Ponderchess / Openings
Play the guided film, or select a scene to pause and study its position.
Opening
The Bongcloud Attack in 3D
1.e4 e5 2.Ke2. A joke opening: White moves the king on move two, gives up castling for good, and blocks both the bishop on f1 and the queen.
Rebuild the sequence yourself. The board responds to each move, and hints are available.
Click or drag to move · Arrow keys + Enter to play
Your turn · white to play
Select a piece, then its destination. Switch to 2D for a clear overhead view or rotate the 3D board to explore the position.
Bongcloud Attack, move by move: e4 e5 Ke2
The white pieces
There is no serious plan, which is the point of the joke. If you play it anyway, keep the centre closed, develop with d3 and Nf3, and avoid opening lines near your king.
The black pieces
Develop quickly, castle, and open the centre with ...d5 while White's king is stuck on e2. Black has an easy game.
Look a little deeper · 01
2.Ke2 breaks the basic opening principles in one move. It does not develop a piece or fight for the centre, it gives up the right to castle, and it puts the king on a file that can open.
Look a little deeper · 02
The king on e2 blocks the bishop on f1 and the queen's diagonal toward h5, so White must spend further moves just to free the pieces.
Look a little deeper · 03
Black simply develops with ...Nf6, ...Nc6 and ...Bc5 and opens lines with ...d5. There is no theory to learn, because White's position is worse without Black doing anything special.
Look a little deeper · 04
It is known mainly from casual online play, where strong players sometimes use it as a handicap. In serious play it hands Black an easy game.
Bongcloud Attack, move by move: e4 e5 Ke2
Keyboard: Space pauses, the arrow keys step. Gold arrows are White's moves, violet are Black's, red rays are threats, green shows support, blue shows plans.
