Halloween gambit
The basic position of the Halloween gambit after 4. Nf3xe5 |
The Halloween Gambit or Müller-Schulze Gambit is an opening variant in chess that results from the four knights game . The ECO code is C 47 .
It arises after the moves 1. e2 – e4 e7 – e5 2. Ng1 – f3 Nb8 – c6 3. Nb1 – c3 Ng8 – f6 4. Nf3xe5 .
White sacrifices a knight against a pawn. After 4.… Nc6xe5 5. d2 – d4 he has a strong pawn center and will subsequently gain further tempo by attacking the black knights . Whether this is a sufficient compensation is doubtful, but the white initiative is not without danger, especially in blitz games .
The gambit was played by Carl Göring as early as 1873 . In 1877 it was mentioned in the Deutsche Schachzeitung , and in 1888 also in Oskar Cordel's Guide to Chess Theory. At that time the variant was called Gambit Müller and Schulze . This name did not refer to specific chess players but was meant to express that the opening was preferred by amateurs. Later authors like Paul Keres in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings (1974) only mentioned them in footnotes. The move sequence 5… Ne5 – g6 6. e4 – e5 Nf6 – g8 7. Bf1 – c4 d7 – d5 8. Bc4xd5 c7 – c6 was considered a refutation. An analysis in the chess magazine Randspringer (1993) questioned this assessment. However, the former correspondence chess world champion Hans Berliner is of the opinion that after the next moves, Black will be able to play 9. Bd5 – b3 Bc8 – e6 10. 0–0 Be6xb3 11. a2xb3 Ng8 – e7 12. Nc3 – e4 Ne7 – f5 13. c2 – c3 h7 –H5 has an advantage. In his book The Chess Advantage in Black and White (p. 328), published in 2004, GM Larry Kaufman claims that the Halloween gambit with Jan Pinski's move order 4.… Nxe5 5. d4 Nc6 6. d5 Bb4! 7. dxc6 Nxe4 8. Qd4 Qe7 can be refuted.
The name Halloween-Gambit comes from the German computer scientist Steffen A. Jakob, who let the chess program Crafty play several thousand games under the nickname "Brause" with this opening in the Internet Chess Club .
literature
- Maurits Wind, Stefan Bücker : When Goering threw his moves. In: Stefan Bücker (Ed.): Kaissiber , 20/2005, pp. 22–51, ISSN 0948-3217 .
- Maurits Wind: Halloween surprises. In: Stefan Bücker (Ed.): Kaissiber , 22/2006, pp. 52–58.
- Maurits Wind: New in the coffin nail variant. In Stefan Bücker (Ed.): Kaissiber , 27/2007, pp. 24–28.