King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack

King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack (C20)

Definition

The MacLeod Attack is an off-beat line of the King’s Pawn Game that begins with the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 !?. White’s queen immediately eyes the vulnerable f7-square and the e5-pawn, aiming to generate tactical threats before Black has completed development. Modern literature often calls the same idea the “Wayward Queen Attack,” but in traditional sources and the ECO it is listed as the “MacLeod Attack,” named after the 19th-century Canadian master Nicholas MacLeod who employed it frequently.

Typical Move Order

The fundamental position arises after two moves:

• 1. e4 e5
• 2. Qh5 !? (or 2. Qh5 on move two against any reply other than 1…e5)

Black has several principled replies:

1. 2…Nc6 – Protects e5 and develops a piece. After 3. Bc4 g6 4. Qf3, play often resembles a quirky Italian Game.
2. 2…Nf6 – Attacks the queen and counters in the center; White continues 3. Qxe5+ Qe7 4. Qxe7+ Bxe7 reaching an equal endgame, or gambits with 3. Qh4.
3. 2…d6 – Solid but passive; White may grab the e5-pawn with 3. Qxe5+.
4. 2…Qe7 – A sophisticated response guarding both e5 and f7 at the price of blocking the dark-squared bishop.

Strategic Ideas

• Early pressure on f7. The queen on h5 partners with Bc4 and sometimes Ng5 to create mating threats (e.g., Qxf7#).
• Provocation. White hopes Black will over-react with 2…g6?? 3. Qxe5+ winning a pawn and wrecking Black’s position.
• Time vs. material. If Black defends accurately, the queen’s early excursion can become a liability, costing White tempi while Black completes development.
• Simplification line. After 2…Nf6 3. Qxe5+ Qe7 4. Qxe7+ Bxe7, queens are traded and the game heads into a roughly equal, simplified middlegame.

Historical Background

Nicholas MacLeod (1870–1965), Canadian champion and participant in the famous New York 1889 tournament, popularized 2. Qh5 at a time when early queen moves were generally frowned upon. The line thereafter carried his name in English-language sources. In the internet era it resurfaced under the flashier label “Wayward Queen,” championed by tactical streamers and bullet specialists such as Hikaru Nakamura.

Illustrative Game

Below is a concise miniature showing both the promise and the peril of the MacLeod Attack:

Here Black’s calm development (…Nc6, …g6, …Nf6) allowed him to seize the initiative once White’s queen lost momentum.

Interesting Facts & Anecdotes

• In scholastic chess the MacLeod/Wayward Queen is a notorious “trap opening” that can score quick victories against unprepared beginners, yet masters rarely employ it in serious classical play.
• Hikaru Nakamura used 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5!? repeatedly in online bullet and blitz, winning spectacularly against grandmaster opposition thanks to the time pressure factor.
• The earliest recorded game with 2.Qh5 is MacLeod vs. Marache, New York 1888, where MacLeod won in 23 moves.
• ECO code C20 groups “miscellaneous King’s Pawn games,” and the MacLeod Attack is one of the few lines in that code that begin with a queen move on move two.

Practical Advice

For White: Use the MacLeod Attack as a surprise weapon in rapid time controls; study the 2…Nf6 simplification to avoid ending up worse. For Black: Know one solid reply— 2…Nc6 or 2…Nf6—so the early queen sortie simply concedes a tempo without giving real chances.