Chess Opening: Northern Gambit

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:45

Who doesn't know what chess is? Probably, on earth, almost everyone at least once, but saw how a real battle unfolds on a board that is divided into sixty-four cells. And perhaps he himself took part in them more than once. It doesn't matter if it's white or black. The main thing is that chess is a game familiar to almost everyone since childhood, regardless of gender, race and nationality.

Chess

They are able to combine art, sports, gambling. They take their name from the Persian language, because chess is a check and a mat, which means "the shah is dead." Indeed, as we know, if a check is a warning, then a checkmate is death, albeit a chess one.

The most common version says that chess originated in India. There is even a beautiful legend about this. It tells about two brothers - irreconcilable rivals who owned two small kingdoms. They fought endlessly long and very bloody wars in order to take over the entire legacy of their father. And it happened to pass in those places a great sage. He heard about the brothers, saw how the people suffered from the war, and then the sage asked both of them to meet with him. The authority of the learned man was so great that the rulers of the kingdoms did not dare to disobey and arrived at the meeting. It was there that the wanderer gave them chess, punishing them so that from now on all disputes would be resolved exclusively on the board. And the brothers of the wise man obeyed, and peace came to their lands, and chess has since become a public game.

Positional Chess: The Nordic Gambit as a Start

The board on which battles unfold is divided into sixty-four equal cells of two colors, usually black and white. Figures - sixteen in each army. There are infantry soldiers, cavalry, war elephants, cannons and, of course, the king and queen. The names of the figures may be different - all this can be found in any sources dedicated to the game. Now about the variant of the so-called opening - the northern gambit.

What is a debut? This is the beginning of the party. Usually, the concept of "opening" in chess covers not only the first moves of opponents, but also the withdrawal of the main pieces to convenient positions - so to speak, the deployment of troops.

The Nordic Gambit was first used by the Danish chess player Frome in 1867. True, not very successful - the master lost three out of four games, using exactly this type of opening. Well, on the other hand, he entered the history of chess not only as a strong chess player, but also as a developer of a new type of opening.

Until the end of the 19th century, the northern gambit was very popular and was often used not only by masters, but also by amateurs. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, the opening was analyzed in detail, and defense systems were built against it, in fact,nullifying all the merits of the gambit.

Now such a beginning is not popular and is used very rarely, mainly at the amateur level.

Northern Gambit Variations

The beginning of a debut is like this:

1. e2-e4; e7-e5

2. d2-d4; e5:q43. с2-с3.

In this scenario, White gives up one, and sometimes two pawns, in return getting an opportunity for a fast and powerful attack. After all, what is needed to start an offensive? Bring out the big figures. The Northern Gambit allows, by sacrificing pawns, to open an exit for the central pieces in the field.

Black always has an option not to get involved in such a game, simply not succumbing to provocations. And the northern gambit is a real provocation, because, by substituting, White forces Black to take unnecessary steps. Again, as noted above, after the methods of protection were invented, such an opening became, frankly, no more dangerous than any other.

So, we have considered the first three moves. Next:

4. Bc4 - you can do this, or you can: 4. … sd 5. S:b2

It is very easy to make a mistake here with Black, for example: 5. … Bc4+ 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Ne2 Nxe4? 8. 0-0 Nxs3 9. Nxs3 Bxs3 10. Bxs3 0-0 11. Qg4! d6 12. Qd4! And now, there is no defense due to the pinning of the f7 pawn. This variant of the development of events hardly suits Black.

And here is a slightly different development - one of the ways to deal with such an opening:

6. Bxd5 Nf6!, and then 7. Bxq7+!

7. … Kxq7 and 8. Qxq8 Sc4+!

Black conducts the so-called "open attack":

9. Qd2!S:d2+ and 10. N:d2

Or you can just take it and refuse at the very beginning, then no gambit will work:

3. … d5!Very reliable and easy way. Then the next moves will look like this:

4. ed Q:d5 and 5. sd

Chess players about the opening

Swedish master Hans Linde, having defeated the world chess champion Wilhelm Steinitz, used exactly this opening. According to him, despite the simplicity, with the ability to use it, you can achieve the desired result.

Graham Burgess, who regularly uses this type of opening, noted that the idea of a sacrifice on the part of White is not new and was simply very successfully picked up and continued. He also always called the gambit "Nordic".

Alexander Alezin used it, but, as he himself admitted, only where losing means nothing. Gambit has not been suitable for a tournament for a long time.

Debuts

Each opening has its own characteristics, the Northern Gambit is no exception. In the so-called Slavic Gambit, Black's play is defensive in nature. They do not want to sacrifice, and they themselves do not follow the lead of the opponent. And the King's Gambit is considered one of the most difficult and, accordingly, interesting openings. Again, it all depends on how Black behaves.

Gambits appear, are used, then various methods of defense are invented, which force the opening to "fade" in the bud. Then everything starts all over again: they appear, are used, become irrelevant. But most importantly,perhaps the fact that one of the most interesting games on the planet does not lose its relevance.