Kingston Defence

The Kingston Defence or Franco-Dutch Defence is an uncommon chess opening. It is characterised by the opening moves:

1.e4 e6 (the French Defence)

2.d4 f5

giving the position at right. (It can also be reached after the transposition of moves 1.d4 f5 2.e4 e6 — a form of Staunton Gambit Declined). Its ECO classification is C01.

The first record of the defence being played is Schiffers-Chigorin, 1880. The first record of a win by Black is the 1892 victory of Elson over Emanuel Lasker. The line fell into disuse until 1989, when the publication of a monograph by Gavin Wilson suggested a repertoire of responses for Black to the principal third moves available to White, namely 3.exf5, 3.e5, 3.Nc3, 3.Nd2 and 3.Bd3.

In 1998, Clyde Nakamura (no relation to grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura), working independently, devised the Franco-Hiva Gambit variation of the Kingston Defence—1.e4 e6 2.d4 f5 3.exf5 Nf6?! 4.fxe6 Bd6?! — in which Black sacrifices two pawns in exchange for a lead in development. This is an intriguing bypass to the problem set by the Exchange Variation of the Kingston Defence — 1.e4 e6 2.d4 f5 3.exf5 exf5 — which undoubtedly poses the most serious threat to the viability of Black's defence.