Medusa Gambit Madness 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g5

Im sorry, but this is a really garbage opening.

Im sorry, but this is a really garbage opening.

You are entitled to your opinion. However I normally do not reject an opening before

even testing it in blitz games. I normally test my new chess opening or gambit against

my chess engine Firefly (2350) because this engine is a good emulation of a strong
human chess player. If the opening I am testing is faulty I will know right away
because I would not win with it against Firefly. Firefly does not make errors like
mate in 5 or even mate in 7 and it does not make the kind of errors like Kramnik

did in his match against a chess engine where he walked into a mate in one. I also
test the opening in an engine tournament with the chess engines that I have such

as Houdini 1.5a. If the opening is really bad then it should lose all its games.

Long ago I had discovered the opening 1.d4 Nf6 2.g4 gambitting the g pawn. I

had called it the Queens Pawn Grob because it was a combination of the queem

pawn and the Grobs Attack 1.g4. I had later learned that it had been played by

others such as GM David Bronstein and a number of other masters. The opening

was later named the Gibbins Weidenhagen Gambit. There are 2 books in German

on this opening and I did write a chess article on the GWG for Chess Horizons a

New England Chess publication.

If you believe that being one pawn down is bad then you would have also called

this opening garbage. After I had mastered this opening I took down fellow

expert Reynolds Takata (2100) and Viktor Tsoy (2200+) in tournament games.
And also Eric Schiller in some blitz games. A lot of players within the State

of Hawaii lived in fear of this opening for almost 10 years. I was not till my

defeat to IM Marc Leski at the Hawaii International that Reynolds finally got

over his fear of this opening. Even Marc Leski was holding his pants in that

game because if I had played the correct move he would be in deep trouble.
Lower ranked players would get literally crushed by the GWG. A 1600+

player was so devastated by his loss to my GWG, he was in a daze after

the tournament game. His friend told him that he had faced the dark side of chess.

If I had rejected the GWG I would never have won the Hawaii State Championship

titles back in 1986 and 1987. And I also would never have become a columnist at

Chessville with my column called "The Search for Dragons and Mythical Chess
Openings" where I explored strange new openings and gambits.

It actually takes time to develop a new opening or gambit. Long ago I was playing
the Franco Polish Gambit 1.e4 e6 2.d4 b5 on the Internet Chess Club and played

a lot of blitz games with this against players ranked 2400+ or anyone. My first

opinion at that time was the this opening was unsound. But that opinion changed
after I had won 2 games against 2 players rated 2600+ to maybe this opening
was playable. This led to the development of other chess gambits such as the
Franco Hiva Gambit, Keoni Hiva Gambit and the Kahiko Hula Gambit. These
other gambits involved a sacrifice of 2 pawns. The Franco Polish was a 3 pawn

sac opening.

Best Regards
DarthMusashi

I will try it out

[Event "March 2013 Denver Chess Club Tuesday Night tournament"]

[Site "2400 South Ash, 1st Presbyterian Church"]

[Date "2013.03.05"]

[Round "1"]

[White "Andre Patin"]

[Black "BrianWall"]

[Result "0-1"]

[ICCResult "White resigns"]

[WhiteElo "2160"]

[BlackElo "1697"]

[Opening "Medusa Gambit"]

[ECO "A50"]

[NIC "QP.07"]

[Time "8 PM"]

[TimeControl "Game/70 minutes plus a five second delay"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5 3. Bxg5 Ne4 4. Bh4 c5 5. Nc3 Qa5 6. Qa4 Qxa4 7. Nxa4 cxd4

8. f3 Nd6 9. O-O-O Nc6 10. e4 dxe3 11. Nc3 Nf5 12. Bg3 h5 13. Bd3 Nxg3 14.

hxg3 Ne5 15. Nge2 d6 16. Rhe1 Bh6 17. Kb1 Nxd3 18. Rxd3 Bf5 19. Ne4 Rc8 20.

Rc3 Rc5 21. Ka1 Bxe4 22. fxe4 Re5 23. Nf4 h4 24. Nd5 hxg3 25. a3 Rxe4 26. c5

Bg7 27. Rcxe3 Rxe3 28. Rxe3 Be5 29. Nb4 dxc5 30. Rxe5 cxb4 31. Rg5 b3

0-1     Andre abdicates

Andre Patin - Brian Wall    click and move

http://www.chessvideos.tv/chess-game-replayer.php?id=77474

i dont understand how people are taking it so seriously.

Bxg5 probably leads to a refutation, but what about just developing?

g5 is a less than helfpul move for black, white can put his pieces on good squares and attack the weakness later. if black ever 0-0 we can play h4 and break open his kingside.

This opening is an opportunity to learn tactics. To learn about the weakness at the b2 square once the B leaves the c1 square in the Queens
Gambit type of position. Tactics is what elevates you to a higher level. Whether is sound or unsound does not matter. I myself do not believe that the Medusa Gambit is totally sound, however I just love the positions that occour in this opening. Whatever tactics you learn here can be applied elseware. Tactics is what separates all the rating classes. GMs have a higher level of tactics than IMs and so on down the rating system. I have to elevate my game by learning and mastering GM tactics. Also it is an
opportunity to further understand the game rather than playing moves
thru memorization. 

I have played many interesting games where I sacrificed the R at a8 and
my N at the f2 square disrupting the White development. You should be
playing your practice games to improve your game rather than always
playing for the win. Of course you should play for the win in your tournament games. 

Best Regards
DarthMusashi 

Check out my 1. e4 f5 opening thread in this forums...

I have also played this line and a similar line called the Franco Hiva Gambit
with the moves 1.e4 e6 2.d4 f5 3.exf5 Nf6 also sacrificing the Black
e and d pawns. The line with the moves 1.e4 f5 can continue with
2.exf5 Kf7 this is called the Fred which my student Fred tried in some
blitz games against me. He had beaten players rated 2100+ in blitz games
with this but I do not think it is sound. I lost 2 games to him but improved
my White line and won 4 in a row. He has not tried it against me since.  

The moves 1.e4 f5 can also transpose into a Franco Hiva Gambit. However
there is a line with 1.e4 f5 2.exf5 Nf6 3.g4 e5 4.g5 Bc5 which is like the
Muzio Gambit of the Kings Gambit where Black sacs the N at f6 and the
B a the f2 square. An interesting line. There is also a similar line played
by GM Duras against Bernstein where he sacrificed the N at f6 and won
2 games with that opening. It is similar to the Muzio line that I mentioned. I wrote an artitcle for Chessville on the Franco Hiva Gambit.
It covered both the accepted and declined lines of this gambit. But I 
have noticed that if my opponents declined this gambit then my winning
percentage goes past 90%. This has also been confirmed by my student
Fred who had the same results. However I still prefer to play the accepted version of this gambit because it is more fun.  

Best Regards
DarthMusashi 

cool

Within the Medusa Gambit Black has the early N sac
on the White f2 pawn. See sample games below:

[Event "Rated game, 5m + 0s"]
[Site "Main Playing Hall"]
[Date "2005.08.17"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Dr Herzog"]
[Black "evilone"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "1855"]
[BlackElo "1830"]
[Annotator "Medusa Gambit ***"]
[PlyCount "48"]
[EventDate "2005.01.01"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5 3. Bxg5 Ne4 4. Bc1 c5 5. e3 Qb6 6. Bd3 Nxf2 7. Kxf2 cxd4 8. e4 Nc6 9. Nf3 d6 10. Nbd2 Rg8 11. Nb3 e5 12. Bd2 a5 13. Qc2 a4 14. Nc1 Qc7 15. Ne2 Qd7 16. Ng3 Qg4 17. Ng5 h6 18. Nh7 Be7 19. Rhf1 h5 20. Nf5 Bxf5 21. exf5 Qxg2+ 22. Ke1 Bh4+ 23. Kd1 e4 24. Bxe4 Qxf1+ 0-1

[Event "ChessPlanet.ru"]
[Site "ChessPlanet.ru"]
[Date "2012.03.09"]
[Round "?"]
[White "valery"]
[Black "GodofThunder"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "1971"]
[BlackElo "1945"]
[Annotator "Medusa Gambit ***"]
[PlyCount "46"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5 3. Bxg5 Ne4 4. Bc1 c5 5. Nc3 Qa5 6. Bd2 Nxf2 {a speculative N sac which gets 2 pawns for the N} 7. Kxf2 cxd4 8. Nb1 {White should not have played this passive move. Better was Nd5 preventing my Q from shifting to the King side.} Qf5+ 9. Nf3 Nc6 10. g3 e5 11. e4 Qxe4 12. Qe2 Qf5 13. Kg1 e4 14. Bg2 Bc5 {? Nh4 attacking the Q was better. Black would have to play Qe6 guarding the pawn at e4} 15. Nh4 d3+ 16. Qe3 Bxe3+ 17. Bxe3 Qe5 18. Nc3 f5 {further guarding the center} 19. Re1 O-O 20. Bf4 Qd4+ 21. Be3 Qxc4 22. Bh3 d5 23. Kg2 d4 {White gets chrushed. Now Blacks pawns roll down the middle of the
board.} 0-1

[Event "ChessPlanet.ru"]
[Site "ChessPlanet.ru"]
[Date "2012.03.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Soln_kotenok"]
[Black "GodofThunder"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "1877"]
[BlackElo "1871"]
[Annotator "Medusa Gamb ***"]
[PlyCount "36"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5 3. Bxg5 Ne4 4. Bf4 c5 5. Nc3 Qa5 6. Bd2 Nxf2 7. Qa4 Qb6 8. Kxf2 Qf6+ 9. Nf3 e6 10. e4 cxd4 11. Bg5 Qg6 12. Nb5 Na6 13. Ne5 Qxg5 14. Nf3 Qe3+ 15. Kg3 Rg8+ 16. Kh3 Be7 17. Re1 Qh6+ 18. Nh4 Qxh4# 0-1

[Event "ICC Game 5 min"]
[Site "Internet Chess Club"]
[Date "2012.04.07"]
[Round "?"]
[White "lfelipeg"]
[Black "DarthMusashi"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "A50"]
[WhiteElo "1858"]
[BlackElo "1868"]
[Annotator "Medusa Gamb ***"]
[PlyCount "34"]
[EventDate "2012.??.??"]
[TimeControl "300"]

1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g5 3. Bxg5 Ne4 4. Bf4 c5 5. e3 Bg7 6. Nc3 Qa5 7. Rc1 cxd4 8. exd4 Nc6 9. Bd3 Nxf2 10. Kxf2 Bxd4+ 11. Be3 Qg5 12. Qf3 Ne5 13. Qe4 Bxe3+ 14. Ke2 Bxc1 15. Nh3 Qd2+ 16. Kf1 Nxd3 17. Nd5 Qd1+ {{Game 341 (lfelipeg vs. DarthMusashi) lfelipeg resigns} 0-1

I call 1 e4 f5  2  ef  g6  3  fg  the Contempt Gambit for 40 years