The Evans Gambit by GM Magesh and GM Arun

The Evans Gambit is still one of the most dangerous weapons to deal with. In the recently concluded Copper State International closed GM tournament, this opening happened to surface a few times. It was employed twice by the promising youngster Mackenzie Molner who successfully made a GM norm in this tournament. Considering the nature of this opening, it was not surprising that Molner used it in his must-win last round game against John Bartholomew to obtain his GM norm.

The Evans Gambit is named after a Welsh sea Captain William Davies Evans. The earliest game in this opening is believed to have been played in the year 1827. Given that attacking the opponent's king with a raw and ruthless approach was the early Chess trend, one can understand how well this opening would have been received by the fans and players.

Our first game is the norm clinching game for Molner against Bartholomew that we talked about earlier.

Quite an interesting battle in the opening. The beauty of this opening is that most of the games played in this opening are decided right there. If black manages to defend well, he keeps his extra material and emerges from the opening better; but if white continues to launch deadly mating threats on the black king, then he manages to win the game. Either way the game is pretty much decided out of the opening.

Our second game is when the Champion of the recently concluded National Open in Vegas, Timur Gareev had to face the wrath of this opening. Fortunately for him, he sailed out of it pretty smoothly.

A very interesting opening indeed. In practical play, this is definitely one of the most deadly weapons as the room for error for black is very small. The tiniest mistake leads to disaster. Hopefully our readers enjoyed the fireworks from the Evans Gambit.