5... d3 Option b). This move, suggested by Keene as an antidote to 5.c3, stops white building a pawn center with cxd4 and hinders the knight on b1. That said, white gets a decent game anyway by grabbing queenside space. 6. b4Lb67. Db3Df6 8. O-Od6 9. a4a6 10. a5La7 11. b5!Se5(11... axb5 12. a6bxa6 13. Ld5Sge7(13... Lb7 14. Txa6Lxf2+ 15. Txf2Txa6 16. Sg5) 14. Lg5 better for white) 12. Sxe5dxe5 13. bxa6bxa6 14. Da4+Ld7 15. Dd1Se7 16. Dxd3Lc817. Sa3 is slightly better for white
8... De7 9. Dxc3Dxe4+ 10. Le3d6 is often given as being equal, with white having enough compensation for the pawn. Although black's king is exposed and his rook is stuck in the corner for now, it isn't easy for white to generate a convincing attack. However white can gain time by attacking the black queen and has chances. Anyway, if you don't fancy that one there's always the obvious cop-out - 9.Dxe7+ Sgxe7 10.Sxc3 which is dead equal
This position has to be o.k. for white, but it'll probably be the better player who wins. To get some idea where white can go from here, the game Sveshnikov-Kupreichik (Hastings, 1984) went:
and black resigned - A game worth seeing but probably not much use to us club level cloggers. The other main option is 9.Dxc3, but all the games I could find with this in ended in draws.
Option a). The Anti-Max Lange. This leads to a well-known crowd pleasing sequence.
5... Lc5 6. e5 Option b). The Max Lange Attack - pass me my sunglasses! One of the most over-analysed lines in chess theory and the jury is still out. Very complicated in places, so the following is only a taster. 6... d5 7. exf6 There is always the reasonable move 7.Lb5 if your opponent plays 6....d5 with suspicious speed, or you just can't be bothered with the complications. 7... dxc4 8. Te1+ This is thought to be the best line - though 8.fxg7 gets played as well 8... Le6This is what usually happens. The alternative 8.....Kf8, which is dismissed by Basman as a consistant failure, can continue 9.Lg5 gxf6 10.Lh6+ Kg8 11.Sc3 Lf8 12.Lxf8 Kxf8 13.Se4 f5 14.Sg3 when white's lead in development and the wrecked black king-side are meant to more than make up for the 2 pawn deficit according to Smith & Hall. BCO2 gives it as equal. I haven't got a clue, but Fritz5 agrees with BCO2 that the best line is 12.Sxd4 Lxh6 13.Sxc6 Dxd1 14.Se7+ Kg7 15.Taxd1. So, in the style of much recent chess literature, lets just gloss over that one 9. Sg5Dd5(9... Dxf6 10. Sxe6fxe6 11. Dh5+ wins the bishop.) 10. Sc3Df5 11. Sce4O-O-O Black has at least four other playable options here. This is thought to be best.......so that's them dealt with then. 12. g4De5 Kostas Domoras - a hard drinking club member - reckons there's a line here where black plays Dg6, sacking a piece, and wins - I can't find this anywhere so I remain to be convinced. 13. Sxe6fxe6 14. fxg7Thg8 15. Lh6d3 16. c3 Now black has 3 main options. a).16.....Ld6 b).16.....Le7 c).16.....d2 16... Ld6 This allows white to activate his king-side pawns.(16... Le7 17. f4Dd5 18. Dd2Td7 19. Te3Sd8 20. b3Sf7 21. bxc4Da5 22. Th3Sxh6 23. Txh6Txg7 24. h3 and white has a small plus.)(16... 16... d2 When people say of the Max Lange that the player who knows most will win, they have lines like this in mind. You can see how one slip by either side could be TFTBB (time for tubby bye-byes - a teletubbies reference, if you haven't heard of them don't worry, you're not missing anything). 17. Te2Td3 18. Df1Dd5 19. Td1Se5 20. Dg2! On 20.Sf6 Df3 21.Sxg8 Dxg4+ 22.Kh1 Df3+ is perpetual, as 23.Dg2 loses the rook on e2. 20... Sf3+ 21. Kf1Le7 22. g5Df5 23. h3Sh4 24. Sg3Df3 25. Dxf3Sxf3 26. Se4Kd7 So that 27.Sf6 Lxf6 28.gxf6 Ke8 and the king blocks the pawn. 27. Te3Txe3 28. fxe3Ke8 29.Ke2Sh4 30. Sf6+Lxf6 31. gxf6Kf7 32. Lg5Sf5 33. e4! 1-0 - That's enough Max Lange or we'll be here all day.) 17. f4Dd5 18. Df3Le7 Fritz plays 18.....e5 here but after 19.f5 white's kingside pawns are starting to mass in the penalty box. 19. g5Df5 20. Sg3Df7 21. Dg4Tde8 Smith + Hall say 21.....d2 is a better try but don't follow it up, so all we have to go on is the game we're looking at here - Marshall v Tarrasch. The rest went 22.Te4! b5 23.a4! a6 24.axb5 axb5 25.Kg2! Sd8 26.Df3 Dg6 27.Td4! c6 28.Txd8+ Kxd8 29.Qxc61-0
Worth a look is 7. Lb5 which should definitely get black out of the book. M.Illescas-D.Garcia went 7... Le7 8. Sxd4Ld7 9. c4Sxd4 10. Lxd7+Dxd7 11. Dxd4O-O?? 12. Txe4 This is the only game I can find with this line. Obviously black's 10th move was garbage - but this line is probably o.k. anyway because Illescas is a decent player.
This is a blatant copy-paste from the famous and easily-searchable internet article "A Lazy player's guide to the scotch gambit". Might be a good idea to give the author some credit.
1. e4 e5 2. Sf3 Sc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Lc4 Lc5
Black defends his extra pawn and develops his bishop. He plans Sf6, d6 and castling.
5. c3
Now black has 3 main options.Option a):
5... dxc3
5... d3 Option b). This move, suggested by Keene as an antidote to 5.c3, stops white building a pawn center with cxd4 and hinders the knight on b1. That said, white gets a decent game anyway by grabbing queenside space. 6. b4 Lb67. Db3 Df6 8. O-O d6 9. a4 a6 10. a5 La7 11. b5! Se5 (11... axb5 12. a6 bxa6 13. Ld5 Sge7 (13... Lb7 14. Txa6 Lxf2+ 15. Txf2 Txa6 16. Sg5) 14. Lg5 better for white) 12. Sxe5 dxe5 13. bxa6 bxa6 14. Da4+ Ld7 15. Dd1 Se7 16. Dxd3 Lc817. Sa3 is slightly better for white
5... Sf6 Option c). This has transposed to a line of the Giuoco Piano. 6. cxd4 Lb4+ (6... Lb6 7. d5 Se7 8. e5 Sg4 9. d6! is better for white) 7. Ld2 Lxd2+ (7... Sxe4 8. Lxb4 Sxb4 9. Lxf7+ that trick again 9... Kxf7 10. Db3+ d5 11. Dxb4 a bit better for white) 8. Sbxd2 d5 9. exd5 Sxd5 10. Db3 Sce7 11. O-O O-O 12. Tfe1 c6 White is happier because his rooks have open files and his knights have good scope.
6. Lxf7+ Kxf7 7. Dd5+ Kf8 8. Dxc5+ d6
8... De7 9. Dxc3 Dxe4+ 10. Le3 d6 is often given as being equal, with white having enough compensation for the pawn. Although black's king is exposed and his rook is stuck in the corner for now, it isn't easy for white to generate a convincing attack. However white can gain time by attacking the black queen and has chances. Anyway, if you don't fancy that one there's always the obvious cop-out - 9.Dxe7+ Sgxe7 10.Sxc3 which is dead equal
9. Dc4
This position has to be o.k. for white, but it'll probably be the better player who wins. To get some idea where white can go from here, the game Sveshnikov-Kupreichik (Hastings, 1984) went:
9... Lg4
9... cxb2 10. Lxb2 When this happens white usually gets a stonking attack
10. Sxc3 Lxf3 11. gxf3 Df6 12. f4 Df7 13. Db5 Sd4 14. Dd3 Se6 15. f5 Sc5 16. Dc2 Dc4 17. Le3 Sf6 18. O-O-O Te8
18... Sfxe4 19. Td4 wins a piece
19. f3 Scd7 20. Td4 Dc6 21. Kb1 Te7 22. De2 Se5 23. Lg5 Dc5 24. Thd1 Sc6 25. Tc4 De5 26. Sd5 Tf7 27. Lf4 De8 28. Sxc7 Txc7 29. Lxd6+ Te7 30. e5 Sd7 31. f4 h5 32. Dd3 Th6 33. Lxe7+ Kxe7 34. Da3+ Kf7 35. e6+ Txe6 36.fxe6+ Dxe6 37. Dd3 Sf6 38. f5 De5 39. Tc2 Kg8 40. Te2 Dc5 41. a3 Kh7 42. Tg2 Se5 43. Dc2 De3 44. Tdg1 Seg4
and black resigned - A game worth seeing but probably not much use to us club level cloggers. The other main option is 9.Dxc3, but all the games I could find with this in ended in draws.
1-0Black plays 4...Nf6
1. e4 e5 2. Sf3 Sc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Lc4 Sf6
This is usually given as black's best move. It leads to a lot of very equal positions if played properly (a big if!)
5. O-O
Now black has an important choice:
5... Sxe4
Option a). The Anti-Max Lange. This leads to a well-known crowd pleasing sequence.
5... Lc5 6. e5 Option b). The Max Lange Attack - pass me my sunglasses! One of the most over-analysed lines in chess theory and the jury is still out. Very complicated in places, so the following is only a taster. 6... d5 7. exf6 There is always the reasonable move 7.Lb5 if your opponent plays 6....d5 with suspicious speed, or you just can't be bothered with the complications. 7... dxc4 8. Te1+ This is thought to be the best line - though 8.fxg7 gets played as well 8... Le6This is what usually happens. The alternative 8.....Kf8, which is dismissed by Basman as a consistant failure, can continue 9.Lg5 gxf6 10.Lh6+ Kg8 11.Sc3 Lf8 12.Lxf8 Kxf8 13.Se4 f5 14.Sg3 when white's lead in development and the wrecked black king-side are meant to more than make up for the 2 pawn deficit according to Smith & Hall. BCO2 gives it as equal. I haven't got a clue, but Fritz5 agrees with BCO2 that the best line is 12.Sxd4 Lxh6 13.Sxc6 Dxd1 14.Se7+ Kg7 15.Taxd1. So, in the style of much recent chess literature, lets just gloss over that one 9. Sg5 Dd5 (9... Dxf6 10. Sxe6 fxe6 11. Dh5+ wins the bishop.) 10. Sc3 Df5 11. Sce4 O-O-O Black has at least four other playable options here. This is thought to be best.......so that's them dealt with then. 12. g4 De5 Kostas Domoras - a hard drinking club member - reckons there's a line here where black plays Dg6, sacking a piece, and wins - I can't find this anywhere so I remain to be convinced. 13. Sxe6 fxe6 14. fxg7 Thg8 15. Lh6 d3 16. c3 Now black has 3 main options. a).16.....Ld6 b).16.....Le7 c).16.....d2 16... Ld6 This allows white to activate his king-side pawns.(16... Le7 17. f4 Dd5 18. Dd2 Td7 19. Te3Sd8 20. b3 Sf7 21. bxc4 Da5 22. Th3 Sxh6 23. Txh6 Txg7 24. h3 and white has a small plus.) (16... 16... d2 When people say of the Max Lange that the player who knows most will win, they have lines like this in mind. You can see how one slip by either side could be TFTBB (time for tubby bye-byes - a teletubbies reference, if you haven't heard of them don't worry, you're not missing anything). 17. Te2 Td3 18. Df1 Dd5 19. Td1 Se5 20. Dg2! On 20.Sf6 Df3 21.Sxg8 Dxg4+ 22.Kh1 Df3+ is perpetual, as 23.Dg2 loses the rook on e2. 20... Sf3+ 21. Kf1 Le7 22. g5 Df5 23. h3 Sh4 24. Sg3 Df3 25. Dxf3 Sxf3 26. Se4 Kd7 So that 27.Sf6 Lxf6 28.gxf6 Ke8 and the king blocks the pawn. 27. Te3 Txe3 28. fxe3 Ke8 29.Ke2 Sh4 30. Sf6+ Lxf6 31. gxf6 Kf7 32. Lg5 Sf5 33. e4! 1-0 - That's enough Max Lange or we'll be here all day.) 17. f4 Dd5 18. Df3 Le7 Fritz plays 18.....e5 here but after 19.f5 white's kingside pawns are starting to mass in the penalty box. 19. g5 Df5 20. Sg3 Df7 21. Dg4 Tde8 Smith + Hall say 21.....d2 is a better try but don't follow it up, so all we have to go on is the game we're looking at here - Marshall v Tarrasch. The rest went 22.Te4! b5 23.a4! a6 24.axb5 axb5 25.Kg2! Sd8 26.Df3 Dg6 27.Td4! c6 28.Txd8+ Kxd8 29.Qxc61-0
6. Te1 d5 7. Lxd5
Worth a look is 7. Lb5 which should definitely get black out of the book. M.Illescas-D.Garcia went 7... Le7 8. Sxd4 Ld7 9. c4 Sxd4 10. Lxd7+ Dxd7 11. Dxd4 O-O?? 12. Txe4 This is the only game I can find with this line. Obviously black's 10th move was garbage - but this line is probably o.k. anyway because Illescas is a decent player.
7... Dxd5 8. Sc3
Now black has to decide where to stick his queen. The 3 usual candidates are: (i) 8.....Dd8 (ii) 8.....Dh5 (iii) 8.. ... Da5
8... Dd8
8... Dh5 9. Sxe4 Le6 10. Lg5 Lb4 (If 10... Le7 11. Lxe7 Sxe7 12. Sxd4 Dxd1 13. Taxd1 O-O-O 14. Sg5! gives white a slight edge.) (If 10... h6 11. Lf6 Da5 12. Sxd4 gxf6 13. Sxf6+ Ke7 14. b4! Sxb4 15. Sxe6! Kxf6 16. Dd4+ wins.) (If 10...Ld6 11. Sxd6+ cxd6 12. Lf4 O-O 13. Sxd4 and white has a small advantage due to the black pawn weakness) 11. Sxd4 Dxd1 12. Texd1 Sxd4 13. Txd4 Le7 14. Te1 Td8 15. Ta4 With a slight advantage to white.
8... Da5 Probably the best. 9. Sxe4 Le6
This is a blatant copy-paste from the famous and easily-searchable internet article "A Lazy player's guide to the scotch gambit". Might be a good idea to give the author some credit.