Punish your opponent's lack of knowledge: Englund Gambit

Punish your opponent's lack of knowledge: Englund Gambit

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Today I am starting my first blog series: punish your opponent's lack of knowledge. In this series, you will learn about many popular traps and how to refute them.


Englund Gambit is a very popular trap which is reached after:

Now, black is giving a full pawn. So white will take it. As black, your goal will be how to attack it. White will try to defend it. Very straightforward moves.

So now as black don't have other ways to defend the pawn, he will try to attack with his queen with Qb4+.

Very easy trap to remember, right? Therefore, it is gaining popularity and people are fearing it especially those who don't know about it, just heard the name. Some days ago, I tried Englund gambit at 1700 level. I realized none of my opponents knew Englund Gambit, but heard the name. So there were so afraid that they played d5 instead of taking it. But that is not the best way to refute it. The critical position reached after move 5

You may disagree with me that the material is equal and thus the position is equal. However white has some overwhelming attack here and position is already +3 for white.


Hope after reading this blog, you will never fall for the trap and destroy your opponent. Remember, Englund Gambit is a terrible opening and you should never lose against this. Please write in the comment where I can improve and whether you still believe 1.. e5 is not a blunder as many people believe.