Fried liver attack: Traxler counter Gambit Part 1
The Fried liver attack, A.K.A Knight attack, is a line in the “Italian game: Two knights defense” variation. I already covered a gambit in the Fried liver attack which is called “Poniziani-Steinitz Gambit”, but enough talk. Let’s get into it.
To enter the Traxler counter gambit, you will have to play the Two knights defense and white have to play the move Ng5. The point of Ng5 is to attack the weak f7 square and fork the queen and the rook in the corner. The main line is the move d5, but we are here to play spicy chess. And after 4…Bc5, we enter the “Traxler counter gambit”.
- - - - - - - - Part 1 - - - - - - - - -
White has 2 options, take the f7 pawn with the bishop or the knight. We will look at the most natural Nxf7 first, which is a normal looking move. Forking the queen and the rook. But black has a stunning move here, and that move is the start of the big problem…
The move is Bxf2+. It is a sacrifice to open up the white king. White can actually ignore the bishop and say he has an advantage(+1.5 according to engine, but screw them), but it will be really hard to defend the up coming attack after Kf1 and Qe7.
Taking the bishop with the king is the best and the most played move after 5…Bxf2+. But after 6. Kxf2 Nxe4+, we enter the mainline in the Traxler counter gambit.
In this position, white can play 7 king moves. But only 2 of them survives. If you are anything below 1600 it is basically playing the Russian roulette and just hope you head will not get banged off.
The best move according to the engine is the move 7. Kg1. Just hide the king behind the pawns. The second best move is the move 7. Ke3. just bravely runs you king toward the center of the board. White will survive but it kind of throws away all the advantage.
Black has a 74% win rate in the Nxf7 line. Engine says it is better for white but it is really dangerous and screw engines.
