Gambits against the Ruy Lopez

CORDEL-GAMBIT (2 PART SERIES)

Oskar Cordel (1843-1913) was not so much a top player in Germany but more thought of as a theorists on the game, with many published opening books and magazine articles to his name. Nevertheless, the author did leave a lasting legacy of two variations in the Ruy Lopez he championed: the Cordel variation and the Cordel gambit with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Bc5 4 c3 f5?! The Cordel gambit can lead to some very strange positions and there are many bizarre responses to it - but ultimately it has never proved to be strictly sound, though it is useful as a surprise weapon when you are looking for wild, tactical games. The Cordel gambit has been adopted as such by modern-day grandmasters Ivan Sokolov, Ian Rogers and Jonny Hector.

DILWORTH-VARIATION (2 PART SERIES)

You don’t need to be a superstar to receive immortality in the game – all you need is the ability to hitch your name to a popular opening system. One classic case was English amateur correspondence player and humble railway’s clerk Vernon Dilworth (1916-2004), who published analysis in the British magazine “Chess” during the early 1940s that rehabilitated an old line of the Open Lopez. Dilworth became famous overnight after his analysis was spotted by the great Mikhail Botvinnik, who used the tricky line (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Bc2 0–0 11.Nbd2 Nxf2!?) as a surprise weapon against Vassily Smylsov during the 1943/4 Moscow Championship. And the ‘Dangerous Dilworth’ is not only tricky but still alive and kicking today with many titled players over the years falling victim to it.

GAJEWSKI-GAMBIT (2 PART SERIES)

As chess gambits go, the Gajewski Gambit with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0 0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0 0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 d5!? is a relative newcomer to the game. The position after White's tenth move had been reached thousands of times with 10...c5 being universally played, before the Polish grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski revealed recently that Black has a fascinating, almost Marshall Attack-like gambit at his disposal with 10 …d5!? The introductory game came at the 2007 Czech open, when Gajewski uncorked it against the unsuspecting Kuznetsov, in a brilliant attacking game that soon became a hot candidate for novelty of the year. It was then given the seal of approval at elite level by being taken up after this by Carlsen and Leko. And in a new series of GM Boris Alterman's Gambit Guide, our gambit guru takes a closer look at the adventurous Gajewski Gambit.

HECTOR GAMBIT (3 PART SERIES)

The Ruy Lopez Exchange (or Spanish Exchange) was championed by two great world champions - first by Emmanuel Lasker as a secret weapon to take on the mighty Capablanca; and then arguably more famously by Bobby Fischer, who finely honed it by adding a cutting edge with his modern-day update of it in the 1960s. The concept of the opening is simple: Take all the pieces off the board and White wins the ending. But with the bishop pair, there are many ways for Black to counter the Exchange Lopez, and one enterprising way is to adopt an adventurous gambit made popular by the swashbuckling Swede, Jonny Hector, with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 0-0 Bg4 6 h3 Bh5!? that features in a new three-part series for Gambit Guide.

JANISCH-GAMBIT-RUY-LOPEZ (2 PART SERIES)

The Jaenisch or Schliemann Gambit in the Ruy Lopez with 3 ...f5 dates back to 1847. This provocative pawn sacrifice by black as early as move three often leads to games of a swashbuckling nature. Black dictates the action from the earliest moment - and often it can confuse the players of the white pieces. It has received a new lease of life with its adoption at elite level by Teimour Radjabov and others. And in his latest Gambit Guide series, GM Boris Alterman takes a closer look at the Jaenisch/Schliemann Gambit.

SCHLIEMANN-DEFENSE-DEFERRED (2 PART SERIES)

The Schliemann Defense Deferred, with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 f5 is, of course, very similar in nature to the more popular Schliemann Defense covered during an earlier series of Gambit Guide. It has never had a good reputation, but it remains a surprise weapon with no clear refutation. The key difference between the two is that in the deferred form Black can have a timely …b5 available. The deferred was a favorite of the original chess thinker David Bronstein, and even Viktor Korchnoi used it to draw with Anantoly Karpov during their many world championship battles; lately, Alexei Shirov has played it. And in a new series of Gambit Guide, we take a closer look at the nuances of the Schliemann Deferred.

MARSHALL-GAMBIT (10 PART SERIES)

One of the world’s first Grandmasters, America’s Frank J. Marshall (1877-1944) left behind a lasting legacy to the chess world with his revered gambit against the Ruy Lopez: the Marshall Attack with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 c3 d5! The myth goes that Marshall deliberately kept his analysis secret for seven years before playing it against Capablanca at New York 1918, but this has since been debunked by historians. Regardless of its origins, it continues to wreck havoc both at club and elite level over 90 years on - GM Ronen Har-Zvi comprehensively covered the Marshall Attack in this 10 video part series.

RIGA-VARIATION (2 PART SERIES)

The Riga Variation in the Open Ruy Lopez (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Nxe4 6 d4 exd4) was first played during a correspondence match in 1907 between the two cities of Berlin and Riga - and despite many believing it is ultimately unsound, its reputation is better than once thought and new discoveries in it were revealed in NIC YearBook 85 by Correspondence GM Peter Boll. The Riga variation is exciting and often leads to many wild sacrificial gambits galore, where, if White is unsure of what is going on, can easily lead to many a Black quick wins.

SIESTA-VARIATION (2 PART SERIES)

The Siesta Variation in the Modern Steinitz (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 f5) is a dangerous weapon against the Ruy Lopez, and is anything but sleepy. It is very similar in style to the Janisch (or Schliemann) Gambit, but can prove more potent as accepting the gambit can see White getting a rude wake-up call by being hit with a quick and ferocious kingside attack. Many believe it has Spanish origins due to the name, but it is in fact derived from the location of the 1928 Budapest tournament, held in the Siesta Sanatorium, where Jose Raul Capablanca successfully deployed it against Andreas Steiner. Capablanca viewed it then to be “too risky,” but modern day champions of the Siesta, such as the Russian GM Valeri Yandemirov, have developed the shaper play around it.