A variation of this sequence with the Elephant Trap is named after an event at Cambridge Springs. Siegbert Tarrasch developed a response to this sequence, whose main line leads to semi-open c- and e-files. Adolf Albin names a sharp “counter” to this sequence that he used against Emanuel Lasker. In 1927, Alexander Alekhine and Jose Raul Capablanca began over 30 games in a row with this sequence’s (*) “declined” version. Bobby Fischer avoided playing [emphasize] against this opening with an Indian Defense, instead of moving a central piece. Despite its name, if this sequence is “accepted,” the sacrificed material is only a temporary loss. This opening begins with the moves d4, d5, and c4. For 10 points, name this common chess opening for white, which also names a 2020 Netflix miniseries starring Anya Taylor-Joy. ■END■
| 2025 PLAYTIME Online | 04/26/2025 | Y | 9 | 100% | 33% | 33% | 87.89 |
| 2024 PLAYTIME @ Harvard | 04/26/2025 | Y | 4 | 100% | 0% | 50% | 99.25 |
| 2024 PLAYTIME @ Virginia Tech | 07/11/2025 | Y | 3 | 100% | 0% | 67% | 114.67 |
| 2024 PLAYTIME @ UBC | 10/05/2024 | Y | 8 | 100% | 13% | 50% | 96.63 |
| 2024 PLAYTIME @ WashU | 10/12/2024 | Y | 6 | 100% | 33% | 0% | 69.17 |
| 2024 PLAYTIME @ JHU | 10/26/2024 | Y | 8 | 100% | 13% | 13% | 78.75 |
| 2025 PLAYTIME @ Sheffield | 12/10/2024 | Y | 1 | 100% | 0% | 100% | 128.00 |
| 2025 PLAYTIME @ Northwest | 12/10/2024 | Y | 4 | 100% | 0% | 50% | 103.50 |
| 2025 PLAYTIME @ Claremont | 12/10/2024 | Y | 5 | 100% | 0% | 20% | 86.60 |
| 2025 PLAYTIME @ Florida | 12/10/2024 | Y | 2 | 100% | 0% | 0% | 82.50 |
| 2025 PLAYTIME @ Florida | 12/10/2024 | Y | 1 | 100% | 0% | 0% | 72.00 |
| 2025 PLAYTIME @ CWRU | 12/10/2024 | Y | 5 | 100% | 0% | 60% | 106.40 |
| 2025 PLAYTIME @ Sheffield | 12/10/2024 | Y | 6 | 100% | 33% | 0% | 71.83 |
| Player | Team | Opponent | Buzz Position | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Karthik Jayaram | Quatumvirate | Egypt Airlines Haters | 24 | 15 |
| Vinayak Singh Bhadoriya | NYU B | Catholic University of America | 27 | 15 |
| Ryan Rosenberg | Adrianne Lenker 4 Nobel Lit Prize 2K65 | Even in Blacksburg There I Am | 27 | -5 |
| Skand Parvatikar | Arizona State University A | Arizona State University B | 32 | -5 |
| Liam Kusalik | Waterloo A | Toronto C | 33 | -5 |
| Eren Michelet | BU | Brown | 34 | -5 |
| Ethan Ma | Illinois C | Chicago A | 39 | 15 |
| Anderson Wang | Art of Premature Signaling | UCLA A | 42 | -5 |
| Samarth Ram | Chicago B | Illinois B | 42 | 15 |
| Reed Sexton | Michigan B | Oberlin | 46 | -5 |
| Alex Li | Free Agents 1 | MSJ | 46 | 15 |
| Andrew Fisher | Sheffield B | Lancaster | 46 | 15 |
| Joseph Collins | Imperial A | Warwick A | 48 | 15 |
| Benjamin Chapman | Toronto B | Waterloo B | 49 | -5 |
| Ariel Faeder | Pittsburgh | Ohio State C | 51 | -5 |
| Akshath Sivachidhambaram | Illinois Orange | Monsieur Hulot's Academic Team | 55 | -5 |
| Shiv Seshan | Cambridge | Edinburgh | 56 | -5 |
| Bhaskar Moorthy | Four Generalists in Search of a Power | we need new names | 56 | 15 |
| Jason Zhang | Toronto A | Toronto Metropolitan | 60 | 15 |
| Jim Fan | Master and Margaritaville | Somehow Paula Deen Returned | 64 | -5 |
| Eric Anderson | South Dakota School of Mines | UW A | 66 | -5 |
| Zhiheng Liu | Michigan C | Ohio State D | 67 | -5 |
| Akshay Seetharam | Claremont A | UCSB | 67 | 10 |
| Chris Yoo | Mahjonng Masters | Goober Gang | 67 | -5 |
| Varun Sathyajeeth | Ohio State A | Michigan A | 68 | 10 |
| Cade Reinberger | RIT | Harvard | 68 | 10 |
| Audrey Cho | Haverford B | George Mason B | 68 | -5 |
| Isaac Mammel | Maryland A | Johns Hopkins B | 68 | 10 |
| Jacob Hardin-Bernhardt | NYU A | George Mason C | 68 | 10 |
| Nolan Dannels | girl 15 whale i mean they | Caltech | 68 | 10 |
| Andy Huff | LSE | Warwick B | 68 | 10 |
| Ragulan Sivakumar | MIT | Lexington | 69 | 10 |
| Ethan Furman | Haverford A | George Mason A | 69 | 10 |
| Chansol Park | NYU C | CWRU | 69 | 10 |
| Neil Murphy | WashU Bulbasaur | Iowa State | 69 | 10 |
| Jeevan Iyadurai | Keeping Up With the Cardassians | Too much from you lately | 69 | 10 |
| Max Brodsky | Illinois A | WashU Charmander | 69 | 10 |
| Chris Dech | Brandeis | Belmont | 70 | -5 |
| Andrew Nucci | UCLA B | Claremont B | 70 | 10 |
| Emma Victoria Byron | Rutgers | Johns Hopkins A | 71 | 10 |
| Kevin Ye | Simon Fraser | McGill A | 71 | 10 |
| Henry Bylinowski | Auburn 2026 | Mike Dukakis Tank Battalion | 71 | -5 |
| Elijah Mandelbaum | Guelph | Toronto E | 71 | -5 |
| Denali Tran-Le | McGill B | UBC | 71 | 10 |
| Liam Markland | Alberta | Carleton | 72 | 10 |
| Amir Dolansky | Toronto D | Waterloo C | 72 | 10 |
| Anh Khoa Tran | Qin Shi Huang's Immortality Poison | Project2025BC: Make Assyria Great Again | 72 | 10 |
| Stefan Vlad | Ottawa A | Mac A | 73 | -5 |
| Enoch Boateng | Manchester | Imperial B | 85 | 10 |
| Cameron Ricketts | Warwick C | Birmingham | 88 | 10 |
| Stephen Heritage | Notre Dame + Epic Games | Gruh | 88 | 10 |
| Kevin Jiang | 4 quizbowl pros go Virginia on North Carolina | Ashurbanipal’s Drag Race | 95 | 10 |
| June Yin | WashU Squirtle | Truman State | 95 | 10 |
| Ryan Smith | mongeese | evil women enjoyers | 96 | 10 |
| Jason Cheng | P.C.‚ Daniel‚ Michel‚ and Jason B | UCSD | 96 | 10 |
| Billy Beyer | Billy's Bastion | Edwin Laundrorat's Long-Lost Man Unclothès Rat Degrosses | 96 | 10 |
| Rhys Lewis | Sheffield A | Sheffield C | 96 | 10 |
| Logan Mathis | SIUE | Missouri | 101 | 10 |
| Aditya Patnaik | Ohio State D | Michigan C | 101 | 10 |
| Sam Stella | 2 Italians, 2 Poles, All Noles | Trip-Hop Quizzer Tricky | 103 | 10 |
| Sasha Fillbrandt | UW B | Washington Connections | 103 | 10 |
| Jacob Goodson | Ohio State B | Michigan D | 104 | 10 |
| Euan McCubbin | UW A | South Dakota School of Mines | 107 | 10 |
| James Fan | Toronto E | Guelph | 111 | 10 |
| Brandon Hunt | Goober Gang | Mahjonng Masters | 117 | 10 |
| Jonathan Vaysman | Somehow Paula Deen Returned | Master and Margaritaville | 121 | 10 |
| Eli Issokson | Georgetown | George Washington | 126 | 10 |
| Brady Hagan | Ohio State C | Pittsburgh | 127 | 10 |
| James Ah Yong | Waterloo B | Toronto B | 127 | 10 |
| Alex Jiang | Brown | BU | 128 | 10 |
| Daniel Bloom | Edinburgh | Cambridge | 128 | 10 |
| Noah Chin | Even in Blacksburg There I Am | Adrianne Lenker 4 Nobel Lit Prize 2K65 | 128 | 10 |
| Seth Allen | Mac A | Ottawa A | 129 | 10 |
| Victor Prieto | Monsieur Hulot's Academic Team | Illinois Orange | 129 | 10 |
| Naomi Joseph | Oberlin | Michigan B | 132 | 10 |
| Gregory Zeldovich | Belmont | Brandeis | 132 | 10 |
| Marcus Smith | George Mason B | Haverford B | 132 | 10 |
| Ivan Karp | UCLA A | Art of Premature Signaling | 132 | 10 |
| Matthew Rittenberg | Arizona State University B | Arizona State University A | 132 | 10 |
| Evan Giles | Mike Dukakis Tank Battalion | Auburn 2026 | 132 | 10 |
| Franklin Wu | Toronto C | Waterloo A | 132 | 10 |