More on Morra

Submitted by billwall on Sun, 05/11/2008 at 5:53pm.

The Morra or Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4) is an interesting gambit in the Sicilian Defense. I co-wrote two books on the Smith-Morra with Ken Smith a few years ago and collected as many examples of the Smith-Morra Accepted and the Smith-Morra Declined as I could. Some openings in the Sicilian transpose into a delayed Smith-Morra as this game does. It came from a correspondence game in 1955. White was able to make a few sacrifices to win, but Black may have missed a better line. The opening itself is named after Pierre Morra (1900-1969) and Ken Smith (1930-1999). The opening is not really played at the grandmaster level very much, and is mostly seen at club level and correspondence play.

» posted in Amazing Games

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by leonelcm - 44 hours ago
Mexico City Mexico

Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 118

Thanx because I didn't know this Sicilian's variation. Both postings are very instructuve in this opening...

by santiR - 4 days ago
United States

Member Since: Apr 2008
Member Points: 37

thanks for posting billwall! i love it!

by depthshaman - 4 days ago
United States

Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 208

the morra gambit is alright, but blacks response there was poor. In Richard Palliser's book "fighting the anti-sicilians" he outlines a a defense for black that leaves white struggling to justify the pawn sacrafice. Here's the better way for black to develop:

by Cuhulainn - 4 days ago
United States

Member Since: Feb 2008
Member Points: 657

I'm not a fan. I used it recently and won with it. But its a frustrating opening as you constantly feel behind. The advantage is that it also makes your opponent feel constantly pressured to survive, and it creates positions which if you have good familiarity with them, you can win based on even a slight mistake by your opponent.

Gambits have a hard time in correspondence chess, because in OTB chess creating an attacking position can cause great problems for your opponent. But if your opponent decides to use the time that correspondence gives, they can use their piece advantage to gain a victory.

by normajeanyates - 4 days ago
london [often in calcutta india] England

Member Since: Jan 2008
Member Points: 129

at correspondence, why was black playing as if it was a 5 0 blitz?

by EnGliSHCheSsPlAy - 4 days ago
Italy Italy

Member Since: Dec 2007
Member Points: 223

nice game

by duub - 5 days ago
Amsterdam Netherlands

Member Since: Nov 2007
Member Points: 2

Great game! But black could have payed better in the start. May be Nf6 is a bit too soon. Perhaps black could delay the development of that Knight and keep the possibility Ne7 open (compare some games of Timman). The point of Bb4 is to take on c3 and play Ne7-Ng6 in order to keep the bishop from f4 and to place a piece on e5 (I think)

by Singa - 5 days ago
Singapore

Member Since: Sep 2007
Member Points: 210

By playing, .....4)dc3 Black embarks on a dangerous journey of no return! Black could have avoided all of White's "pyro-technic" by simply pushing his d pawn to d3! and gets a comfortably equal game. The moral is "don't be greedy" in the Opening stage of a game.