Every player has one
Chess opening art
Chess players identify with their opening. Here is art for each of the great ones, with a real famous game rendered where we have one, and the studio ready to render yours exactly.
Sicilian Defense
1.e4 c5 / ECO B20 to B99
The fighting answer to 1.e4 and the most analyzed opening in chess. Black plays for the win, not the draw.
Ruy Lopez
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 / ECO C60 to C99
The Spanish Game. Five centuries old and still the deepest test of 1.e4 e5, played at the very top to this day.
King's Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.f4 / ECO C30 to C39
The boldest opening in the book. White sacrifices a pawn on move two to rip open the f-file and hunt the king.
1 famous game rendered
Italian Game
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 / ECO C50 to C59
The oldest recorded opening. The bishop eyes f7, and both sides develop fast toward an early fight.
1 famous game rendered
Evans Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 / ECO C51 to C52
A pawn flung at the bishop to seize the center and the clock. The romantic gambit that gave us the Evergreen Game.
1 famous game rendered
French Defense
1.e4 e6 / ECO C00 to C19
Solid, strategic, and famously resilient. Black builds a wall, takes the punches, and counters in the center.
Caro-Kann Defense
1.e4 c6 / ECO B10 to B19
The solid, classical answer to 1.e4. Black gets the French structure without the bad bishop. Famously hard to break.
1 famous game rendered
Queen's Gambit
1.d4 d5 2.c4 / ECO D06 to D69
The great 1.d4 opening, and the chess opening behind the famous miniseries. Strategic, central, and timeless.
King's Indian Defense
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 / ECO E60 to E99
Black gives White the center, then tears it down with a kingside pawn storm. A favorite of the great attackers.
Gruenfeld Defense
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5 / ECO D70 to D99
A hypermodern masterwork. Black invites a huge White center, then chips it away with pieces and pressure.
1 famous game rendered
English Opening
1.c4 / ECO A10 to A39
A flexible flank opening that can become almost anything. Quietly strategic, deeply transpositional.
Pirc Defense
1.e4 d6 2.d4 Nf6 3.Nc3 g6 / ECO B07 to B09
Hypermodern and flexible against 1.e4. Black fianchettoes, lets White build, and strikes back with timing.
1 famous game rendered
Philidor Defense
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d6 / ECO C41
Solid and old, named for the eighteenth century's greatest player. Quiet to set up, sharp if Black drifts.
2 famous games rendered
Scandinavian Defense
1.e4 d5 / ECO B01
The oldest recorded response to 1.e4. Black challenges the center at once and gets a clear, sturdy game.
Render your opening.
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