The Halasz Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4

For those interested in the Halasz Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4) see the article on the Halasz that I had written for Chess Horizons in 1996 below.

THE HALASZ GAMBIT by Clyde Nakamura
-----------------------------------------------------------

The moves 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 defines the Halasz Gambit.

One of my most under rated students (Fred Haley - rated
about 1300 but plays 2000 plus chess) has played this gambit
regularly in blitz games. Fred discovered this obscure
gambit independently of any known games or analysis. ECO
volume 1 line C21 gives 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4?! Bc5 4.Nf3
Nc6 5.Bd3 Nf6 with a slight advantage for black according
to Marshall. This was a note on the 3.Nf3 line.

I had played one tournament game at game 29 and one test
game against my computer program MChess Pro version 3.5
to experiment with the Danish Gambit idea in the Halasz
Gambit. And I have also played several blitz games with this gambit. This gambit is almost like a King's Gambit. The
king side attack is a very natural strategic goal with the pawn thrust e5 chasing Black's knight away from the f6 square and the bishop at d3 aiming for the h7 square. One of White's main problems is how to deal with Black posting his knight at your e3 square (Nf6, Ng4 & Ne3). This can become very nasty.

White also has to be very careful to keep Black's queenside
pawns from rolling uncontested down the queenside. Also, losing the e pawn without compensation accounts for some White losses in the games that I have seen from my database. White also has the 2 pawn roll down the middle with the e and f pawns.

If Black castles kingside then White should try to plant his
f pawn at f6 to start a kingside attack. I feel that this gambit gives White at least a slight plus and is an excellent surprise opening since there is almost no coverage or very little analysis in ECO, BCO II, MCO 13 and other opening books. More games and analysis have to be done before a final judgement can be made on this gambit. The Halasz Gambit is seen more often in Postal Chess than in regular tournament chess. Presented below are Halasz Gambit
games which I have compiled from various sources. Hopefully I have provided enough sample games to give you an idea of the strategy and tactics involved in this gambit.

Pindar,E - Kipping,J.S. Oxford Ency. pg 317 [C21]
Manchester [Boden], 1861
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bb4+ 4.Bd2 Qe7 5.Bd3 d5! 6.e5 Nh6 7.Nf3 Bxd2+ 8.Qxd2 {Better was 8.Nbxd2.} 8...c5 9.0-0 Nc6 10.Na3 {The Knight at a3 is really out of play. White has to find a way to redeploy this Knight towards the king side. Also because White played his Knight to a3, Black can roll his pawns down the queen side to take control of the ctr.} 10...a6 11.Rad1 {This Rook should have been played to e1
to over protect the pawn at e5.} 11...b5 12.Ng5 {This Knight move to g5 is premature. White should have played 12.h3 to stop Black from playing 12...Ng4.} 12...Ng4 13.f5 {? An error, now the e pawn drops.} 13...Ncxe5 14.Nf3 f6? {14...Ne3 wins the exchange.} 15.c3 dxc3 16.bxc3 0-0 17.h3 Nh6 18.g4 Bb7 19.g5 Nhf7 20.g6 Nxf3+ 21.Rxf3 Ne5 22.gxh7+ Kh8 23.Rg3 c4 24.Nc2 Qc5+ 25.Nd4 cxd3 26.Kh1 Qd6 27.Rdg1 Rf7 0-1

Halasz - Tanin [C21]
corr, 1990
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bc5 5.a3 a5 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.0-0 0-0? {Better was 7...d6. Now 8.e5 Nd5 & Black can play Ne3 & Bg4 to give White some problems.} 8.e5 Nd5 9.Bxh7+ Kh8 10.Ng5 g6 11.Qf3 Ne3 12.Bxg6! {Black cannot escape checkmate. If 12...d6 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.Qh7 checkmate. If 12...Re8 13.Qh5+ Kg8 14.Qh7+ Kf8 15.Qxf7 checkmate. If 12...Ncxe5 13.Qh5+ and mate next move.} 1-0

Halasz - Johansen [C21]
corr FS, 1990
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bc5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 a5 6.Bd3 Nge7 7.Nbd2 d6 8.0-0 0-0 9.f5 {9.f5 is not normally played in the Halasz Gambit. Usually White plays 9.e5 to set up a kingside attack. In this position 9.f5 is better since after 9.e5 dxe5 10.fxe5 Ng6 Black has a lot of counterplay on the e pawn.} 9...f6 10.Qe1 Ne5 11.Nxe5 dxe5 12.Nf3 Bd7 13.g4 b5 14.g5 Bd6 15.Qe2 Rb8 16.Nh4 c5 17.b3 Be8 {17...Be8 was played to prevent White from posting the Q on h5, but this actually creates a weakness on the back rank. Better was
17...Qe8 to bring the Q to the K side or 17...Qc7 continuing the Q side attack.} 18.gxf6 gxf6 {Also possible was 18...Rxf6 19.Bg5 Rf7 20.Rf2 & White could double rooks on the f file.} 19.Bh6 Rf7 20.Kh1 Kh8 21.Rg1 Ng8 22.Rxg8+{! A strong move. It removes the N from defending the Black kingside.} 22...Kxg8 23.Qg4+ Kh8 24.Rg1 {Black cannot stop mate. If 24...Bd7 25.Bg7+ Kg8 26.Bxf6+ Kf8 27.Qg8 checkmate .} 1-0

Halasz - Menken [C21]
corr FS, 1990
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bb4+ 4.Nd2 Qe7 5.Bd3 d5 6.e5 c5 7.a3 Ba5 8.b4 {White gambits another pawn. White would rather play to activate his Q side pieces rather than let the Q side be tied down for a long time. White could have played 8.b3 Bc3 9.Rb1.} 8...cxb4 9.axb4 Bxb4 10.Ngf3 Nc6 11.0-0 Nh6 12.Nb3 Bc3 13.Ba3 Qd7 {? I believe that 13...Qd7 is an error. Black cannot allow White to control the a3 to f8 diagonal. Better was 13...Bb4. The Black B at c3 does not do much in this position because Black does not have open files to work with.} 14.Rb1 a6 15.h3 b6 16.Rf2 Qd8 17.g4 b5 18.Bc5 g6 {18...g6 further weakens Black's position. His black square B at c3 was miss placed. Now there are more dark square weaknesses at g7 & f6.} 19.f5 gxf5 20.Qc1 Ng8 21.gxf5 Nge7 22.Qh6 Qc7 23.Bd6 Qd8 {Black had 23...Rg8+ but this was not enough to save his position.} 24.Rg2 Bxf5
25.Qg7 Kd7 {If 25...Rg8 26.Qxg8+ {26...Nxg8 27.Rxg8+ Kd7 28.Bxf5 checkmate.} Kd7 29.Nc5+ Kc8 30.Bxf5+ Nxf5 31.Qxf7 Nxd6 32.exd6 and White should win.} 26.Nc5+ Kc8 27.Bxf5+ Nxf5 28.Qxf7 Nxd6 29.exd6 Ra7 30.Qe6+ Kb8 31.Qxd5 Nb4 32.Rxb4 {! A powerfull R sac. Now Black cannot stop White's Knights from entering Black's vulnerable kingside position.} 32...Bxb4 33.Nxd4 1-0

Halasz - Nikolic [C21]
corr FS, 1990
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bb4+ 4.Nd2 Nc6 5.a3 Bc5 6.b4 Bb6 7.Ngf3 d6 8.Bd3 Nf6 9.0-0 a6 10.e5 dxe5 11.fxe5 Nd5 12.Nc4 Bg4 13.Qe1 Qd7 14.Ng5 Be6 15.Nxb6 Nxb6 16.Rxf7 {! A very strong R sac. Black's position is coming apart at the seams.} 16...Bxf7 17.e6 Qd5 {17...Qd5? was an error. Better was 17...Bxe6 18.Nxe6.} 18.exf7+ Kd7 19.Be4 Qd6? {19...Qb5 was the best move.} 20.Bf5+ Kd8 21.Bf4 Qd5 22.Be6 Qb5 23.Nxh7 {If 23...Rxh7 24.f8(Q) checkmate. If 23...Ne7 24.f8
(Q)+ wins the R or 23...Ne7 24.Bg5 Nbd5 25.Bxd5 Qxd5 26.Qxe7+ Kc8 27.f8(Q)+ Rxf8 28.Nxf8 and White is 2 minor pieces up.} 1-0

Blank - Saether [C21]
Corr, 1991
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bc5 4.Nf3 d6 5.Bd3 Bg4 6.0-0 Nc6 7.a3 Qd7 8.b4 Bb6 9.Nbd2 d5 10.exd5 Qxd5 11.Re1+ Nge7 12.b5 Na5 13.a4 c5 14.Ba3 Kd8 15.Re5 Qd7 16.Ne4 {16.h3 {!? f6 17.Re1=} 16...f6 17.Rxc5 {!} Bxc5 18.Nxc5 Qc8 19.Be4 Ke8 20.Qxd4 Qd8 21.Nxb7 Nxb7 22.Bxb7 Bxf3 23.Qxd8+ Rxd8
24.Bxf3 Nc8 25.Bc5 Kd7 26.a5 Kc7 27.b6+ Kb8 {If 27...axb6 28.axb6+ Kd7 29.Rd1+ Ke6 30.Rxd8 Rxd8 31.b7 Nd6 32.Ba7 Nxb7 33.Bxb7 Rd1+ 34.Kf2 Rd2+ 35.Ke3 Rxc2 & White only has a slight advantage in this endgame.} 28.bxa7+ {If 28...Nxa7 29.Rb1+ Kc7 30.Rb7 checkmate. If 28...Kc7 29.a8(Q) wins} 1-0

Blank - Wothe [C21]
Corr, 1991
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bc5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 a5 6.Bd3 Nf6 7.0-0 d6 8.Qe1 0-0 9.h3 Bd7 10.e5 Re8 11.Qg3 Nh5 12.Qh2 g6 13.g4 Ng7 14.Nbd2 f5 15.exf6 Qxf6 16.Ne4 Qf8 {If 16...Qe7 (or 16...Qd8) 17.f5 gxf5 18.Bg5 and White threatens 17.Nf6+ wins the exchange.} 17.Qg3 Re7 18.Qh4 {The White Q on h4 is very powerfull because it creates threats on h7 and on the f6 square.} 18...Ne8 19.f5 gxf5 20.Bh6 Rg7 {If 20...Ng7 21.Nf6+ Kh8 22.Nxd7 Rxd7 23.Ng5 and White has an  excellent attack on the f file.} 21.Bc4+ Kh8 22.Nfg5 Ne5 23.Be6 Bxe6 {? The other move 23...Nf6 was also not good because the move 24.Rxf5 leads to the doubling of White's Rooks on the f file. Also bad was 23...Qe7 because after 24.Bxg7+ Qxg7 25.Rxf5 also leads to the oubling of R's on the f file.} 24.Nxe6 Qg8 25.Bxg7+ Nxg7 26.Nf6 {The fatal blow. Black either drops the Q or gets mated.} 1-0 

Jaime Chavez,A - Torriente,CA [C21]
corr Massow mem, 1993
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 d5 4.e5 c5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.b3 Bf5 7.Bd3 Nge7 8.0-0 Qd7 9.Ba3 Ng6 10.Ng5 Be7 11.e6 fxe6 12.Bxf5 exf5 13.Re1 h6 14.Ne6 Kf7 15.Qh5 Nd8 16.Qxf5+ {Black resigns because if 16...Bf6 17.Ng5+ wins the Black Q. If 16...Kg8 17.Qxg6 wins a N.} 1-0

Salminen,J - Lepine,G [C21]
corr, 1994
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bc5 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.a3 a5 6.Bd3 Nf6
7.0-0 d5 8.e5 Ng4 9.Qe2 Ne3 10.Bxe3 dxe3 11.Nc3 d4 12.Ne4 Ba7 {? Better was 12...Be7. The Black B at a7 is now really a bad B since it is blocked in by it's own pawns. At e7 the Black B can guard the kingside as well as the ueenside.} 13.Nfg5 h5 {Black also had 13...h6 & there could follow 14.Qh5 Qe7 15.Nxf7 15...0-0 16.Nf6+ gxf6 17.Qg6 checkmate Qxf7 16.Nf6+ gxf6 17.Bg6 Qxg6 18.Qxg6+ Kf8
19.Qxf6+ Kg8 etc. After 13...h6 castling kingside is dangerous.} 14.h3 Bf5 {? Better was 14...Qe7 followed by a possible 15...Bd7 & 16...0-0-0.} 15.Nxf7 Kxf7 16.Ng5+ Ke8 {16...Kg6 not playable because 17.Bxf5+ {17...Kxf5 18.Qd3 checkmate, Kh6 18.Nf7 checkmate.} 17.Bxf5 d3 18.Bg6+ Ke7 {The other possible move was 18...Kd7 19.Qxd3+ Kc8 20.Bf5+ Kb8 and the Black K escapes.} 19.Bxd3 Nd4 20.Qe1 Nb3 21.Kh2 Nxa1 22.Qxa1 Qd4 23.Qa2 Qd7 24.Rd1 Raf8 25.Be2 Qf5 26.g3 h4 27.Qc4 hxg3+ 28.Kxg3 Bb6 29.Bg4 Qg6 30.Rd7+ Ke8 31.Ne6 {If 31...Kxd7 32.Nxf8+ winning the Q and the game. If 31...Rf7 32.Rd8+ Ke7 33.Rxh8 wins the R. If 31...Rfg8 32.Nxc7+ Kf8 33.Ne6+ Ke8 34.Qc8+ Bd8
35. Qxd8 checkmate. If 31...Rhg8 32.Nxc7+ Bxc7 33.Qxc7 and mate in a few moves.} 1-0

Bauer,M (2250) - Wolf,W (2280) [C21]
OLWuert 9495 (1994) ;GER 12, 1995
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Nc6 4.Nf3 Bb4+ 5.Bd2 Qe7 6.Bd3 d6 7.0-0 Bc5 8.a3 Bd7 9.b4 Bb6 10.Qe1 Nh6 11.h3 {11.h3 played to prevent Black from playing 11...Ng4 and 12...Ne3.} 11...f5 12.b5 Nd8 13.e5 0-0 14.Bb4 {!} Bc5 15.exd6 Qxd6 16.Nbd2 {? Better was 16.Bxc5 Qxc5 17.a4 and White does not drop the pawn.} 16...Bxb4 17.axb4 Re8 18.Qf2 Ne6
19.Ne5 Re7 {19...Nxf4 loses to 20.Ndc4 Qxb4 21.Qxf4. The desperado combination 20...Nxd3 21.Nxd6 Nxf2 22.Nxe8 loses the exchange.} 20.Ndc4 Qxb4 21.Rfb1 Qc5 22.b6 a5 {If 22...cxb6 23.Nxb6 Rd8 24.Nxd7 wins the exchange.} 23.bxc7 Bb5 24.Rxa5 Rxa5 25.Nxa5 Bxd3 26.Nxd3 Qxc7 27.Rxb7 Qd6 28.Nc4 Qd8 29.Rxe7 Qxe7 30.Qf3 Nf7 31.Qd5 g6 32.Nce5
Nxe5 {Also playable was 32...Nxf4 33.Qxf7+ Qxf7 34.Nxf7 Nxd3 35.Nh6+ Kg7 36.Nxf5+ gxf5 37.cxd3 Kf6 and the position is equal.} 33.Qxe5 Qd7 34.Nb4 Nc7 35.Qf6 Ne6 36.Qe5 Nc7 37.Qf6 Ne6 1/2-1/2

Nakamura - Seid,Ed Rd1 Game 29 [C21]
Fall Gran Prix #5 10/6/96, 1996
1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 Bb4+ 4.Nd2 Qe7 {This Q move does not appear to be correct because Black has to find a good square to develop his KN. If this N does not move then the KR gets tied down, hampering Black's development.} 5.Bd3 b6 6.Ngf3 Ba6 {Black could have played 6...Bb7 and 7...Nf6 to put pressure on White's center pawns.} 7.0-0 Bxd3 {This exchange of Bishops stengthens White's center.} 8.cxd3
Bxd2 9.Bxd2 c5 10.b4 {!} d6 11.e5 {Black's position is quickly falling apart. White has applied pressure to key points on Black's pawn structure.} 11...Nc6 12.Re1 {!} d5 13.f5 0-0-0 14.bxc5 Qxc5 {?? If 14...bxc5 15.Rab1 and white gets a dangerous attack on the b file. This was better than 14...Qxc5??} 15.Rc1 Qb5 16.Nxd4 Qxd3 17.Nxc6 {If 17...Kd7 18.Nxd8 Kxd8 19.Bg5+ wins the Q. If 17...Rd7 18.Nb4+
wins the Q} 1-0

Two other articles were written on the Halasz, one by Glen Buszinski and the other by Tim Harding. Both articles appeared on the Chess Cafe Web site. See web links below.

Anatomy of a Gambit : Dissecting the Halasz by Glen Budzinski

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/halasz.txt

The Vampire Gambit, Can We Bury It Now by Tim Harding (Halasz Gambit)

http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz39.txt

I have placed a file with 11 Halasz Gambit games from this chess article in a file called Halasz Gambit.pgn in the files section of the Yahoo Unorthodox Chess Openings Newsgroup. There is already a pgn file called halasz1.pgn with 337 Halasz Gambit games in the same location. In creating the Halasz Gambit.pgn file I had to revise the notation to be able to view the pgn file and this correction
is reflected in this revised chess article on the Halasz Gambit. 

Best Regards
DarthMusashi

What do you think of this game?  (Annotations are pretty old)  I won because my opponent missed numerous opportunities.  White was certainly worse out of the opening and I'm not sure where I went wrong aside from 3.f4.  I think setups with ..Nge7 and ..d5 are generally the most challenging.

Your opponent missed the move 32...Qb6 which should have won the game for Black. 

32... Qb6 33. Re1 Rxf7 34. Qxf7 Qf2+ 35. Qxf2 -+2.62
Analysis by Houdini 1.5a.

When I looked at the position initially I thought that Black's best move
was 32...Qb6 but I did not look at it further. I still liked the game and
thought the N sac on g6 was good.  You still had to find the correct
move after the Black blunder with Qe8. 

Best Regards
DarthMusashi 

@DarthMusashi - After this game I never tried the gambit again because I knew that I should have lost, and I am not sure how to improve.  If 10.Qe1 is incorrect, what does White play instead?

That is a Halasz-like interpretation of the Smith-Morra, but it's not the same.  The reason is that after 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4, Look at White's pawns on e4,f4,g2,h2 and Black's pawns on f7,g7,h7... White has a "virtual majority" on the kingside - not in the sense that he can make a passed pawn (although after a sequence involving ..d5 and e4-e5 White very well could get a passer), but in that his structure allows him to naturally expand his K-side territory as his 4 pawns control more squares on that side of the board than Blacks' 3.

Move Black's pawn from c7 to e7 and you have a completely different chess game.

The book you read was by Eric Schiller and he called the moves 1.e4 c5
2.d4 cxd4 3.Bd3 the Halasz Gambit. But I did give him my article on the
Halasz Gambit 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4 before he wrote this in his book
called Gambit Opening Repertoire for White. He renamed my opening
as the McDonnell Halasz Gambit and he stole the name of my opening
for the Sicilian Variation of my gambit.

Best Regards
DarthMusashi 

. 

I did take down chess engine Twisted Logic (2600) withe the Halasz 
Gambit Sicilian Variation. See game below: 

[Event "Blitz 15m"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2010.02.12"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Nakamura, Clyde"]
[Black "Twisted Logic 20100131x"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "2100"]
[BlackElo "2600"]
[Annotator "Halasz Gambit - Sicilian Variation"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2010.??.??"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Bd3 {Halasz Gambit - Sicilian Variation} Nc6 4. f4 Nf6 5. Nf3 d5 6. e5 Ng4 7. O-O Qb6 8. Kh1 Bd7 9. h3 Ne3 10. Bxe3 dxe3 11. Nc3 e6 12. b3 a6 13. Na4 Qa7 14. c4 Ba3 15. cxd5 exd5 16. Nc3 Nb4 17. Rb1 {preventing 17...Bb2 attacking both the R at a1 & the N at c3} O-O 18. Bxh7+ Kxh7 19. Ng5+ Kg8 20. f5 {preventing the Black B from reaching f5 which would guard the h7 square} Qb6 21. f6 {White cannot play Qh5 because Black has Qh6 preventing checkmate} g6 22. Qe1 Qd4 23. Nce4 {a beautiful move which shuts the Black Q from defending the Black kingside, White's attack now is too strong} Qxe4 24. Nxe4 Bg4 {a esperado
move to slow down my attack} 25. Qxe3 Kh7 26. Ng5+ Kg8 27. hxg4 Bc1 {another desperado move} 28. Rbxc1 Nd3 29. Qh3 Nf2+ 30. Rxf2 Rfe8 31. Qh7+ Kf8 32. Qh8# {9:42-2:54} 1-0

Listed below is a game where a B player took down a 2100+
player with the Halasz Gambit Sicilian Variation. 

[Event "FICS Rated Std Game 20m +5s"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "2011.09.10"]
[Round "?"]
[White "xaddi"]
[Black "samarian"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B21"]
[WhiteElo "1677"]
[BlackElo "2154"]
[Annotator "Halasz Gambit - Sicilian Variation"]
[PlyCount "63"]
[EventDate "2011.09.10"]

1. e4 c5 2. d4 cxd4 3. Bd3 Nc6 4. f4 d5 5. e5 g6 6. Nf3 Bg4 7. O-O e6 8. Nbd2 Bg7 9. a3 a5 10. h3 Bxf3  11. Nxf3 Nge7 12. Bd2 Qb6 13. Rb1 O-O 14. Qe1 a4 15. Kh1 Ra7 16. g4 Re8 17. Qh4 Qd8 18. f5 exf5  19. Bh6 Bxe5 20. Ng5 Bf6 21. gxf5 Nxf5 22. Bxf5 gxf5 23. Rxf5 Re4 24. Qg3 Re3 25. Nf3+ Kh8 26. Rg1 1-0