Hungarian Opening
ECO A00 · 1. g3
The Hungarian Opening, 1.g3, fianchettoes the king's bishop first. It is flexible and can transpose to the English, Réti, Catalan or King's Indian Attack, letting White see Black's setup before committing the central pawns.
Plans for White
White plays Bg2, Nf3, O-O and then chooses between c4 (English-style play on the light squares) and d3 with e4 (King's Indian Attack). The bishop on g2 is the key piece in both plans.
Plans for Black
Black can take the center with ...d5 and ...e5, building a classical pawn duo, or use a symmetrical fianchetto setup with ...g6 and ...Bg7. Occupying the center is the most principled answer.
Typical pawn structures
Fianchetto structures; the central pawn structure depends on transposition, often reversed Pirc or reversed Modern positions.
Who it suits
Players who like system-based play and want to avoid opening theory while keeping sound positions.
Common traps
White's light-square play can be undermined if Black seizes the center with tempo, for example with ...e5-e4 hitting a knight on f3. Black, on the other hand, must not overextend: a big center needs support.
Variations
- Hungarian Opening: Dutch Defense — 1. g3 f5
- Hungarian Opening: Indian Defense — 1. g3 Nf6
- Hungarian Opening: Myers Defense — 1. g3 g5
- Hungarian Opening: Sicilian Invitation — 1. g3 c5
- Hungarian Opening: Symmetrical Variation — 1. g3 g6
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Alekhine — 1. g3 e5 2. Nf3
- Hungarian Opening: Catalan Formation — 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e6
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Modern Defense — 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 c5
- Hungarian Opening: Slav Formation — 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 c6
- Hungarian Opening: Van Kuijk Gambit — 1. g3 h5 2. Nf3 h4
- Hungarian Opening: Wiedenhagen-Beta Gambit — 1. g3 d5 2. Nf3 g5
- Hungarian Opening: Bücker Gambit — 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. b4
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Norwegian Defense — 1. g3 e5 2. Nf3 e4 3. Nh4
- Hungarian Opening: Pachman Gambit — 1. g3 f5 2. e4 fxe4 3. Qh5+ g6
- Hungarian Opening: Reversed Brooklyn Defense, Brooklyn Benko Gambit — 1. g3 e5 2. Nf3 e4 3. Ng1 Nf6 4. b4
- Hungarian Opening: Winterberg Gambit — 1. g3 d5 2. Bg2 e5 3. c4 dxc4 4. b3
- Hungarian Opening: Burk Gambit — 1. g3 e5 2. a3 d5 3. Nf3 e4 4. Nh4 Be7 5. d3
- Hungarian Opening: Paris Gambit — 1. g3 e5 2. Nh3 d5 3. f4 Bxh3 4. Bxh3 exf4 5. O-O
- Hungarian Opening: Asten Gambit — 1. g3 Nc6 2. Nc3 d5 3. d4 e5 4. dxe5 d4 5. Ne4 f5