Okay, that’s an unusual name for an opening, huh? I mean, we have openings named after famous players, cities, countries etc., but a coffee brand? I read a funny comment somewhere: “This is the future of chess. FIDE will start selling opening variations to businesses as a form of advertisement.”
First things first. The attack is actually a variant of the Benko Gambit, and appears after these initial moves:
1. d4 ♞f6 2. c4 c5 3. d5 b5 4. cxb5 a6 5. ♘c3 axb5 6. e4 b4 7. ♘b5
Allegedly, the name has something to do with a coffee house player. What does it mean, according to Wikipedia?
Adjective used to describe a move, player, or style of play characterized by risky, positionally dubious play that sets traps for the opponent. The name comes from the notion that one would expect to see such play in skittles, games played in a coffeehouse or similar setting, particularly in games played for stakes or blitz chess.
So, in 1987, there was a game between certain Collins and Tebb, in which Black won after making a risky move. As a result, the winner was nicknamed the “King of Coffee House.” The following year, Graham Burgess, a Cambridge student who would later become a FIDE Master, played against Tebb with the White pieces and defeated the “King of Coffee House” using the same gambit mentioned earlier.
This is the background story of the Nescafé Frappé Attack. Let’s analyze a real game: