a turn by playing Rg1 after move III.
As you can see from the evaluation of -3.19 this is a much more difficult position, no pieces have been lost, yet the position is so swayed that it’s as if black is up an entire minor piece. The original double pawn grab doesn’t work as the knight is protecting the d pawn which makes this position completely secured by black barring any major blunders.
*more coming soon*
Notable Games
Conclusion
If you’re into quirky openings that leave you with attacking options yet at a disadvantage this is the opening for you. If you have any games from Chess.com or Lichess you can share the png or game to AcquaNINJA@Outlook.com and new information will be added periodically. Any player can submit, good luck and thanks for helping in this research.
AcquaNINJA 