Greenpoint Chess and Go Club

Chess, says Garry Kasparov in the introduction to his book of analysis covering 1993 matchplay, is a careful balance between two forces. At its highest levels, well played chess is not holding an equal position, which inevitably leads to a drawish endgame, but rather knowing when and how to imbalance a position; to enter into an unclear continuation and come out of the dark waters of uncertainty somehow better than your opponent. Often, this involves the sacrifice of material to gain a subtle positional edge, such as the gambit of a pawn or even a piece in the opening. Opening gambits require uncommon prescience on the part of those who play them. The Muzio Gambit, Fried Liver Attack, and Halloween Attack are particularly near and dear to my heart because they give up an entire knight in the first few moves in exchange for sharp play. In order to turn such extreme imbalances into victories, a player must possess a præternatural understanding of tactics, otherwise, the defending player may consolidate his position quickly and grind the gambiteer down to a losing endgame.

The From's Gambit, which arises after the moves 1.f4 e5?! 2.fxe5 d6 3.fxd6 Bxd6 leads to play that is so sharp even a king's gambiteer may a feel a bit queasy with the White pieces over the board. An example of the shortest possible checkmate in chess (two moves) can be found in a similar line, where White has pushed the f pawn in the opening (e.g. Lance Darling v Richard Wood Grob Attack 1983 NWC 1. g4 e6 2. f4 Qh4#; see also, Barney v. Mccrum Dayton 1969 1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 d 3. exd6 Bxd6 4. Nf3 g5 5. h3 Bg3#; see also, NN v DuMont 1802 1.f4 e5 2. fxe5 d6 3. exd6 Bxd6 4.g3 Qg5 5.Nf3 Qxg3+ 6.hxg3 Bxg3#; see also, Mogusar v Trippe St. Louis 1984 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.b3 Qh4+ 5.g3 Qxg3+ 6.hxg3 Bxg3#; see also,Warren v. Bill Wall North Caroline 1975 1.f4 e5 2.fxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 4.Nf3 h5 5.g3 h4 6. Nxh4 Rxh4 7.gxh4 Qxh4#).

The danger posed to White's king by pushing the f pawn on move one is exacerbated by accepting From's Gambit, when the raking bishops and queen can come careening across the board in numerous blistering mating patterns that are created by this weakness. The careful player with the White pieces can eschew all of these threats of course, but only with extremely precise positional play. In lines such as this, the imbalance leaves both opponents dangling one move from disaster. As per usual, the information provided in the MCO on this line is woefully inadequate. It provides a necessary but insufficient base of knowledge for a Bird's player who is confronting this gambit. Personally, when I play 1. f4 and am met by e5, I play 2. e4 making it a king's gambit. However, Jeff insists on accepting the gambit all the way—and so this line is one that I think I will be looking deeper and deeper into until one of us gives in and plays another opening.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 21st, 2007 at 1:18 am and is filed under chess, openings, theory. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.