Smith-Morra Gambit, or stick with main lines?

I hardly ever see 1...c5, maybe because of my beginner rating, but I did see it recently, and don't know what to do with my knight on d4 after 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 - 4...Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 (Najdorf Variation).

In the game below, White's knight on d4 doesn't move until 31.Nc6, and he sacs his other knight, very cool move (18.Nd5!) to open the e-file where Black's king is still stuck in the middle on e8.

Besides the unfamiliar placement of White's king-knight on d4, why in the world would White castle long, straight into Black's queenside pawn storm!?

I see a big upside to playing the Smith-Morra Gambit.  White gets an open c and d file, plenty of space and fast/easy development for the cost of one pawn. Also, this gambit looks like other lines that I play, like the Italian, where f7 is one of the main targets.

So, for a beginner, is there any upside to learning the plans contained in the main lines of the Sicilian Defense? 

More fun with the Smith-Morra Gambit -part 2. In this sample game below, the position looks almost exactly like one I see in the Scotch Gambit, an opening I am familiar with and play. BTW - I watch GM Boris Alterman's videos on gambits over at ICC, and own his book titled The Alterman Gambit Guide - White Gambits.

It's great stuff, and to face the Sicilian, if I ever do again in my low rated live games, I am tempted to play the Smith-Morra Gambit. Again, and as a beginning chess player, what could I learn from playing the main lines in the Sicilian Defense? It's too bad that I hardly ever see it. Maybe I should increase the ratings I accept in Live Chess to crazy high, like 2200? I doubt anyone above 1200 would want to play me, being at only 1000, but it's worth a try, and maybe I would see more Sicilian Defenses.

A non-gambit variation called the Alapin. I'll take a look at that one. Thanks. As you said, one needs to be good at tactics, even Boris Alterman mentions that, and the cool thing is that in his gambit video lectures, he teaches many of the tactics that arise from gambits. It looks like a real blood bath for the receiving end!

Below is the most popular move order in the Alapin Variation from Game Explorer - with one tactical blunder thrown in.

Please feel free to share your own favorite anti-Sicilian lines, as well as tricks and traps attached to these lines, as well as reasons why it would be a good idea to learn a few main lines in the Open Sicilian Defense (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4). Thanks!

Reading from Game Explorer, the Closed Sicilian has this move order, 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3, and the Closed Sicilian/Grand Prix Attack goes like this: 1.e4 c5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4.  I thought it was a bad idea to push one's f-pawn before castling?  Time to take a look.

The sample game above contained the most popular move order in the Grand Prix Attack. Why is White happy to trade his light square bishop? Isn't the light square bishop almost always good in 1.e4 openings, targeting f7, among other things?

The SMG is really sharp. If you're a tactical ace it's probably a good punt, but for us mere mortals I'd try something like the Grand Prix attack - solid, well documented and a sound attempt to counter the Sicilian. Still, even that won't help you when you inevitably forget the theory past move 7 and start pushing wood :0)

Playing in the under 1200 pool, I have yet to see anyone play book moves past 7, and most of us go out of book after move 4 or 5.

I find the Smith Morra Gambit appealing because the resulting pawn structures are much like the ones I see in openings that I already play, thus I have a good idea of where to place my pieces.

Chivas, I used to play the Smith Morra and do not know if it is sound or not.

But you should realize in your example game White did not play the best moves.

I remember one game where I had White and we played to an endgame where I was still a pawn down but I had the better chances as I converted my lead in development to the ending with a good knight vs a bad bishop and thus I won down a pawn.

Chivas, Ken Smith once told me I was "his hero"  In your example game White should not play 10. h3.

Have not played the SMG for years but when I did play got very good results.

The answer is "no" if played correctly. but it has been a long time.

I think there is a game or two you might wish to look at in my "blog" 

Musikamole: that's great :0) if you're confident with your resulting position then by all means go for it. It is still a very sharp opening and if that suits you more the better.

SMG is great for developing tactical skills. Most tactics favours you in the opening.

I'm with Viktor Nielsen. The SMG is great for learning tactical skills at low levels. Actually, that goes for most gambits, other than the Queen's Gambit, which isn't a true gambit.

But Musikamole, don't expect your opponents to just walk into the easy tactical shots like your examples. Usually, black plays e6 which prevents Bxf7. And black generally plays Nc6 early. But if black doesn't play a6, look for a good time to play Nb5, especially if the black queen is on c7.

At your low level, you probably won't see the Sicilian much. When you do, the SMG should be a fun way to meet it. By the time you get to higher levels and start facing the Sicilian more, you'll see more people who are ready for it, and you'll need to actually learn what you're doing, either within the Smith-Morra, or changing to another line.

well the smith-morra gambit is unsound although i guess at 1200 level its pretty good since if one person doesn't have a winning attack one of the players will likely just blunder something and lose but sooner or later players realise that if they want to fight for a solid advantage they need to play the main line the knight on d4 does not need to move because it is already on a good square and the reason why white castled long is because he is ready to accept the risk of a pawn storm in return of attacking with a pawn storm himself on the Kingside and if black castles long then it seems pretty weird since he has moved the pawns in front of his king

my way of dealing with the morra:

Yes, I agree White's compensation is positional.  I do not agree with whoever said White turns out just to be down a pawn. 

You do realize IM Marc Esserman wrote an entire book on the Morra just to try and prove that's not true, right? Given how many GMs he's beaten with it (including Van Wely, who is over 2700 FIDE rating), I'll take his word for it. Or at least, I'll assume it's close enough to sound for anyone whose first name isn't "Grandmaster".

I'd say the Smith-Morra is probably the soundest true gambit in chess (as opposed to the Queen's Gambit that isn't really a gambit). More importantly, as I mentioned earlier in the thread, I think playing these types of open games with active piece play is good for improving class level players, even if they have to play an unsound gambit to do it, which I do all the time with other gambits besides just this one.

he also recommendet the apocalypse variant of the caro kann is that also sound?? im just wondering because i never saw it before

i mean mark esserman is the guy who did the iphone app right??

The smith-morra gambit accepted is about = for both sides if each player knows what they are doing. Fortunately, black has annoying problems with completing his development that no one wants in theirgames, so often , 2...nf6/2...d5 are played via the 1.e4 move order, and the same 2...d5/2...nf6 against the 1.nf3 move order.

Funnily enough, d4 c5 e4 goes into the morra too.

In ALAPINE GUY VS SICILLIAN GUY

In the case of 3...dxc3, black should play Nf6 e5 Nd4 cxd4 (Smith-Morra converted to alpine structure).