The Top 5 Most Underrated Chess Openings!

Openings go in and out of popularity, but I feel that some of them are underutilized (especially over the board at club level) and need to be played more. Here are my top 5 choices of such openings.

5. Budapest Gambit

I believe that this is a decent opening at club level. Even if White knows the theory or manages to hang on to his extra pawn, Black generally gets good play. The only reason it's only number 5 is that I find it quite drawish if White knows his stuff.

4. Alekhine Defence

This is another uncommon opening where most club players that I've faced don't know much theory about it after the first few moves.

3. Dunst Opening

Rarely played, but extremely sound. I've posted my preferred lines against the two most common replies that I see.

2. Icelandic Gambit

An extremely fun gambit to play, and can be very dangerous for White if he doesn't know what he is doing. A must for attacking maniacs.

1. Czech Pirc

An extremely solid and reliable way to open against 1. e4. Both d6 and c6 can be played in either order, so it can be transposed into with 1. d4 openings as well.

What do you think of this list? Please comment!

I usually play 1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 e5. I might try the czech pirc, seems interesting.

The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is great for club play. You can blow a lot of guys off the board in a hurry if they don't know it.

Ah - how could I forget the Blackmar-Diemer. I tried that opening out at my local club one time, but I lost that game badly. That has put me off playing it again since.

That was back when I was a worse player though. Maybe I should try it again someday...

Not know how to deal with it? 1d4 d5 2e4 e6 (French defence) 1d4 d5 2e4 c6 Caro-Kann These are the third and fourth most popular replies to 1e4. Hence, I would have thought a lot of it people know how to deal with it. That is not to mention the ones who actually know how to approach this gambit that a number of people would consider dubious.

Czech Pirc? +1. Solid and flexible. 

Many players don't want to play the French or Caro-Kann. I can't think of a single player I know who does. And other gambits are available if black declines anyway. And if it's so bad, why decline? 

Personally I wouldn't care to play the Czech Pirc. White gets the center and an easy kingside attack. That spells doom for most amateur players.

In Icelandic gambit, most players in my level (1200-1400) like to play 5.b3?. Making the d3 square a target after Nc6 and 0-0-0.

Sometimes, I can easily regain the pawn back if players make a mistake on their 5th-6th move through Qe7 followed by Be6

Wihtout any book knowledge, I just played against the Alekhine defence with 3. c4,  in "manic Knight attack" mode. Computer analysis indicated I was making fewer mistakes and inaccuracies than my opponent for the first 18 moves, and even in the final result I still had a better record. But he beat me! I guess my strategy was all wrong - pawns too extended (?) Next time I'll just chase K once and then try and control the centre, as normal, as shown above.

that or you did have a slight + but in a position he had played countless times before

I don't understand most of proposals here...

- Jaenisch/Schliemann gambit is certainly not underrated, this is a major weapon for many GM on Ruy Lopez and there is no established refutation.

- Sorry for fans, but icelandic gambit is unsound (c6 has to be preferred when white should transpose into Panov Attack). Maybe ok from a practical point of view, but certainly not from a theorical one.

- BDG is seen as bad by most sources, and there are some reasons...

- Ponziani is ok too, it is equal if black knows its stuff but it can be a good weapon.

- Czech Pirc, i have some doubts, have a look on the excellent repertoire given by John Shaw, which proposes system with g3.

Thats why where i disagree, but i have to admit i agree with Dunst (cannot be bad to develop a piece toward centre on 1st move), and Budapest gambit (the fabulous, lol), Alekhine defence is quite popular and theorically speaking holds.

But i am not sure underrated is the good word for these openings. They are not fashion, thats only the point.

If I look the position up in the chess database I see players rated over 2500 having played the Icelandic. So against a supercomputer, no. Against anyone else, yes. I guess it comes down to preparation. 

A gambit I absolutely love but can't ever get anyone to accept is the Danish:

The two perfectly placed bishops provide great attacking potential.

the icelandic gambit is not good for black if white knows how to play it

Indeed that variation is supposed to be strong for white but this is not the icelandic gambit...

do any of you know anything about the mafia defense , or overlook this aswell. ?

There are tons of underrated openings even at 3 plies, for example:

Imho Van't Kruijs 1. e3 is the most underrated opening in 1 ply!