Troll your friends! The Halloween Gambit!

Hi everyone, this is @IAMDAGOAT123456789 and I just wanted to say, Happy Halloween! It's different this year as during Covid, it's hard to go trick or treating without maintaining the guidelines. But that doesn't mean you cant have fun! You can still have fun with people through Zoom or any other online meeting( which, I admit, doesn't sound that fun) or meet up with your friends at a safe distance! But today, I'll be talking about the Halloween Gambit! This a gambit that you DEFINITELY should not play as your go-to, but can play for unrated or for trolling. And so I can assume you know why I'm blogging on this today.

Overview:

- Played from white

- Sacs a knight

-  leads to an AMAZING pawn structure

The first moves of the Halloween Gambit are e4,e5. This is probably the most common set of first moves and it's called the King's Pawn opening which I assume you've at least heard before at some point.

After this is the usual, nf3 or knight to f3 to develop the knight, a very common move. And about 8/10 times black will respond with 2.Nf6 or knight to f6. This is a very common position with a lot of traps and gambit that are transposed form here. But we'll be focusing on the VERY unorthodox Halloween Gambit.

After this, you play knight to c3 or Nc3. This makes this position called the 3 knights game. It's not as common as the Italian or Ruy Lopez, but it's still very common among friendly games. In fact, I think this is the first gambit where the bishop isn't developed lol. But anyways, the most common response ive seen, which is what black plays in this gambit, is Nf3. This marks the position called the 4 knights game, which can lead to some very theoretical positions once the middle game is reached.

And then you play a really weird move to troll your friends, Nxe5 or knight takes on e5. You obviously don't need to be a genius to figure out why this is a horrible move. But, for the sake of this blog, let's pretend it's a mind-blowingly genius move. Black's first idea is to simply take the knight, so let's do that

After that, you play the most simplest and the first move that becomes an idea, d4. This move attacks the knight, takes immediate control of the center, and opens up the diagonal squares for the bishop. In this position, black will usually play Nc6 or will go back to the original square. This loses tempo for black, but there's not much else to play.

After the knight retreats, you play a very simple, but annoying move for black, d5. At this point, the pawn structure is a little too ahead or far in my opinion for white, but then again, it is a troll gambit so it's alright. But anyways, this also might seem a bad move as it allows for Ne5, which is a crucial square. 

After this, you ( as white ) play f4. I personally have never been comfortable with playing f4 even in the middle game unless I have been able to castle queenside. But in this case, there is no immediate threat to attack the king just yet which is why f4 is played to attack the knight. After this, the only option for black is to retreat to g6, a VERY awkward position for a knight to be on this early in the game. This also doesn't allow for any later fianchetto ideas as the g-pawn cant move.

After, you play another annoying move for black, e5. This move is meant to attack the knight and have ultimate control over the center. If you take a closer look as well, you'll be able to tell that black's f-knight is forced to retreat back to g8. This move loses a TON of tempo for black and at this point, the pawn structure is great compensation for the sacrificed knight.

After this, a good move and the move that is played is d6. This doesn't seem like a great move at first. But is actually super legit, especially if black takes the pawn. The king is tremendously open afterwards and after awhile, black is done for.

If you'll notice, the white pawn is protecting both, the e7 and c7 squares. These are crucial squares, especially the e7, as after a check, a piece will be forced to block and the next move, the pawn can just simply capture. There's not much to play, so the best move is probably nf6, to finally develop the knight again.

In this position, there are a number of threats you can make....here is my favorite one;

Obviously, this is easy to refute, but people will still occasionally fall for it. But you can pretty much guarantee, if black falls for this gambit, you'll easily be able to win a piece in the end. 

Some facts (yeah got these facts from wikipedia lul) :

- This was actually played at the grandmaster level

- Its a relatively new gambit

- and it also called the Leipzig Gambit.

Thanks everyone, for reading all the way till here ( I bet you didn't though ) I thought that since it was halloween, it would be fit to make a blog on this gambit. It took basically my whole afternoon but in the end, I though it was worth it so as usual, plz make a comment if you can make sure to check out my other blogs too So make sure to stay safe and have a great Halloween everybody

Thank you,

@IAMDAGOAT123456789