What is everyones thoughts on the Black Knights' Tango?
Been reading up on it recently, and is claimed that its virtually unknown to most players!?
1 d4 f6 2 c4 c6

Essentially it aims to enable Black to fight for the initiative from the very start of the game. Propbably most famous from Alex Yermonlinsky playing it against Kasparov in 1996.

I guess one of the main ideas for the opening is borrowed from Alekhin Defence, in provoking the white pawns forward in order to attack them.

At this point, I don't really view it as a true opening system. I tend to view it more as an opening sequence rich in transpositional possibilities. From there you can transpose into a Queen's Pawn Game, many Nimzo-Indian variations, an Open Catalan, Bogo-Indian Defense, King's Indian, or the Ukranian variation of the Old Indian, etc. The basic idea is to leave your options open, and then hope that your opponent will commit himself too early in ways that are disadvantageous in one or more openings/variations allowing you to then transpose into that opening/variation with an advantage.

I agree, the opening has some distinct variations bit is highly transpositionl as you mentioned. From a quick look on Wikipedia, it seems there are many options from that point, as well as the ones you mentioned there could be the King's Indian Defense, Chigorin Defense, Ragozin System and English Opening.

Wiki Link

How many moves would you consider an opening? If this is an opening sequence that leads to a wide range of openings.

I use it more of a surprise to my opponents. Most of the time they seem undecided on how to play against it. But to be honest, when playing a high rated player it doesn't bother them in the least. (As expected).
And, as had been stated, I like it for the variations of other openings it can transpose into.

I disagree that it's just a transpositional system. I like the positions that arise after 3. Nc3 e5, which leads to a main line that's uniquely Tango. But when white plays 3. Nf3 to prevent the e5 push, it generally ends up transposing as mentioned above, and I don't know those other openings well enough to play them that well. You really need to learn the Nimzo-Indian to play this well, I think. There are also other things it can transpose into, but that's the most likely.

I've been messing around with the move order, trying to get into those Tango positions I like from the Queen's Knight Defense (1. d4 Nc6). As long as white doesn't play 2. Nf3, black can play 2. ... e5 and usually end up in something similar to the mainline 3. Nc3 Tango. If white does play 2. Nf3, I've been thinking of transposing to the Chigorin via 1. d4 Nc6 2. Nf3 d5 3. c4 Bg4, etc.

Here's an example of me getting into a Tango position that way and winning. Note that I didn't play Nf6 until move 6, but by then, the position is pure mainline Tango.

1. d4 Nc6 2. c4 e5 3. d5 Nce7 4. e4 Ng6 5. Bd3 Bc5 6. Bd2 Nf6 7. Nf3 d6 8. a4 a6 9. O-O O-O 10. Nc3 h6 11. Ne2 Nh5 12. Kh1 f5 13. exf5 Bxf5 14. Bxf5 Rxf5 15. g4 Rxf3 16. gxh5 Nh4 17. Ng3 Qd7 18. Qe2 Qh3 19. Rg1 Rxf2
{White resigns} 0-1

If you're new to the Tango, this game actually has a couple of features that you'll want to note. For instance, white pushed a4 on the queen side, so black had to play a6 to give his bishop retreating room. Also note that I played h6 before beginning the king side attack, to prevent the Bg5 pin.

Another thing to note if you play this as white is how the knight on e2 got in the way of the queen aiding on defense. This seems to be a recurring theme whenever white puts either knight on e2 in this opening.

For some good info on the Tango, check out this book review by IM Jeremy Silman:

Tango

And also this 4 part article on it by GM Joel Benjamin. also on Silman's site:

Opening Shortcuts: Latest Article

That should give you plenty of info to get started without actually having to buy the Tango book Silman reviewed.

--Fromper

Query: Isn't 1. d4 Nc6 known as the Mexican defense? And isn't 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6 the Two Knights Tango rather than Black Knights Tango?

This is one of those openings that I often see class-rated players using to their own detriment.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I understand that it's theoretically probably fine. The problem is that all of the practical chances go white's ways. Once you're out of book, white's big center is a huge advantage at the class level.

Perseus - the Mexican Defense, Black Knights Tango, Two Knights Tango, and just plain Tango are all names for the same opening based on 1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 Nc6.

Ronaldinho - You may be right. I was just looking for something more "attacking" than the QGD to play against 1. d4 and someone recommended this, so I tried it. Whenever white plays 3. Nc3, I end up in positions like in the game I posted, where my king side attack gets going before white gets a chance to actually use his big center. If white plays well, it does turn positional, but at my level, my opponents usually aren't that good positionally.

--Fromper

What variant of the QGD are you using?

The Tartakower gives black good chances to play for the win, as does the Cambridge Springs. If you want to be more aggressive, you can try the (probably unsound, but fun) Westphalia attack, where black plays Bb4 and c5.

But personally, I like the Tarrasch which gives black lots of good active play in return for accepting an isolated pawn (which many of your opponents will lack the technique to exploit anyway).