Inverted Hungarian Opening

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Inverted Hungarian Opening
a b c d e f g h
a8 black rook
c8 black bishop
d8 black queen
e8 black king
f8 black bishop
g8 black knight
h8 black rook
a7 black pawn
b7 black pawn
c7 black pawn
d7 black pawn
f7 black pawn
g7 black pawn
h7 black pawn
c6 black knight
e5 black pawn
e4 white pawn
f3 white knight
a2 white pawn
b2 white pawn
c2 white pawn
d2 white pawn
e2 white bishop
f2 white pawn
g2 white pawn
h2 white pawn
a1 white rook
b1 white knight
c1 white bishop
d1 white queen
e1 white king
h1 white rook
7 7
6 6
5 5
4 4
3 3
2 2
1 1
a b c d e f g h
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Be2

The Inverted Hungarian Opening or Tayler Opening is an uncommon chess opening that starts with the moves:

1.e4 e5
2.Nf3 Nc6

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 rarer than the already very uncommon Hungarian Defense, although it is 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.

See also[edit]