I recently heard of an opening called the "Colorado Gambit". My chess opening is pretty weak and my friend suggested I might try it. What is Colorado Gambit and what is the reasoning behind the moves?
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41. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 f5?! is the Colorado Gambit. If your opening is pretty weak, I would definitely not recommend even studying the Colorado Gambit. You will spoil your game.– NM Wesley FalcaoJul 29, 2014 at 13:52
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Thanks. Well, do you have any better opening?– AbhishekJul 29, 2014 at 13:55
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study the games of Capablanca and Lasker and see the openings they played. You will learn a lot from them. chessgames.com/player/jose_raul_capablanca.html chessgames.com/perl/chessplayer?pid=19149– NM Wesley FalcaoJul 29, 2014 at 13:56
3 Answers
[FEN ""]
1. e4 Nc6 2. Nf3 f5?!
This is the Colorado Gambit.
If you are looking for a good solid opening, try looking up some of the following:
- The Four Knights Game
- Italian Game
- The Ruy Lopez
- The French Defence
- The Sicilian Defence
- Queens Gambit
This is more than enough for the beginning. All the best!
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Maybe it was done in order to avoid spam? Either way, I edited my post and added links for all openings, so its not a problem anymore.– vs97Aug 17, 2014 at 11:00
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@Fischer You need 10+ rep to put more than two links in a post. As Vas87thRD says, it's to prevent spam. Aug 17, 2014 at 16:51
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@Fischer No idea. Try asking on Stack Exchange Meta if you can't find it by searching. Aug 17, 2014 at 19:48
First, an off-beat opening like this isn't going to help you improve. You might get some cheap wins but you aren't learning anything.
However, I've never seen this gambit and am fairly intrigued by it. The natural moves that you're likely to see (e5,Nc3,d3) score really bad for white. White can only really play 3.exf5 after which 3...d5 wins the pawn back, gives black an equal share of the center and a lead in development. The resulting pawn structure reminds of a mirror-image Boleslavsky structure in the Sicilian in that black could get receive a very good endgame if he could get e5 in and trade it for white's d-pawn. I'm not sure how all the tactics work out (especially after 5. Bb5) but it looks interesting enough to take a look at especially given how little theory there is in 1...Nc6.
9 years later...
The idea behind the Colorado Gambit is that if Black successfully exchanges their f5 pawn with White’s e4 pawn, they might be able to gain a foothold in the centre and use the half-open f file for their Rook. If Black successfully gains back the pawn and manages to play ...e5, they’ll be fine. This is helped by several traps lying in wait for an unwary White.
On the other hand, Black seriously weakens their King’s position and the h5-e8 diagonal. And after the mainline 3.exf5 d5, the e5 square is weak along with a backward “e” pawn.
[Event "Colorado Gambit"]
[FEN "RNBQKBNR/PPPPPPPP/8/8/8/8/pppppppp/rnbqkbnr b KQkq - 1"]
1.e4 Nc6 2.Nf3 f5?! 3.exf5 d5 4.Bb5! {White wants to exert control over the e5 square by exchanging pieces that control it} Bxf5 5.Ne5! Bd7 (5...Qd6?! 6.d4 Nf6 7.O-O e6 8.Bf4) 6.Bxc6! (6.Qh5+?! g6 7.Nxg6 Nf6 8.Qh4 hxg6! 9.Qxh8 Nb4! {Black has good counterplay}) 6...Bxc6 (6...bxc6? 7.Qh5+ g6 8.Nxg6 Nf6 9.Qh4 {Now there's no more ...Nb4}) 7.d4! (7.Qh5+?! g6 8.Nxg6 Nf6 9.Qh4 Rg8 10.Nxf8 d4! {With some complications}).
White has control over the central e5 square and Black’s backward “e” pawn. White also has 3 minor pieces to fight for the e5 square while Black has only 2 pieces to defend it.