Black Gambits - 1 !FREE!

The Alterman Gambit Guide: Black Gambits 1 is an instructional manual for improving chess players. Sharpen your tactics and learn to play dynamic attacking chess while studying the most entertaining gambits. Lines covered include: Benko Gambit, Blumenfeld Gambit, Vaganian Gambit and more. The second and concluding volume, covering 1.e4 e5, should be out early in 2012.

Black Gambits - 1

"Boris Alterman's book is a personal look at several d-pawn gambits from Black's point of view. A big chunk of the work is about the Benko, and many of the illustrated games are his own, so personal is the right adjective here. However in addition, the book deals with the Blumenfeld, and some other dynamic gambit-like ideas where White varies early on...

The Alterman Gambit Guide: Black Gambits 1 is an instructional manual for improving chess players. Sharpen your tactics and learn to play dynamic attacking chess while studying the most entertaining gambits.Lines covered include: Benko Gambit, Blumenfeld Gambit, Vaganian Gambit and more. The second and concluding volume, covering 1.e4 e5, should be out early in 2012.

Gambits are most commonly played by White. Some well-known examples of a gambit are the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4) and Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4). A gambit employed by Black may also be named a gambit, e.g. the Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5), or Englund Gambit (1.d4 e5); but is sometimes named a "countergambit", e.g. the Albin Countergambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5) and Greco Countergambit (the original name for the Latvian Gambit). Not all opening lines involving the sacrifice of material are named as gambits, for example the main line of the Two Knights Defense (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5) in which Black sacrifices a pawn for active play is known as the "Knorre Variation", though it may be described as a "gambit". On the other hand, the Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4) is not a true gambit as Black cannot hold the pawn without incurring a disadvantage. As is often the case with chess openings, nomenclature is inconsistent.

In modern chess, the typical response to a moderately sound gambit is to accept the material and give the material back at an advantageous time. For gambits that are less sound, the accepting player is more likely to try to hold on to their extra material. A rule of thumb often found in various primers on chess suggests that a player should get three moves (see tempo) of development for a sacrificed pawn, but it is unclear how useful this general maxim is since the "free moves" part of the compensation is almost never the entirety of what the gambiteer gains. Often, a gambit can be declined with no disadvantage.

An example of a sound gambit is the Scotch Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Bc4. Here Black can force White to sacrifice a pawn speculatively with 4...Bb4+, but White gets very good compensation for one pawn after 5.c3 dxc3 6.bxc3, or for two pawns after 6.0-0 inviting 6...cxb2 7.Bxb2, due to the development advantage and attacking chances against the black king. As a result, Black is often advised not to try to hold on to the extra pawn. A more dubious gambit is the so-called Halloween Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5?! Nxe5 5.d4. Here the investment (a knight for just one pawn) is too large for the moderate advantage of having a strong center.

This is one of the ideas that you can use against 1.d4 players. It is one of the gambits that has been around for a while; different players have tested and constantly improved it. Some of the players to have been used are Pal Benko, David Bronstein, Mikhail Tal, Florin Gheorghiu, Garry Kasparov, Alexander Khalifman, Veselin Topalov, Alexei Shirov, and Michael Adams. Another specialist in this opening who has brought many interesting and new ideas is Vadim Zvjaginsev. Although this opening never became a main weapon at the highest level, these players and many others used it quite often, producing very exciting and double-edged games.

This defense gives black the opportunity of setting up a strategic battle mixed with tactical elements that turn out to be successful very often. The amount of theory to be learned in the Benko is not as big and it can be played by masters and club players relying only on a small amount of theory and an acceptable understanding of the main middlegame ideas and endings that black is playing for.We reach the main line of the Benko Gambit after the moves 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 c5 3.d5 b5 4.cxb5 a6 5.bxa6:

1.d4 gambits are some of the most important gambits in chess. When it comes to opening preparation, it makes sense to devote more time to more popular variations. This way, you can be better prepared in the lines that are more likely to happen in your games. On the other hand, it makes you more vulnerable when facing off-beat opening variations. Many tricky players try to exploit that and choose to play unconventional openings.

To avoid falling victim to such an approach, you should have something in mind against any opening your opponent may try. This may sound like something impossible, but you can learn everything essential step by step. It is especially important to be ready to face different gambits. It is hard to deal with them over the board with no prior preparation.

I play the French defence with both colours (white and black) and generally play any of the orthodox main line openings (there are many eg Advance, Exchange, Classical,Tarrasch etc giving rise to many variations as openings and defence variation eg early ...Qb6 Wade var.).

There are some gambit openings from the White side and as white I often play the Milner-Barry Gambit and have started to reacquaint myself with the Alapin-Diemer (I sometimes face the MBG as black). So far though I have not encountered a gambit line for the black side in the French and so wonder if there are any such playable black French gambit opening lines?

If anyone knows one or more I'd be interested to hear.I look forward to replies and comments, but meanwhile I will keep searching myself to find such a gambit for black in the French defence opening.....

Black has castled, and is pretty well developed, while the white king is still in the center, and white does not have one normally developed piece. You probably won't find many games with professionals playing the line, but here is one interesting draw with Nigel Short handling the black pieces:

I am a 2210 FIDE-rated player and I have played the French defence in tournaments as a primary defence to 1. e4 since I was a child. Although you may find gambit lines on the Black side in some variations (as many good answers here have shown), you will not be able to play such gambits unless White is cooperative and willing to play against them. The fact is just that there exist rather few reputable gambits for Black in the orthodox openings - the Marshall gambit in the Ruy Lupez being one of the exceptions. If you are a tactical player and like to sacrifice material, I recommend that instead of looking for questionable gambits, you aim for dynamic positions where tactical manuevers and sacrifices are likely to be an option in the middle game. The Flexible French by Moskalenko is a good reference.

There is a pawn sacrifice in the shown c5 line of the Tarrasch variation. Normally, it's temporary and black gets the c5 pawn back, but white can try to hang to it with moves like Nb3, Be3, ... although it's unlikely the best way to play the opening.

This is the most typical way to fight against hanging pawns. White usually puts his rooks on d1 and c1 while there are different options for the queen. In general, the queen is well placed on a3. From there, it attacks c5 without being exposed to oppositions with black rooks. 041b061a72