I stumbled across Shawn Bennett's short piece on The House of Staunton website, "Chess Trolling: The Art of Playing Bad Chess Openings to Tilt Your Opponent" and had to smile.
The Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) and I had been found out!
Bennett explains
The form of trolling we will look at today takes place on the board. It is legal and often carried out in a more lighthearted spirit. Friendly high-level players [or not-so-high-level - Rick] may joke with each other by playing theoretically ridiculous openings...
Playing lesser-known openings is a good tactic in chess...
However, trolling your opponent requires going beyond coming up with an unexpected French Defense response. These chess openings may be unknown and completely crazy, or playable but highly dubious...
His cautions are spot on
The risks of playing a bad opening are pretty clear. If your opponent keeps their head, you’re just in a worse position. If you’re playing something untheoretical on purpose, you better have a good plan in place. In some cases, something suboptimal but trappy [like the Grob] can be very successful at the beginner and intermediate levels.
Another lesson we learn from this kind of play is that the opening is not always as important as we think it is. Playing silly opening moves can lead to a losing position, but if your opponent fails to capitalize, the game may quickly even out. More than trolling your opponent, what a weird opening does is challenge them to calculate. Beyond memorization, do they understand opening theory enough to claim the initiative?
Personally, I think it's worth trying an occasional weird opening move. It makes for interesting games and creates a new challenge for players.
You can check out more of Bennett's wisdom.
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