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From Clyde Nakamura:

The Search for

& Mythical Chess Openings

Some players have believed that chess is almost dead.  That there is no more to be discovered in the openings.  That you have to memorize 20 moves deep to play a correct game of chess.  I do not believe that this is true.  There are still many new and exciting opening lines to discover.  Chess is still vast and unexplored.

I started playing tournament chess with regular orthodox chess openings such as the Ruy Lopez, French Defense, Sicilian Defense, Colle System, Caro-Kann Defense, Stonewall Attack & etc.  And I used to play a more positional type of game.  I first played the Latvian Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5) in tournament games and was not discouraged by my initial loss with this gambit.  The Latvian Gambit took me from a USCF Class D rating to a Class A rating.  I went on to improve it with every tournament I had played in.  And I scored many wins with the Latvian.  It was not till I had discovered the Queens Pawn Grob Opening (1.d4 Nf6 2.g4) that I did win the Hawaii State Chess Championship.  And it was not till I had correspondence with Hugh E. Myers of Myers Openings Bulletins that I had realized that I was not the first to play this gambit.  It had been played by a number of other players such as the late actor Humphrey Bogart, GM David Bronstein, Claude Bloodgood and a whole host of other players.  The gambit had later been officially named the Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit.

In 1986 I had won the Hawaii State Chess Championship in a three way tie for first.  There were no tie breaks then, so we were all declared co-champions.  It was not till 1987 that I had won the Hawaii State Chess Championship with a score of 5 ½ points out of 6 rounds with no tie for first place.  My closest rival had 4 ½ points.  In that same year I received my Master’s certificate from the U.S. Chess Federation for achieving the Masters rating of 2205.  Over the years I have won various tournaments such as the Hawaii State Class Championship where I defeated fellow expert Patrick Perry for the championship of the Expert/Master section of this tournament.  I have since played in a number of Hawaii International Chess Tournaments during the 1990’s.  My best result was 4 wins, 3 losses and 3 draws for a plus score.  It was the best result among Hawaii players that did participate in the International for that year.  It was not a bad result considering that my only losses were to GM Eduard Gufeld, GM Pavel Blatny and to IM Anthony Saidy.

Over the years, I have submitted my game scores and chess articles to be published by Rand Springer, that German Theoretical Chess Openings Magazine, which is no longer in print.  I also had two articles published in the New England Chess Publication called Chess Horizons.  My first article was on the Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.g4) and the second on the Halasz Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.f4).  You can find my name listed in Eric Schiller’s chess books such as the “Big Book of Busts”, “Unorthodox Chess Openings Vol. 2”, “Gambit Chess Openings” and “A Gambit Repertoire for White”.  And two of my games were featured in that recent article called “Come to the Dark Side” by Tim McGrew of Gambit Cartel at www.chesscafe.com.

We are still very much trapped by what we believe in.  A lot of players will never play chess openings which are considered unsound.  For example my friend National Master Reynolds Takata once declared that there can be no gambit played against the moves 1.d4 d5 2. Nf3 because 2…e5 cannot be played because it drops a pawn with either 3.dxe4 or 3.Nxe5.  But after having played the Blackmar-Diemer Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.e4 dxe4 3.Nc3) and the Omega Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.e4), I believed that the move 2…e5 was possible.  It leads to 2 types of gambit positions.  After 2…e5 3.dxe5 f6 we have a reversed Blackmar-Diemer Gambit type of position.  And after 2…e5 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 bxc6 we have a reversed Omega Gambit type of position from the Black side.  Even playing some gambit like the Medusa Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g5) can be beneficial in practice games.  It is not sound but your tactical part of your game can improve by learning the tactics involved in that gambit.


Currently I am on the Yahoo
Unorthodox Chess Openings Newsgroup.  I do post messages and files to this newsgroup on a regular basis and have written articles for the UCO Newsgroups Newsletter.  Meanwhile, come along with me in the articles below, as together we search for dragons, and mythical chess openings...

 


The Latvian Gambit 3...Bc5 Variation:  "I was on the Gambit Chess web site and I saw an interesting line in the Latvian with the following moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.exf5 Bc5...If White plays 4.Nxe5 then Black has the B sacrifice on f2 with 4…Bxf2+ 5.Kxf2 Qh4+ 6.Kf3...This is probably one of the most interesting lines of the Latvian Gambit..."  Check out other opening analysis here at Chessville on our Opening Resources page.

 









 








The Omega Ω Gambit Part 1The main Omega Gambit accepted line is 1.d4 Nf6 2.e4 Nxe4 3.Nc3 Nxc3 4.bxc3.  The Omega gambit can also be played by the move sequence 1.e4 Nf6 which is an Alekhine’s Defense (1.e4 Nf6) and 2.d4.  National Master Robert Reynolds, Grandmaster Hellers, Grandmaster Nick DeFirmian, Master Tim McGrew of the Gambit Cartel  on www.chesscafe.com and according to Eric Schiller a number of Chicago players had also played this gambit.  The Omega Gambit has also been called the Reynolds Gambit and the Bo Gambit.

The Omega Ω Gambit Part 2Here in Part 2 we look at the Gambit Declined:  1.d4 Nf6 2.e4 and now Black can decline the gambit by 2...d6; 2...e6; 2...g6; 2...c6; 2...c5; 2...d5; or 2...e5.

Franco-Hiva Gambit - Part 1

1.e4 e6 2.d4 f5

"It took me many early lost games on the internet to discover the Franco-Hiva Gambit Accepted lines' many tactical and strategic secrets.  When I had started to defeat players rated 2200+ on the internet with the Franco-Hiva Gambit, I had finally realized that this gambit was indeed playable.  That you could actually win with this gambit.  It is really still very much a work in progress..."








Franco-Hive Gambit Part 2 - The Franco-Hiva Gambit Declined.  "Your opponents will not always take the gambit pawns at f5, e6 and at d7.  In fact they may not take any of the pawns starting with the pawn at f5..."

Vector Gambit "This new gambit with the moves 1.c4 d5 2.cxd5 c6 can transpose into a reversed Smith-Morra Gambit type of position. I had named this new gambit the Vector Gambit.  In physics and engineering the term vector refers to something that has magnitude and direction.  Both force and velocity have magnitude and direction...If  White accepts the gambit pawn at c6, then Black obtains excellent development for his pieces and has very good kingside attacking chances.  In the gambit accepted line the opening is very similar to the Sicilian Smith-Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3).  Whatever tactics and strategy that you have in the Smith-Morra Gambit can also be used in the Vector Gambit.  However I have noticed that there are some differences such as..."










Initial position of the Vector Gambit

 

Ancient Dance - the Kahiko-Hula Gambit

"In 1998 I had discovered another gambit similar to the Keoni-Hiva Gambit (1.e3 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3).  The moves of my discovery are:  1.c4 e5 2.e3 Nf6 3.f4 exf4 4.Nf3.  This is the main accepted line.  (Please note that there are other accepted lines which we will examine in this article.)  White intends to sacrifice the pawns at f4, e3 and d2 for quick piece development and freedom of movement for the minor pieces.  In the accepted lines White has the half open d-file, half open f-file and the open e-file.  A recurring theme in this gambit is that the posting of the white knight to d5 causes Black some problems."








Initial position of the Kahiko-Hula Gambit

 

Kahiko-Hula Gambit DeclinedPart 2 of Clyde Nakamura's latest.  For the Gambit Accepted lines see: Part 1: The Gambit Accepted.  "The Kahiko-Hula Gambit is still relatively very new and consequently there are no other sample games but my games.  Initially I had played a few games on the internet and tested it in games against my computer software chess programs.  I later tested it against human opponents on the internet and was quite surprised that this gambit was very effective and quite deadly..."








 
(2/19)  The Medusa Gambit:  "According to Greek mythology Medusa was a mortal woman who was transformed into a Gorgon.  A Gorgon was a hideous creature with wings, claws, enormous teeth and snakes for hair.  Medusa was slain by Perseus, but even in death Medusa was still so frightful that it turned any onlooker into stone.  For a long time I had thought that the Medusa Gambit ((1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5)) was unsound, but the more I played it, the more I liked it!  Maybe I had too much fun playing it..."
 


Jonny Hector

Jonny Hector - UCO Hero:  A brief biography and survey of the Unorthodox Chess Openings that he's known to play, Clyde Nakamura.  Also included is a free download of 2025 of his gamers, in zipped PGN format.  Jonny Hector, 39, is a Swedish chess grandmaster, who has lived in Denmark for more than 10 years.  He learned chess at the relatively late age of 14, but quickly became a very strong player.  He is an experienced, aggressive, grandmaster with a classical opening repertoire and a fierce attacking style, and is known for playing unusual chess openings...
 

Hartlaub Gambits:  "The Blackburne-Hartlaub Gambit which comes out of the Englund Gambit (1.d4 e5) has the moves:  1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 d6.  There are other opening settings where you can get a similar position to the Blackburne-Hartlaub Gambit..."








 
Greco’s Legacy - The Panteldakis Counter Gambit  "Over 20 years ago my friend, former Hawaii State Chess Champion Daniel Roffman alerted me to an unusual opening Black counter gambit in the King's Gambit from a book called Encyclopedia of Chess Games.  It had a game played by Greco (the Italian Master) against NN (no name) in 1620.  I started playing this counter gambit and discovered a fascinating 2-pawn sacrificial line.  This King's Gambit line is also known as the "Lesser Gambit Declined' according to the book “King’s Gambit as White” by Raingruber (1995).   I discovered the name Panteldakis Counter Gambit in an issue of Chess Life, but prior to that I had called this gambit Greco's line.  It is possible to transpose into the Panteldakis Counter Gambit with 1.f4 e5 (Froms Gambit) 2.e4 (King’s Gambit) 2…f5 into the Panteldakis Counter Gambit..."

1.e4 e5 2.f4 f5








 
The Regina-Nu Gambits:  This is a short article which is basically a survey of the Regina-Nu Gambits.  "There exists a family of gambits where the c-, b- and a-pawns are sacrificed for the opponent's d- pawn.  These are the Regina-Nu Gambits.  This includes..."

 

1. Regina-Nu Gambit:

     1.Nf3 d5
     2.c4 dxc4
     3.b3

     The start of the gambit.

     3. .....  cxb3
     4.Nc3 bxa2
     5.Rxa2

     [Diagram]








 

Games Databases!  22,796 games + lines in zip format.  When unzipped it is 13.7 MBs.  In zip format it is 3.7 MBs.  The database is sorted by year.  It took me some work to create this database.  I started with 65,000 Orangutan games and had to take out the duplicate games.  Also, I've included 3,456 Grob Attack games in zipped pgn format; 603 kb zipped, 2.06 MB unzipped.  Download them here:

22,796 Orangutan games     3,456 Grob Attack games

 

The Dilworth Gambit

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e4

The move 4.e4 is the start of the gambit because now the e-pawn can be captured.  After 4.e4 Nxe4 White plays 5.Qg4 attacking the black knight at e4.  I admit I do know a large number of gambits but there are some gambits that I did not know and had never seen before.

Anyway I was intrigued by this new gambit in the Nimzo-Indian because the pawn structure that occurs in this gambit is the same pawn structure that occurs in the Omega-Paris Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.e4) and the Omega-Achilles Gambit (1.c4 Nf6 2.e4).  White has pawns at c4, c3, d4 and a half-open e-file.









 

 

The Devin Gambit
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g4

With 3.g4 White offers a pawn and if Black accepts the gambit pawn then White will have quick development, control of the center, a half open g-file and a chance for a kingside attack.  This is the Devin Gambit.  In Eric Schiller's  book "Unorthodox Chess Openings, Edition No.2" he analyzed the Devin Gambit line with 3...Nxg4 4.e4 Qh4 and concluded that the Devin Gambit was bad and not playable...








I agree with Eric Schiller that the 3...Nxg4 4.e4 Qh4 line is bad for White, however I do not believe that the Devin Gambit is bad and not playable - because Schiller did not look at 3...Nxg4 4.Nf3 which stops Black's Queen from moving to h4.  If Black accepts the g-pawn sacrifice and castles kingside, Black will be facing a very strong kingside attack...

 

The Omega-Osiris Gambit
1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 e5

My friend, National Master Reynolds Takata, had declared that there can be no gambits against 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3.  I had thought about this and discovered that after the moves 1.d4 d5 2.Nf3 there is the gambit move 2...e5 which I call the Omega-Osiris Gambit.  The Omega-Osiris Gambit is a gambit with two distinctly different gambits combined into one.  White can continue..."








 

Oh brave chess knight, thou seekest the Holy Grail of Chess...
Behold the Keoni-Hiva Gambit, for it is the ultimate chess opening gambit.

The Keoni-Hiva Gambit Part 1:  Clyde writes "The Keoni-Hiva Gambit has been one of my deadliest chess opening gambits.  I have taken many wins against 2200+ rated players on the Internet Chess Club and the US Chess Federation Server at various time controls ranging from game in 5 minutes to game in 15 minutes.  The Keoni-Hiva Gambit is indeed the “H