There is no English Defense.

This I believe is the Van't Kruys Opening. It doesn't really have an independent significance, being likely to transpose into something more familiar.

I played this against a club-mate in a final-round tournament game with us both on board 1. I used it to get out of book, as we both knew each other's opening repertoire quite well. Unfortunately, he turned the tide on me and this turned into a 1. d4 opening - which I knew nothing about, of course, being a 1. e4 player... Anyways, we drew early on, to take first and third in the tournament.

It's not the French Defence as 1. e4 wasn't played.

This is out of book.

The beauty of this is that both sides are now in unfamiliar territory.

Yes, don't move the same piece twice before you move every/most piece once unless there is a tactic.

The reason this is not a good move is less that it neglects development of other pieces, than it has no real aim and doesn't threaten anything. That knight will very soon have to move a third time, losing more ground for white.

I agree with Joe, here. The ...h6 move could have waited until it it really did inconvenience White. At that, Black might have found within a few moves that ...Nd4 could have been a handy sort of move. If the knight moved away without being pushed, so much the better for Black.

As well as losing a knight, this also blocks the d-pawn.

On the other hand, if White chooses to throw away a whole piece...

This move has some sense behind it - if white castles now, Bxh2+ comes in. White can maybe defend this by playing Nb5, trying to get rid of the bishop, but black shouldn't mind this as you're a piece up anyway. Nevertheless, maybe 5. ... c6 was worth considering before this, to allow the bishop a square to drop back to and keep on the diagonal?

My preference is for 5...d5, and then 6...Bd6. The move 5...Bc5 is less effective as White has the g1-a7 diagonal well defended.

Woo - this is not so good...

6. ... Bxh2+ was the best move. However, this is possibly white's worst move available (maybe 6. ... Bg3 is worse). The idea is ok - you're ganging up on h2 (though you don't need to - you have two pieces pointing at it already and you can just capture). But you need to take more care when making your move. Whenever you move a piece, check if it can just be captured on the square it's going to. That's a fundamental of starting off in chess.

Actually, I think the move played, though possibly not the best, can lead to a promising attack for Black. I would have chosen a different move order, maybe, 6...Bxh2ch 7.Kh1 and then I certainly would have given 7...Ng4!? a good look.

Again, Bxh2+ was on. But pieces are more valuable than pawns - so it makes more sense to bring pieces out rather than move pawns. If you really don't want to take the b2 pawn, what about b6, with the idea of bringing the bishop to b7? Or maybe Nc6? Both do more for black's game than this move.

Agree about 7...Bxh2, but the move order is fairly immaterial now. Black has a strong looking attack.

Good enough, still.

A move which would probably lose the game pretty quickly.

White had to try Qe2 or Qd1, and pray, really hard. A likely continuation would have been 9.Qe2 Bxh2ch 10.Kh1 Qh4 and Black wins (11.g3 Bxg3ch 12.Kg2 Qh2#).

Unfortunately, this is a really basic tactic which you really need to spot to improve! So another point to consider on your move - what did your opponent just do? Look at your opponent's last move. A quick glance will tell you the queen can just be taken, and white has no tricks up his sleeve afterwards.

(??) 9...Bxf4 wins for Black. At that, Black's rook was doing very good work down the h-file, and should therefore have stayed there.

I prefer 10...Nc6, also biffing the Queen.