History of the Botez Gambit

      The botez gambit. One of the most brilliant and ingenious chess tactics of this decade. Many people may see as stupidity, a mistake, but it is so much more than that. Just like the bongcloud attack, it is one of the most misunderstood tactics in the game of chess. I play it quite a lot, definitely by choice.

      First, let’s look at the facts. The botez gambit essentially means that you give up your queen, usually accidentally, for no tactical advantage or anything. The term was coined by popular chess streamer Alexandra Botez. She came up with the term after repeatedly blundering her queen, which is understandable because of how she multitasks running the stream and playing chess. The term has become popular lingo in the chess community.

      Now, most people think that when you botez gambit, you lose the game. Most people would usually just resign. I think, however, that you can not only recover from a botez gambit, but potentially use on to your advantage.

      What!? That sounds insane right? And yeah, maybe it is, but I do think that some good can come from a botez gambit, but you have to play it right. Just like the bongcloud attack, playing the botez gambit can throw your opponent off mentally, giving you an opportunity to strike. After taking your queen, your opponent will probably think they have an easy game ahead of them, and won’t worry about their tactics and strategy so much. The goal is to use this to your advantage.

      I understand that you probably doubt me, So I decided to put my money where my mouth is and play a game and purposely botez gambit. Aaaaand well, you know what, I’ll just show you what happened.

      Ok fine, so it didn’t go that well. But that isn’t the gambits’ fault, I’m just not good enough to play it. I’m sure the people reading this who are better than me can see a much of tactics I could have used to win. If I spent weeks and weeks studying ways in which I could play off a botez gambit, I’d probably be able to play it and win a game, at least at my level. I just don’t have that kind of time. I have to eat and watch netflix and then eat and then not do my homework, It’s a lot of work.

      In conclusion, you probably don’t want to play the botez gambit. The point that I’m trying to get across is that it is not an automatic loss. Being able to play off a misstep like this, and potentially even use it to your advantage, is such an important chess skill. If you learn to botez gambit and succeed, you will become an incredible chess player.

      - daishukyo