Cow Opening Chess: Offbeat Setup to Surprise Opponents

Gulshan Kumar
Gulshan Kumar
|

5 min read

|

Last updated: Mar 13, 2026

Child wearing headphones studies a chessboard at a desk at night.

Cow Opening Chess is a super fun way to play chess online and surprise opponents. Unlike normal openings like Italian Game or Sicilian Defence, the Cow Opening skips the center fight and puts knights on b3/g3.

Chess Opening is great for getting better at chess fast through chess traps and blitz chess, which you can even play chess game online. Cow Opening is created by Anna Cramling, who is a chess streamer.

FAQs

  • Knights on b3 and g3 look just like cow horns sticking out! WFM Anna Cramling named it this funny way in her 2023 YouTube video. That's why everyone calls it the Cow Opening now.
  • Anna Cramling made the Cow Opening famous with her video, but it uses old 1.e3 moves. Her "cow knights" on b3/g3 made this simple setup go viral online.
  • Play d3 and e3 pawns first, then put knights on b3 and g3. Ignore opening theory, develop fast, surprise your opponent, then attack the center later with c4 or f4 pushes.
  • Yes, Black plays ...d5 or ...e5 to grab the center and target your blocked bishops. Normal development works fine against it. But blitz games create time pressure and human mistakes.

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