The Inverted Hungarian Opening is an uncommon chess opening that starts with the moves
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Be2
It is so named because the position of White´s bishop on e2 resembles that of Black´s bishop on e7 in the Hungarian Defense.
The Inverted Hungarian is even more rare than the already very uncommon Hungarian Defense, although it perfectly playable for White.
It may appeal to White players who wish to avoid extensively analyzed double king pawn openings such as the Ruy Lopez, and to those who favor defensive positional maneuvering battles as also often result from the Hungarian Defense.
With the advantage of the first move, White has greater latitude to play moves that are not objectively the strongest without incurring disadvantage.
Since White´s third move 3.Be2 makes no threats, there are many satisfactory replies for Black.
If White plays a setup resembling the Black side of the Hanham Variation of the Philidor Defense (3...Nf6 4.d3 d5 5.Nbd2), the opening is sometimes called the Inverted Hanham Opening.
References
- Hooper, David and Kenneth Whyld (1996). The Oxford Companion To Chess. Oxford University. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.
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