Saragossa Opening

About this opening

With 1.c3 White supports a future d4 push without committing to anything: the Saragossa Opening is a modest start whose main strength is transposition, into an Exchange Slav, a reversed Caro-Kann, or a Ponziani if e4 follows. Black gets comfortable play with 1...e5 or 1...d5, since c3 mainly deprives the b1-knight of its natural square. Analyzed from 1919 by José Juncosa at the Saragossa chess club, it was even the subject of a thematic tournament in 1922.