A Defense to the Smith-Morra Gambit?

The most testing lines against the 2...Nf6 Alapin are the ones where white postpones d2-d4 for a while. Sadlly enough for Morraheads, this is not an option via the Morra move order.

Esserman's lines are easily dealt by numerous means.

Simplest is 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cd4 3.c3 Nf6 4.e5 Nd5 5.Nf3 (I won't bother commenting on 5.Qxd4, since he does not really analyse something here) d6 (not the only move, still perfectly fine, and simple) 6.Qxd4 e6 7.Nbd2 Nc6 8.Bb5 Bd7 9.Bxc6 Bxc6 10.Nc4 f6! 11.ed6 and now instead of his not-analysed suggestion 11...Nb6 (which isn't bad), GM Baklan played the natural 11...b5! 12.Qe4 Qc8! 13.Na5 Bd7, when white has to settle for equality ASAP with 14.c4 bc4 15.Nxc4 Nb6 16.Nxb6, as played in ICCF, and being safer than 16.Nfd2, which gave Black the better part of a draw in Manca- Baklan, Val Gardena op. 2912.

qwerty, It was nice to see your game.  Attempting to play that typical open Sicilian style set up with 7...Qc7 can get Black in trouble in the Smith-Morra because White's c-file is open.  Theory calls for 7...Nge7.  White's 11 Nd5 impresses me.  

Anyhow, you weathered the storm and proved your endgame skills.

I have tried 2..Qc7 against a well-known aficando of the Smith Morra,... after trying to refute it several times in Blitz, he went to a Maroczy Bind formation, which may or may not be good,... 3.c4, cd4: 4. Qd4: Nc6 is one possibility,..

Try it, not much theory and at least you will not get mated in 15 moves.

Another option for accepting the gambit, instead of e6 you play the far less commen but quite sound a6 preparing Nf6 and the intended Bg4 with the idea of exchaning on f3 and halting whites attack. If black divertes with for instance Bg5 instead of Qe2 you can respon e6! with the idea that the bishop normally is not well placed on g5 in those positions.

@ Kijiri: I'm afraid your "analysis" does not hold more than a waterdrop.

8.Qe2? is a well-known lemon, which plays straight into Black's plan.

What would you recommend for white? Acording to my openings book the other tried moves in this position instead of Qe2 is:

Has this line been refuted recently? It's been a while since I looked at the material.

If you play a lot of blitz, it is in my opinion not worth accepting the gambit, instead consider declining with Nf6.

I would recommend playing some other opening. Anyway, if one does insist playing the Morra, then 8.Bf4 and 8.Be3 are best, and approximately equal. Esserman covers both in his book.

McNastyMac, Isn't it funny how when you do 4...e6, White will still go Bc4 anyway?  Smith-Morra players are such determined attackers!

Perhaps white can afford to go Bc4 after e6 because black has made another pawn move instead of getting his pieces off the back rank, meanwhile white is developing another piece and preparing to castle. Don't forget, white not only sacrifices a pawn but also has the ability to sacrifice pieces because of his lead in development.

As a Sicilian player I used to be dismissive of the Smith-Morra too, that stopped when I began actually doing analysis of my wins against it and realized I was only winning most of the time because white missed tactical shots that almost always arise after the gambit is accepted. Now I play the gambit myself as white, and it's one of my favorite openings to play from both sides. Some of the highest rated opponents I've beaten on this site I've beaten with the Smith-Morra. Yes it's often because they make mistakes in defending, but it's hard not to make a mistake when there's so much pressure. It's a narrow path to walk, a path only wide enough for one as Tal would say.

Actually black has two transposition options: not only the Alapin after 1.e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. c3 Nf6 (or 3... d5), but also the French or the open Sicilian with 1. e4 c5 2. d4 e6. Now, 3. Nf3 leads to the e6 Sicilian, while 3. c3 d5 4. e5 is the advance variation of the French. Granted, most Sicilian players wouldn't feel comfortable playing the French, but that's also true about most Morra Gambit players.

3...d5 is not good, since Black has already taken on d4 and c3 is available for the b1 knight.

1.e4 c5 2.d4 e6?! is also not terribly good due to 3.d5, which is not the most desirable Schmidt-Benoni for Black.

Thanks for the comment pfren. I wasn't aware of the 3.d5 transposition (and perhaps it's not common knowledge at all, as I had a 2100 reply 2..e6 in an OTB game recently), I'd better look into it.

Now for an ego-crusher go analyze the game and see all the mistakes your opponent made that let you off the hook. Better yet post it here so we all can analyze it.

It's no more frustrating to lose playing gambits than losing normally.I actually think it's less frustrating since even if you lose with the Smith-Morra you know you went for it and played fun, exciting chess.

A lot of endgames with just an extra pawn are drawn. Thus if black makes a mistake he loses, while if white makes a mistake he often still gets a draw.

Perhaps some IMs and GMs who are condescending of the gambit are so because they're jealous that at their level where people never make mistakes they can't play them. Instead they must play things like the Berlin Wall defense.

Congratulations on the win, and sorry if I seemed a bit touchy, I just get defensive of my gambit openings since people are wrongly being condescending to them all the time.

When I first started chess I read and heard from so many people that "The Smith-Morra gambit is an unsound opening, etc" that I started to view this gambit with condescension too. Then as I analyzed my wins against it I saw there was almost always that moment in the game where white would suddenly get a big spike of advantage, just that my opponents were often missing this opportunity.

As I recall, at least once this spike of white advantage was because they could have done a bishop sacrifice on d5, and this was on a game where I had played e6 as I used to use the Nge7 lines before switching to what I use now, the kingside fianchetto variation.

This is kind of a Smith-Morra, with the gambit on c3.

#49 is how NOT to play the Morra as white (4.c3?! Nf6! and white has no convenient way to defend the e4 pawn, leaving aside the meek 5.Qxd4).

Use the Chicago defense with the rook lift and you should use the extra pawn.