You certainly don’t see openings like this regularly, particularly not at a high level.
Yes, your eyes didn’t deceive you.
1. Ng3 Ng6
2. Rg1!?!?!?
All, I can say is “Gosh”.
This unorthodox opening was played by 15-year-old grandmaster Aravindh Chithambaram of India, in a match against South African FM Nicholas van der Nat in the last round of the recently concluded Commonwealth Chess Championship.
The obvious question, of course, is what happened next?
Thankfully Chessbase has the answer:
The bewildered South African sank into a thirty-minute think and replied 2 …d6, but lost the game anyway. Speaks tons about his opponent though, who played an outrageous idea in the second move of the game and proceeded to win it.
Check out the full story, and find out how the game progressed, on the Chessbase website.