Elephant Gambit

Lines

White is able to capture either of Black's center pawns with the advantage, either by 3.exd5 or 3.Nxe5. With a center pawn removed, Black is in a passive position with White clearly having the initiative as White controls more .

3.exd5

Black's responses to 3.exd5 include 3...e4 and 3...Bd6 (the Elephant Gambit proper). 3...Qxd5 saves the pawn, but leaves White with a big lead in after 4.Nc3.

3...e4

After 3...e4 4.Qe2 Nf6 lines might continue:

• 5.d3 Qxd5 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.dxe4 Qe6 and White remains a pawn ahead, although Black's development is somewhat smoother.
• 5.d3 Be7 6.dxe4 0-0 7.Nc3 Re8 8.Bd2 Bb4 9.0-0-0, with advantage for White (Nick de Firmian).
• 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Nxe4:
  • 6...Nxd5 7.d3 0-0 8.Qd1 Bg4 9.Be2 f5 10.Ng3 Nc6 11.c3 with slight advantage for White, as in Salomonsson–H. Sorenson, Malmo 1982 (de Firmian).
  • 6...0-0 7.Nxf6+ Bxf6 8.d4 Re8 9.Be3 with distinct superiority for White (de Firmian).

After 3...e4 4.Qe2, Tal–Lutikov, Tallinn 1964 continued 4...f5 5.d3 Nf6 6.dxe4 fxe4 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Qb5+ c6 9.Qxb4 exf3 10.Bg5 cxd5 11.0-0-0 Nc6 with advantage for White.

Elephant Gambit proper: 3...Bd6 {{anchor|Elephant Gambit proper}}

| tright | |rd|nd|bd|qd|kd| |nd|rd |pd|pd|pd| | |pd|pd|pd | | | |bd| | | | | | | |pl|pd| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |nl| | |pl|pl|pl|pl| |pl|pl|pl |rl|nl|bl|ql|kl|bl| |rl | Elephant Gambit proper: 3.exd5 Bd6 After 3...Bd6 4.d4 e4 5.Ne5 Nf6 6.Nc3 0-0 7.Bc4, according to de Firmian, White enjoys a distinct superiority but no immediate attack.

3.Nxe5

After 3.Nxe5:

• Black plays 3...Bd6 4.d4 dxe4 5.Bc4 Bxe5 6.Qh5 Qf6 7.dxe5, which is thought to be slightly better for White.
• In Lob–Eliskases, German CC 1929, Black played 3...dxe4. The game continued 4.Bc4 Qg5 5.Bxf7+ Ke7 6.d4 Qxg2 7.Rf1 Bh3 8.Bc4 Nf6 9.Bf4 and White went on to win.
• 3...Qe7 leads to an advantage for White after 4.d4 f6 5.Nd3 dxe4 6.Nf4 Qf7 7.Nd2 (Bondarevsky–Lilienthal, USSR 1941).

References

Bibliography

• Burgess, Graham. The Mammoth Book of Chess. London: Constable and Robinson, 2000.
• {{cite book |author-link=Nick de Firmian
• {{cite book |author-link1=David Vincent Hooper |author-link2=Kenneth Whyld |orig-year=First pub. 1992

References

1. "Mikhail Tal vs. Anatoly S. Lutikov, Tallinn (1964)".