Dominate With the Englund Gambit! Tips and Tricks For Quick/Easy Wins

The Englund Gambit is one of many openings in chess, and it's gotten pretty popular in the past few weeks. What is the Englund Gambit? The Englund Gambit is an opening for black, it starts with 1. d4, then you respond with e5.

White has a few options in this position, including Nc3 or takes. If they choose to accept the gambit, then they've fallen into your trap. There's two ways to win if you play the right moves. 

Congrats on your win! But it's very easy for white to avoid this, they could defend with the pawn instead of the knight, or they could defend with the knight instead of the bishop to avoid the check from your queen. Lets look at what would happen if they defended with the knight instead of the bishop. 

Wow, you just destroy the queenside, and all of white's pieces are crammed together. Black is definitely winning in this position. What if white doesn't take? Simple: Take over the center

     The Englund Gambit is named after the Swedish player Fritz Englund (1871 - 1933). The main line of the Englund Gambit (2.. Nc6, 3.. Qe7) was introduced by Karlis Betins (1867 - 1943). Lots of people say that the Englund Gambit isn't good, "it's just a free pawn for white, and all black gets is development" or "White has many ways to gain the advantage, the Englund Gambit is bad". But if you play the right moves, and your opponent responds with the right moves, you can win quickly. Especially in bullet or blitz games where your opponent doesn't have much time to think about a counterattack. I wouldn't recommend it for rapid though, because yes it gives quick and easy wins. But if you and your opponent don't play the correct moves, you'll end up losing in material or position.