Caro-Kann Defense: Alien Gambit
The Alien Gambit is a meme chess opening played by content creator Witty_Alien and popularized by chess celebrities like IMs Levy Rozman and Eric Rosen. The Alien Gambit is a dangerous but unsound line White can play against the Caro-Kann Defense when White goes for the Tartakower Variation.
Starting Position
The Alien Gambit starts after the moves 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7. White sacrifices a knight to force Black to lose castling rights, create light-squared weaknesses on Black's kingside, and weaken Black's center.
White's idea is to eventually build an unstoppable attack before Black can regroup and solidify their position. Objectively speaking, the Alien Gambit is an unsound opening. However, it's also relatively easy for Black to go wrong and lose the game.
Pros
- It can be a fun opening to play if you like attacking.
- It's easy to dismiss it as a senseless sacrifice but it has a lot of venomous variations.
Cons
- You have to give a piece away right out of the opening.
- You'll have a losing position if your opponent knows all the tricks in this opening.
Main Variations Of The Alien Gambit
As the Alien Gambit is a meme, there's not much theory in this opening. In general, Black tries to solidify their position since they have more material, while White must play for a checkmating attack. IM Levy Rozman outlines a few of the most common setups in the following video:
You can also read about the setups he mentioned below:
Black's Refutation Of The Alien Gambit
While the Alien Gambit is not a sound opening, the engine's recommendation to refute it is not as straightforward as you might think. The engine recommends the immediate 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Nf3 c5. The engine recommends continuing with 8...Nc6, bringing the light-squared bishop out, and solidifying the position.
While this is the refutation the engine proposes, there are other ways to refute the gambit, mostly involving playing a solid game and stabilizing the position. If Black manages to put their king behind their kingside pawns, develop their pieces, and stabilize the position, they'll have a winning position.
Alien Gambit With 7...Bf5
If Black develops their bishop with 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Nf3 Bf5, White's idea is to attack the bishop. White's idea is to check the king twice with 7.Ne5+ and 8.Bc4+, followed by 8.g4.
Alien Gambit With 7...e6
Black can opt for a more solid approach by playing a move such as 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2 dxe4 4.Nxe4 Nf6 5.Ng5 h6 6.Nxf7 Kxf7 7.Nf3 e6. Black's idea is to play a safe game, solidify their position, and enjoy their material advantage.
White should then develop their light-squared bishop, bring the rook into the game, and try to get a kingside attack.
History Of The Alien Gambit
The Alien Gambit gained notoriety when content creator Witty_Alien started playing it on stream and posted a video on YouTube about it. The gambit later gained even more steam when creators Rozman and Rosen posted videos of their own about it.
After the opening went viral, other creators like GM Hikaru Nakamura and WGM Dina Belenkaya also created content around the opening.