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Smith-Morra Gambit =/+?

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sloughterchess

Due to playing the Smith-Morra Gambit aggressively and losing to a Master, I decided to test the gambit by playing Black against Houdini 3 at 240/40 with the software at the recommended level:

1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 (Houdini has this as =/+ and never gave White equality at any time in this game)

4.Nxc3 e6 (Black deliberately creates a hole on d6 so that White will occupy it)

5.Bf4 a6 (One thing that defenders in the Smith-Morra may not realize is that Black doesn't have to play d6)

6.Bd6 (Since Houdini can't find anything better than this is an ominous sign for White.) Bxd6

7.Qxd6 Ne7 8.Nf3 Nbc6 9.Be2 (Houdini obviously doesn't like Bc4) Qb6

10.Rb1 Qb4 11.Qd2 (Neither Qxb4 or Qg3 are much better) O-O -/+; here are a few additional moves:

12.O-O d5! This is the typical freeing move in the Sicilian.

13.exd5 Nxd5 14.Rbc1 Rd8 (or Nf6 -/+; there is no compensation for the pawn)

The Smith-Morra Gambit may be unsound and will only work when used as a surprise against an unprepared opponent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FakeName6

The smith-Morra is the best!

SocialPanda

But white didn´t play the main line, this could be considered the main line after 4... e6 (with 5.Nf3 as Rybkashredder told you):

As recommended by Marc Esserman in "Mayhem in the Morra".

UIUCBoss

Following an engine in the Smith morra will only lead to trouble. For example, in the larsen line,

e4 c5 d4 xd4 c3 xc3 nxc3 nc6 nf3 e6 bc4 a6 0-0 qc7, esserman gives Nd5. Feed that to your engine and it'll say white is completely lost. However, in my opinion, black is dead. You can try exploring on your own. Just to test my own Houdini3 out, I let it run at that position for 10 hours. at about an hour, houdini gave -0.7, which means there's compensation for the knight. At the end of 10 hours, it gave -0.04. Don't trust your engines