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My impression of the word "gambit" is the sacrifice of a pawn or several pawns at the opening stage of a chess game. However, based on the definition on Wikipedia, a gambit (from ancient Italian gambetto, meaning "to trip") is a chess opening in which a player, more often White, sacrifices material, usually a pawn, with the hope of achieving a resulting advantageous position.

The phrase "usually a pawn" seems to imply that a gambit could be a sacrifice of other pieces. Am wondering what are examples of gambits that sacrifice a knight, or a bishop, or a rook, or even the queen, or a combination of these pieces?

I am not talking about blunders at the opening stage that cause loss of material. I am asking about openings that stand the test of time where one side willfully sacrifices some material other than pawns to earn some advantage.

A related question: What is the "biggest" gambit that is still being played at the master's or above level? That is, a gambit that white sacrifices a combination of biggest value of pieces and yet obtained enough advantage development and/or space; at the same time, the game is somewhat acceptable for black as well.

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  • 9
    Look up the Muzio gambit in the King's gambit. There white sacrifices numerous pieces to get an attack.
    – Scounged
    Commented Dec 9, 2018 at 8:10
  • 1
    I know this is the opening line of Wikipedia's article, but to be more precise: "gamba" is leg (old as well as new Italian), and to get somebody off their feet in say wrestling would be "gambettare" ( conjit.cactus2000.de/showverb.en.php?verb=gambettare&pas=1 although I'd think in modern Italian you'd say "sgambettare", with the "s-" as in italian.stackexchange.com/questions/6888/… ). So "gambetto" (in old & new Italian) could be translated as "the tripping up" --- a noun, not a verb like "tripping up" or "to trip" as you/wiki have.
    – user3445853
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 14:23

13 Answers 13

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27

This is kind of out there (virtually nobody plays it as white and even fewer allow it as black) but there is a rather crazy queen sacrifice line in the Grand Prix:

[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1 "]
1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Ng5 Nf6 5.Bc4 Bg4!? 6.Bxf7+ Kd7 7.Qxg4+ Nxg4 8.Be6+ Kc6 9.Bxg4

5...Bg4!? by black is quite rare and combative, inviting (daring) white to initiate the festivities where 5...e6 instead is calmer. So white takes it up and sacrifices the queen for just two minors and the hope of long-term play against black's lack of development. Yes, there isn't any quick tactical win, just long-term pressure while down a queen.

The position has occurred several times in master play (check the lichess database) but is extremely rare, and most examples not recent. It was even featured on chessgames.com many years back: http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1648780

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  • Grand Prix players typically play 2. Nc3 for the very purpose of preventing 2...d5.
    – Quintec
    Commented Dec 9, 2018 at 23:48
  • 1
    I have heard it said that 3 minors defeats a queen so this isn't ridiculously implausible.
    – Joshua
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 17:26
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A commonly known knight sacrifice by white is the Fried Liver Attack:

[FEN ""]
[ECO "C57"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5?! (5... Na5 {The main line.} 6. Bb5+ c6 7. dxc6 bxc6 {Black has compensation in form of initiative for the pawn.}) 6. Nxf7!? (6. d4 {The Lolli variation.}) Kxf7 7. Qf3+ Ke6 8. Nc3

White has a strong attack against the king in the middle of the board.

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The Cochrane Gambit:

[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7

This is relatively sound gambit, Topalov has played it against Kramnik.

The Traxler Gambit:

[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Ng5 Bc5 5. Nxf7 Bxf2 6. Kf1 Qe7 7. Nxh8

White does have an option of taking on f7 with the bishiop 5. Bxf7 which leads to only a pawn sacrifice and less complicated position, but black does allow for a greater material sacrifice.

Gambit in Ruy Lopez. I don't remember the name of this, but it is a piece sacrifice.

[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. d4 fxe4
5. Nxe5 Nxe5 6. dxe5 c6 7. Nc3 cxb5 8. Nxe4

There is also a gambit in the Sveshnikov:

[FEN ""]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6
5. Nc3 e5 6. Ndb5 d6 7. Bg5 a6 8. Na3 b5
9. Bxf6 gxf6 10. Nd5 f5 11. Bxb5 axb5 12. Nxb5

It appears to be relatively sound as Alexey Shirov used on several occasions. White has a different option to sacrifice a piece 11. Nxb5, but this line is less popular.

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    +1, the Cochrane is the only one of these that has been played at high level in decades, namely in that single Topalov game.
    – RemcoGerlich
    Commented Dec 10, 2018 at 14:58
  • How is the last one ("gambit in Ruy Lopez") good for white? I don't see any advantage.
    – user21820
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 5:17
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    @user21820, black is undeveloped and has problems finishing development, and their king is weak and stuck in the center. the usual move for black here is 8...d5 giving back pawn, 8...Be7 for example is a mistake, since after this move black can take on d6 with a tempo, or 8...Be7, 9. 0-0 Nh6 10. Bxh6 an white king is too open. Having said that, white's sacrifice is probably not fully sound, but white does have some compensation and black has to be very careful.
    – Akavall
    Commented Dec 12, 2018 at 3:41
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    Thanks for your reply! I see that lichess Stockfish 10+ thinks that Black only has a slight advantage despite the significant material imbalance.
    – user21820
    Commented Dec 12, 2018 at 14:33
21

The 'Halloween Gambit' or 'Müller-Schulze Gambit' is a knight gambit in the (often characterized as dull) Four Knights Game:

[FEN ""]
[White "Blokje"]
[Black "Platypussy"]
[StartPly "7"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5 Nxe5 5. d4 Nc6 6.d5 Ne5 7.f4 Ng6 8.e5 Ng8 9.Bd3 Bb4 10.O-O Bxc3 11.bxc3 d6 12.e6 fxe6 13.dxe6 Nf6 14.g4 O-O 15.g5 Ne8 16.f5 Ne5 17.Re1 Nxd3?? 18.e7 (5... Ng6 {This is the old refutation, but it's still hard to defend.} 6. e5 Ng8 7. Bc4 d5 8. Bxd5 c6)

As the famous Dutch writer Tim Krabbé phrases it:

This [4. Nxe5] irritated me. I vaguely knew about this move - not as a real opening, but as some sort of a student's joke, something silly that might be played at the end of a long blitz-and-boozing session. Wasn't this the 'Irish Gambit', the one with the anecdote where they asked the inventor on his death bed how he had thought of it, and he had answered: 'I didn't see it was protected'?

Even though a 'refutation' had already been published in the mid 50s, it's surprisingly hard to defend for Black, especially in blitz games. The Tim Krabbé article I linked to, though somewhat old, is a nice introduction; it features several games where IMs and GMs are beaten by a lower-rated player with this gambit.

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The Perenyi Gambit is an important theoretical variation that has been favored by GMs like J.Polgar or A.Shirov. White sacrifices at least one piece, and often two:

[FEN ""]
[ECO "C57"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nd4 Nf6 5. Nc3 a6 6. Be3 e6 7. g4!? e5 8. Nf5 g6 9. g5 (9.Bg2) gxf5 10. exf5 d5 11. Qf3 d4

See, for instance, Polgar-Anand, 1999.

Or this game by Svidler against Gelfand.

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13

Not sure if this is considered a gambit, but one of the lines of the Steinitz variation of the Caro Kann defense involves white sacrificing a knight:

[FEN "rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1 "]
[Event "IBM Man-Machine, New York USA"]
[Site "New York, NY USA"]
[Date "1997.05.??"]
[Round "6"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Deep Blue"]
[Black "Garry Kasparov"]
[ECO "B17"]
[PlyCount "37"]
[StartPly "14"]

1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nd7 5.Ng5 Ngf6 6.Bd3 e6 7.N1f3 h6 8.Nxe6 Qe7 9.O-O fxe6 10.Bg6+ Kd8 11.Bf4 b5 12.a4 Bb7 13.Re1 Nd5 14.Bg3 Kc8 15.axb5 cxb5 16.Qd3 Bc6 17.Bf5 exf5 18.Rxe7 Bxe7 19.c4 1-0

There are only a few games involving this sacrifice, and this is due to the position requiring accurate play from white to keep the advantage.

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    I think this isn't seen often because the position is really hard for black to defend and so he shouldn't go into it in the first place. Pretty sure Kasparov entered it by accident, too.
    – Allure
    Commented Dec 9, 2018 at 11:12
  • True. I read this somewhere and wanted to quote the source, but couldn't remember it. Feel free to edit my post if you find a source. Thanks for your remarks!
    – Wais Kamal
    Commented Dec 9, 2018 at 16:34
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The Frankenstein-Dracula variation of the Vienna game features a Rook sacrifice by Black (effectively an exchange sacrifice however, since the Knight will not escape).

[FEN ""]
1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.Bc4 Nxe4 4.Qh5 Nd6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.Nb5 g6 7.Qf3 f5 8.Qd5 Qe7 9.Nxc7+ Kd8 10.Nxa8

Impressively, this variation seems to favour Black.

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  • Then why it does not have the word "gambit" in its name?
    – Zuriel
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 21:01
  • @Zuriel beats me.
    – Allure
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 21:34
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Légal Trap is one of my most favorite games. It's just so simple, and yet gives a powerful reminder of what sacrifices can allow you to do. White sacrifices the Queen, but in exchange Black concedes the game!

[FEN ""]
[ECO "C57"]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 d6 4. Nc3 Bg4?! 5. h3 Bh5? 6. Nxe5! Bxd1?? 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 8. Nd5#
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  • 13
    Does an opening trap really constitute a gambit?
    – Bladewood
    Commented Dec 11, 2018 at 2:32
  • 5
    This is not really a sacrifice.
    – JiK
    Commented Dec 12, 2018 at 1:38
4

The Muzio Gambit in the King's Gambit is pretty well-known:

[FEN ""]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 (4... Bg7 {About as common on Lichess in the 1600-2000 range as 4... g4. If you're going to play for the Muzio, you'll have to be happy with reaching this position about half the time.}) 5. O-O!? gxf3

This is virtually unseen at the GM level, but is very dangerous at lower levels. I could find only one game between two GMs: a blitz game between Hikaru Nakamura and Dmitry Andreikin at the 2010 World Blitz TournamentNakamura v Andreikin in 2010, which Nakamura won.

[FEN ""]
[Event "Wch Blitz 5th"]
[Site "https://lichess.org/iNs71Tbl"]
[Date "2010.11.18"]
[Round "36"]
[White "Nakamura, Hikaru"]
[WhiteElo "2741"]
[Black "Andreikin, Dmitry"]
[BlackElo "2683"]
[ECO "C37"]
[Opening "King's Gambit Accepted, Muzio Gambit, Wild Muzio Gambit"]
[Result "1-0"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. O-O gxf3 6. Qxf3 Bh6 7. d4 Qh4 8. Nc3 Nc6 9. Nd5 Kd8 10. c3 d6 11. Nxf4 Nge7 12. g3 Qg4 13. Qg2 Bd7 14. h3 Qg8 15. Nh5 Bxc1 16. Raxc1 Qg5 17. g4 Ng6 18. Rce1 Rf8 19. Qg3 Qh4 20. Qxh4+ Nxh4 21. Nf6 Ng6 22. Nxh7 Rh8 23. Ng5 Be8 24. Bxf7 Ke7 25. Kg2 Rf8 26. Bb3 Bd7 27. Kg3 Na5 28. Bf7 Nh8 29. e5 Nxf7 30. exd6+ Kxd6 31. Rf6+ Kd5 32. Nxf7 Nc6 33. b3 Rae8 34. Rc1 Ke4 35. d5 Ne5 36. Re1+ Kxd5 37. Rd1+ Ke4 38. Rf4+ Ke3 39. Re1+ Kd2 40. Rxe5 Bc6 41. Rxe8 Rxe8 42. g5 Re3+ 43. Kh4 Bd7 44. Rd4+ 1-0
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The Luccini Gambit sacs a rook.

[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. d3 f5 5. Ng5 f4 6. Nf7 Qh4

The Nakhmanson gambit sacs some pawns and a bishop

[FEN ""]
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Nc3 dxc3 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qd5+
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2

There is the Bronstein Gambit in the Two-knights Defence

[FEN ""]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.d3 h6 7.Nf3 e4 8.dxe4
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The Halloween gambit(dubious) sacrifises a knight for a large centre: 1.e4 e4 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nxe5?!

The optimal line is shown here: 4...Nxe5 5.d4 Ng6 6.e5 Ng8 7.Bc4 d5!? 8.Bd5 c6 9.Bc4/9.Bb3.

             r1bqkbnr/pp3ppp/2p3n1/4P3/2BP4/2N5/PPP2PPP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 1 9
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    I don't think this improves on @Glorfindel's answer...
    – Evargalo
    Commented Aug 5, 2020 at 6:19
0

Look up the Jerome Gambit in the Italian, where a bishop is sacrificed. It's not sound, but it's a lot of fun to play in bullet chess.

I found this old post because I was looking for information on it. I just learned the name even though I've been using it since I started started playing bullet in February. When my opponent tries pushing a6 and b5 to attack the bishop on c4 and I've used this tempos to develop the knight and open up the queen's bishop with d3.

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