Blackburne Gambit

This is an opening that I would recommend considering playing as black. The Blackburne Gambit is an alternative reply other than the usual 3.....Bc5 or 3....Nf6 against the Giucco Piano / Italian Game. What white should play on move 4 is either 4. Nxd4 or c3 however Nxe5?? is irresistible for some players. Black is then guaranteed to get a good lead and maybe even win in 7 moves if the opponent doesn't know the Checkmate trap.

4. Nxe5?? Qg5

If you look at the position after 3 moves then I'm sure some players would find the offer of a pawn on e5 an offer they can't refuse. Some players do take this. This is definitely not the correct move and after black plays Qg5 then the best white can do is go 2 pawns for a knight down. These are the possible lines after 4. Nxe5  Qg5; is played, starting with the trap where it is possible to win in 7 moves and if white doesn't know the opening at all then this is what happens sometimes.

5. Nxf7  Qxg2;  6. Rf1  Qxe4+;  7. Be2  Nf3++ Mate;  or if white realises that Nf3++ is checkmate and plays 7. Qe2 instead then black can exchange his/her knight for the queen. The picture below shows the position after 7...Nf3++ Mate;

5. Bxf7+  Ke7; (This is better than 5...Kd8; as it threatens the bishop)  6. d3  Qxe5;  This is the best that white can do after wrongly taking the pawn on d5 on move 4.

5. Nf3  Qxg2;  This leaves white a knight and pawn down.

5. Ng4  d5;  This gives black a double threat on the knight on g4 and threatens the bishop on c4. 6. Bb5+ doesn't work because black simply plays 6....c6; to threaten the white bishop again. 

5. Nxf7  Qxg2; 6. Nxh8  Qxh1+;  7. Bf1  Qxe4+;   8. Be2  doesn't work as black can get mate by playing  8....Bc5;  9. Nf7  Nf3+;  10. Kf1  Qh4;  11. Nd6+  cxd6;  12. Kg2  Qxf2+;  13. Kh3  Qxh2+; 14. Kg4  Nf6+;  15. Kxf3  Qxf2++ Mate; or if black wanted to be cruel and make white suffer by playing the rest of the match without their queen then black could play 8....Nxc2+  9. Qxc2 Qxc2 or 9. Kf1, losing instantly to 9....Qh1++ Mate.

Other variations such as 5. d3, g3 or O-O simply allow black to take the knight with the queen and go a knight for a pawn up.

4. Nxd4

This is a much better move for white to play and will leave white with a better position. Black has to play 4....exd4; White now has a number of moves that can be played now such as 5. O-O, d3, b3 leading to Bb2 or c3. Although black has doubled pawns on the d file the pawn on d4 can be irritating for white. Therefore I would recommend that white should play 5. c3.  This move is the obvious move for white to play to try and get rid of that awkwardly place d4 pawn and the sooner its exchanged off the better, so white can try to develop the queen side knight to c3.

Now black needs to decide whether to exchange off pawns or defend the d4 pawn. The answer I would give is to play 5....dxc3 to exchange off the pawns.

If black was to try and defend the pawn by playing Bc5 then white can play b4 to force the bishop to retreat to b6 and then a4 and a5 forcing it to retreat further. White could also play Bb2 to put further pressure on the d4 pawn and white would also gain a strong diagonal here. Another way to defend the pawn is to play c5. Here I would recommend that white played 6. Qb3 with a double threat on the f7 pawn. Black needs to defend that pawn by playing something like 6....Qf6 or 6....Nh6 but neither are particularly good for black. White is also able to play 7. Na3 now, threatening either 8. Nb5  9. Nc7+ or 8. Nc2, threatening the d4 pawn.

After black plays the better move of 5....dxc3 to exchange the pawns then white is better off recapturing with the knight by playing Nxc3. Although I would recommend Nxc3, white could play Qf3 here which threatens mate next move and then allows Qxc3, white might do this if they wanted to develop the queen's side knight to d2 and then f3. Black can't play Nf6 to block the mate threat as white can play e5, so Qf6 is the best reply.

I personally think that black is now better off aiming for a more solid defence as white is in a better position here, however you may disagree which is understandable and if you prefer then you should play more attacking. I think that black should play 6....d6; 7....Nf6; 8. .... Be7; and 9....O-O; if possible and then black could consider playing b6, Bb7 and c5 to try and weaken the strong black centre. If black was looking to play 6....c6; to try and then play d5 then a good move for white is 7. Qb3 which virtually eliminates the possibility of d5.

One thing that black should be trying to take advantage of is that white's kingside knight has been exchanged off leaving the kingside a bit weaker than it normally would be. The b7-g2 diagonal is strong for a bishop on b7 without the knight on f3.

After recapturing the pawn on move 6 white now has two good alternatives which are 7. Qb3 or 7. d4.  

7. Qb3 is a good move for white as it threatens 8. Bxf7 which black must avoid. There are a few ways for black to stop this - the options of 7....d5, Be6 and Nh6 don't work (After 7....Nh6, 8. d4 is bad for black), so the only worthwhile way to stop this is to protect the f7 pawn with the queen. The 3 ways to do this would be to play 7....Qd7, Qe7 or Qf6. Qd7 blocks in the bishop on c8, Qe7 blocks in the bishop on f8 while Qf6 stops the knight on g8 being developed to f6. 7....Qd7 is probably best because if the queen goes to e7 or f6 then white can play 8. Nd5 threatening both the queen and 9. Nxc7+, winning the rook. This blocks off the c8-h3 diagonal for the bishop which is then better off being developed on b7. 

After 7. d4, you should be looking to play 8. O-O  9. Be3 or Bf4 leading to e5 which can lead to the interesting possibility after 9....Nd7;  10. e6 fxe6;  11. Bxe6+ which leaves white in a very good position with threats like 12. Qg4 coming. 

A typical continuation therefore would be 4. Nxd4 exd4;  5. c3 dxc3;  6. Nxc3 d6;  7. d4 Nf6;  8. O-O Be7; followed usually by the 9. Bf4 variation. This leaves white with the advantage. The picture below shows the position after 9. Bf4 and you can see how much better white's position now is if they play the opening well.

4. c3

This is the only other reply that is worth considering. This forces black to move the knight on d4. 4....Nc6; isn't very good as it allows white to play 5. d4 to grab the centre so the recommended move is 4....Nxf3+; White recaptures with 5. Qxf3. Black should now play 5....Qf6, or Nf6 which is the move I would recommend. White should try to grab the centre with 6. d4 to which black should reply 6....d6; The game will then continue in a very similar way to the way it would in the 4. Nxd4 variation.   

This is very similar to the Nxd4 variation but white just plays c3 a move earlier. The game will continue in a very similar manner and both white and black should be looking to play the same sort of moves as mentioned above in the Nxd4 variation.

Is the Blackburne Gambit worth the risk?

I think it really depends on who your opponent is. If your opponent plays 4. Nxe5?? then you'll definitely have the advantage but if your opponent plays 4. Nxd4 or c3 then your opponent will definitely have a better position going into the middle game.

If you know that your opponent isn't that good then risk it, but if you know that your opponent is a good player then I would recommend playing 3....Bc5 against the Giucco Piano instead. You might find that juniors fall for it more often then adults as some of them find the offer of a pawn on e5 an offer they can't refuse. I wouldn't recommend it against players who you know are very experienced as they are more likely to have seen it before and know the trap. 

Click here to go to some matches in which the Blackburne Gambit was played

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