Gambit

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This article is about the chess tactic. For alternate meanings see Gambit (disambiguation).
This article uses algebraic notation to describe chess moves.

A gambit is a chess opening in which the first player risks or sacrifices material, usually a pawn), with the hope of achieving a resulting advantageous position.[1] A gambit used to defend against a gambit is called a countergambit (e.g., Albin Countergambit).

There are three general methods in which a gambit can help a player's position. For a gambit to be sound it will typically have some degree of at least two of the following:

  • Time gain: the player accepting the gambit must take time to procure the sacrificed material and possibly must use more time to reorganize his pieces after the material is taken.
  • Generation of differential activity: Often a player accepting a gambit will decentralize his pieces or pawns and his poorly placed pieces will allow the gambiteer to place his own pieces and pawns on squares that may otherwise have been inaccessible. In addition, bishops and rooks can become more active simply because the loss of pawns often gives rise to open files and diagonals. Former world champion Mikhail Tal, one of the most extraordinary attacking players of the 20th century, once said that he had sacrificed a pawn just because "it was in his way."
  • Generation of positional weaknesses: Finally, accepting a gambit may lead to a compromised pawn structure, holes or other positional deficiencies.

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 onto his extra material. A rule of thumb often found in various primers on chess suggests that a player should get three moves 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. Of course, a player is not obliged to accept a gambit. Often, a gambit can be declined without disadvantage.

A good example is the Danish Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 (3...d5 would be a way of refusing the gambit) 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2. White has sacrificed two pawns, but his bishops are very well developed, looking to the opponent's kingside. A very 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 is too big for the moderate advantage of having a strong center.

The word "gambit" was originally applied to chess openings in 1561 by Spanish priest Rúy López de Segura, from the Italian expression dare il gambetto (to put a leg forward, i. e., to trip someone). Lopez studied this maneuver, and so the Italian word gained the Spanish form gambito that led to French gambit, which has influenced the English spelling of the word. The broader sense of "opening move meant to gain advantage" was first recorded in English in 1855.

[edit] Some gambits

Main article: List of chess gambits
This is not a true gambit by Black, since after 4.Nxe5!? Qg5! Black wins material. White can (and from this position should) play a gambit himself with 5.Bxf7+! Ke7 6.0-0! Qxe5 7.Bxg8 Rxg8 8.c3 Nc6 9.d4, when White's two pawns and rolling pawn center, combined with Black's misplaced king, give White strong compensation for the sacrificed bishop.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Edward R. Brace, An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Hamlyn, 1979, ISBN 0-600-32920-8 p. 114
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