Falkbeer Counter-gambit



The Falkbeer Counter-Gambit is one of the most aggressive openings for black. It is a direct counter attack against the King's Gambit of white. One of the great things about this counter is that it destroys all the lines that a king's gambit player may have planned on using. There are also lots of traps that white will have to look out for as his king is very exposed even after the second move.

One of the key things to remember in the falkbeer counter-gambit is king safety. Many games do not last more than 30 moves as it becomes a slugfest, decided by whoever can get to the other king first. There is not any slow developing moves in the falkbeer counter-gambit. It is usually complete chaos. If you like chaos and you like to play very aggressive then this is a great defense if you find a player that favors the king's gambit.

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Caro-Kann Defense

The Caro-Kann Defense is one of the most popular openings in response to the King's Pawn Opening of 1.e4. Black responds with 1....c6 with the idea of thrusting forward with d5 on the next move, attacking the white central pawn on e4. The Caro-Kann Defense is one of the few defenses in chess where black can reach equality in the main line and many people would consider black to have a better position, especially in the end game when the main line is played out. This is usually because black does not compromise his pawn structure and will usually have an easier end game.

There are many variations in the caro kann but the main line continues with 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Bf5. This is an important setup that all caro kann players should look at and understand. Many times a caro kann opening can transpose into a french defense but when the main line plays out, black usually has a pawn on c6. Black will then bring out his light squared bishop and eventually play e6 (usually played after the light square bishop is out so it is not blocked in). With the pawn on c6, black usually decides to bring his knight to d7 and support the future knight that is on f6. Black can bring his queen to c7 while his dark square bishop has many lines and is not blocked in by the pawns.

If the caro-kann does not follow the main lines it usually takes on a french defense so I would recommend studying up on the french defense if you want to play the caro-kann. The caro-kann is not a flashy opening and it's not super aggressive. The caro-kann is, however, a very sound defense that can lead to an advantage for black near the later stages of a chess match. For those players that have a firm foundation of pawn structure and end game strategies I definitely recommend employing this in your chess games.




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Budapest Gambit

The Budapest Gambit is one of the least common gambits but still offers black a lot of interesting play. In the main line for example, white can easily fall into a trap that ends in checkmate very early in the game.

In the second move, black looks to give up his pawn on e5 but then starts to develop of his pieces to add pressure on the e5 pawn. White will be unable to hold onto the extra pawn and therefore many times will just give back the pawn and continue to develop pieces and not worry about the pawn advantage.

In most gambits, the side giving up material will dictate how the game continues, in the budapest gambit it is usually white that decides how the game will continue. In the main line it is white that can decide whether to stay up in material and have doubled pawns or to give back the pawn and have a double bishop pair. This is not to say it is still not playable for black, but white does have more options in the budapest than in other gambits.


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G7 Drawn After Tough Fight

The seventh game of the World Championship match in Sofia, Bulgaria also ended in a draw. Challenger Veselin Topalov showed impressive opening preparation and put the World Champion under considerable pressure. However, Anand defended accurately and perhaps even missed a win after the time control.


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Former FIDE President Campomanes Dies At 83

Florencio Campomanes died today in the Philippines. This was confirmed to us by FIDE Treasurer Nigel Freeman. Campomanes was FIDE President from 1982 to 1995. He was 83.

Campomanes was born Manila, February 22, 1927. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from the University of the Philippines in 1948. Then, he studied at Brown University (Providence, Rhode Island), where he earned his M.A. in 1951. He undertook doctoral studies at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., from 1949-54.

He was a National Master strength player during his peak years, and was Philippine national champion on two occasions (1956, 1960). He represented his country at five Chess Olympiads: Moscow 1956, Munich 1958, Leipzig 1960, Varna 1962, and Havana 1966. He met some distinguished opposition as a result, losing games against Pal Benko and Ludek Pachman at Moscow 1956, Oscar Panno at Munich 1958, Mikhail Tal and Miguel Najdorf at Leipzig 1960, and Lev Polugaevsky at Havana 1966.

He became involved in FIDE as a national delegate, and worked his way into prominence in Asian chess organization. Campomanes helped to organize the World Championship match at Baguio, Philippines, in 1978, between Anatoly Karpov and Viktor Korchnoi.

He is best remembered as the President of the international chess organization FIDE. He was elected to that post in 1982, and held it until 1995, through several controversies, most notably the abandonment of the 1984-85 World Championship between Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov without result, after 48 games, and the break-away from FIDE of the Professional Chess Association in 1993.

On the positive side, the membership of FIDE grew significantly, by about 50 member nations, during his tenure as FIDE president. Campomanes was succeeded as FIDE President in 1995 by Kirsan Ilyumzhinov. He was appointed FIDE Honorary President and was often present at significant international competitions such as Zonal and Continental Championships, Chess Olympiads and World Chess Championships.

In early February 2007, Florencio Campomanes suffered injuries from a car accident, at which time he was in intensive care. No details of his death are known at this point, but over the years he had suffered from “all sorts of things”, FIDE Treasurer Nigel Freeman told us.

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Blackmar-Diemer Gambit

The Blackmar-Diemer Gambit is one of the most ambitious attempts for white to gain a developmental advantage.

From the second move white looks to give away his king's pawn. Although many top GM's find this to be unsound, many club level players have great success with it and if you are a very aggressive player I recommend playing it from time to time.

After white gives gambit's his pawn he then looks to develop his knight to c3, followed by playing f3. This move only shows that those players attempting to play this opening like to play outside standard theory. After black captures on f3, white can either capture with his knight or can instead play the aggressive line (Ryder Gambit) and capture with his queen, thus allowing the black queen to take an additional white pawn on d4.

If white does decide to play the Ryder Gambit, many times black can fall into the Halosar Trap. If you haven't checked out the video on the Halosar Trap you can watch it HERE.

It is also very important to remember that this opening can be transposed from other openings. One of the most common lines is white opening with e4 and black responding with the Scandinavian Defense d5. If you don't like playing against the Scandinavian Defense you can now play d4 and you will have the same position.

This opening is very fun for those players that don't mind giving up a pawn or two in the early part of a game in exchange for a large lead in development and the potential to chase the opponents king around the board all game long. If you however only like to play when you are up in material this is not the opening for you.


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