Chess960: My favorite Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit arises from position #250

To find the people who want to avoid chess' evolution into chess960, follow the money. Publishers of opening literature depend on suckers who think the newest openings book will be the one that helps them win a game — they're wrong every time, but they don't stop buying. Chess publishers lose their cash cow if their customers have to think for themselves in the opening, so they'll fight 960 as long as they can.

The suckers who believe memorized lines in the opening are useful should see that their understanding of pawn structures actually is. The skeletons of their book openings are applicable to all 960 starting positions. In this #250 game at lichess.org, the positional structures from my favorite #518 gambit arose so familiarly that only 3. Na1-b3 was a reminder that I was playing 960. Everything else — the central pawn structure, the open g-file, the piece placement — was straight out of my Bronstein Gambit playbook (1. d4 Nf6 2. g4 is more commonly known as the Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit, though I prefer to honor the great grandmaster who drew another GM with 1. d4 Nf6 2. g4).