The Fred (1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Kf7??)
A little break from development, I have something to share from my love of chess. :-)
Many years ago, a friend of mine at our local chess club discovered The Fred in a book. I’m not sure what book, but suffice to say it probably wasn’t the MCO! It’s the most ridiculous defense I’ve ever seen given a moniker. I recall trying to explain it to my girlfriend and I couldn’t stop laughing — she’d just give me an odd look.
For many weeks thereafter, just for fun, we’d play it against each other in hopes of a victory that would be one for the ages. (And we were bored.)
Tonight, out of the blue, I decided to play this line again on Lichess. Whomever I was playing must have had feelings of annoyance when they saw it. That they were playing a young child perhaps. I actually hadn’t considered playing this over the Internet before, and I think you lose something in translation not being able to look in your opponent’s eyes and try to keep a straight face. :-) However, there was an amazing amount of satisfaction in taking this line into a very strategic, locked, defensive battle which would eventually break him/her. I wish I could talk with my opponent, who seemed like a good chess player, and ask them their feelings after confronting this defense and, ultimately, losing to it.
Tonight, I share with my chess fans, victory with The Fred defense!
John Blanco
John Blanco is a freelance iOS developer living in Lakewood, Colorado. He's been developing mobile apps for over 15 years, beginning in the medieval days of Java ME and Blackberry and all the way through iPhone and Android! He's led development on dozens of apps across a wide variety of domains such as retail, vision, orthotics, games, sports, and more!
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2 thoughts on “The Fred (1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Kf7??)”John Blanco
I've been writing mobile apps professionally for 10 years: Blackberry, Java, ME, iPhone, Android. I've gotten dozens of apps into the various App Stores for dozens of clients, big and small.
My current specialty is in iOS and Xamarin development. If you need an app written at a fixed price or just need a hourly developer to give a boost to your current team, I might be your guy.
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27. h4 is a gross mistake… From then on it’s a slippery slope as the Black king is exposed. :)
Oh, absolutely. A blunder. This was a 20-minute timed game, and he was down to 3 minutes, so may have been time pressure. I think one of the novelties of The Fred is that it does instill a sort of “OMG I have to win this game or I shall be shamed” feeling that can aid the Fred player.
Sort of like when you go to a tournament and you’re playing a shy 6 year old. :-/