Thomas Wilson Barnes

Hypokeimena 5.1 Thomas Wilson Barnes

This book contains confessions that could find no place in an academic journal or a research monograph and yet are the deepest convictions that drive the philosophical thinking of its author. They are not the game, but they influence the game, like the first move in a chess opening. Thomas Wilson Barnes (1825-1874) was an English chess master. Barnes Opening is a chess opening where White opens with: 1. f3 It has been convincingly argued that 1. f3 is the worst of the twenty possible first moves in chess. It fails to develop a piece, opens no lines for pieces, hinders the development of White's king knight by denying it its most natural square f3, weakens White's kingside pawn structure, opens the e1-h4 diagonal against White's uncastled king, and opens the g1-a7 diagonal against White's potential kingside castling position. Despite its awful quality, Barnes did use this opening successfully against Paul Murphy, the greatest chess master of his era and an (unofficial, because predating) World Chess Champion.