Cunningham gambit

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The basic position of the Cunningham gambit after 3.… Bf8 – e7

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The Cunningham Gambit , also known as the Cunningham Defense , is a seldom played variant of the King Jumper Gambit , an opening in the game of chess . It arises according to the sequence of moves ( see also: chess notation )

1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. f2 – f4 e5xf4 3. Ng1 – f3 Bf8 – e7

With the last bishop move, Black continues his development and keeps the option open to later move the bishop to h4 to check, which is to prevent the opponent's short castling.

White now usually plays either the classic 4. Bf1 – c4 or the move 4. Nb1 – c3, which has been popular for some years.

A very sharp sub-variant of the Cunningham defense is the gambit of the three pawns : 4. Bf1 – c4 Be7 – h4 + 5. g2 – g3 !? f4xg3 6. 0–0 g3xh2 + 7. Kg1 – h1. White now has three pawns less, but it has a big development lead and presses heavily against the f7-square in black. Black has to defend himself exactly, the best is probably to give back part of the material with 7.… d7 – d5 in order to develop his own strength.

Usually, however, the move 5. Ke1 – f1 is played on 4. Bf1 – c4 Be7 – h4 +. Although this means that White loses castling rights, the king is relatively safe on f1. The black runner, on the other hand, is very exposed and indirectly hinders the development of the black. For this reason, it is considered more solid to forego bishop chess and instead to continue with 4.… Ng8 – f6.

After the more modern move 4. Nb1 – c3, the bishop's check 4.… Be7 – h4 + is more uncomfortable for White: He does not have the relatively safe square f1 for his king, but has to go to e2 with the king. Nevertheless 4. Nb1 – c3 is even played by grandmasters . Because the knight on c3 controls the center so that the counterattack d7 – d5 can be better cushioned. In addition, White reserves the right to develop the king's bishop onto a square other than c4. Comparable variants in which the white king also goes to e2 are the Mason gambit and the Steinitz gambit of the Viennese game .

The sequence of moves of the Cunningham Gambit was first mentioned in 1706 in the manuscript of a certain Caze. However, it is unclear after whom the gambit is named: after the historian and chess player Alexander Cunningham , who tried to popularize the three-pawn gambit , or after the lawyer and chess player Alexander Cunningham of Block .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ HJR Murray : A History of Chess , Oxford University Press, 1913 (Reprint Edition 2002), pp. 844-845. ISBN 0198274033 .