What seems to be certain that after 1. Nf3 1. ... f6 is forced.
Does this make 1. Nf3 the best opening move? What about 1. e3 with the idea of 2. Qf3? Is there an opening book for this variant?
What structures are good for both sides? What are some common traps?
A good resource for opening choices can be found here
www.unix-ag.uni-kl.de/~chess/atomic/A very common trap which is occuring again and again, even with high rated players, is that after 1. Nf3 f6 2. e3, black thinks that the knight on f3 is no longer a threat, so they start to develop, say with 2. ... Nh6. However this loses by force:
3. Ne5!
This immediately threatens mate on d7. If the d-pawn is pushed 4. Nd7! wins because 5. Nxf8# cannot be avoided ( the bishop on f8 cannot move, the king cannot get away from the bishop, so it will be exploded either way ). The only other move is the take the knight. If 3. ... fxe5, then 4. Qh5+. Now 4. ... g6 is the only legal move. 5. Qd5! wins because either 6. Qxd7#, or if the d-pawn moves, 6. Qf7+ Kd7 7. Qxe7#.
An interesting defense against this, that I saw is 1. Nf3 f6 2. e3 Nc6. After 2. ... Nc6, 3. Ne5 does not work and the knight on c6 itself is a threat.
It's ridiculous that this variant has 2 forced moves right from the start. White gets to develop 2 knights for free and black is forced to defend against constant mate from the get go.
#4
It is well known that atomic chess has a higher advantage for white in the opening, much more than standard chess.
However it is still unproven if at all white wins by force.
I'm still relearning atomic chess openings, but feel free to search my games archive (using the "Games" tab) looking for ideas. Or use the excellent resource Krtekcze linked to!
I think white wins by force in atomic...though I can not prove it.
1. Nf3 f6 2. e3 d5?
2. ... d5, which came up in a recent game, seems to stop the queen going to d5 with forced mate after 3. Ne5! fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qd5!!, but it can still go to e5. After 5. Qe5!, the mate can be saved by e6, but the queen can still take on c7 and eliminate black's queen side completely 5. ... e6 6. Qxc7!. Now white has won net two pawns and a bishop. Not a forced mate, but almost a certain win.
So it seems that after 1. Nf3 f6 2. e3 very few defensive moves stop the 3. Ne5! idea. May be 2. ... g6 or 2. ... c6 are candidates. As I posted earlier I thought that 2. ... Nc6 was also working, but it does not make a difference, because if it takes on e5, the queen can still check and go to d5, with the same forced mate.
So white is in the comfortable position, that after two moves, black has only very few ( may be two or three ) choices which don't lead to immediate disaster. Also it seems that many players are not aware of this trap, so 1. Nf3 f6 2. e3 seems to be the best opening both on theoretical and practical grounds.
@casualr Black plays bishop g4 after knight d5
