[Event "?"] [Site "?"] [Date "2020.06.11"] [Round "?"] [White "King's Gambit"] [Black "Schallopp Variation"] [Result "*"] [ECO "C34"] [Annotator "Wahls"] [PlyCount "32"] [SourceVersionDate "2002.05.06"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 $2 exf4 3. Nf3 Nf6 $1 4. e5 Nh5 5. Qe2 $6 {[#] This was
Carlsen's recent choice in his game against Ding in the Chess24 Magnus Carlsen
Invitational. The line contains some poison, but is objectively bad. While preparing queenside castling, the other intention is to open lines on the kingside once Black has castled. As a nice
bonus on top, all of this comes with a funny trap (maybe not so funny for the
14 black players who have fallen into it, though).} Be7 (5... g5 $2 {leads to
positions, which motivate the King's Gambit players to take the risk of facing
the abundance of all these not-so-nice-lines:} 6. g4 $1 fxg3 (6... Ng7 7. h4
$16) 7. d4 Rg8 8. Nc3 $16) 6. d4 (6. Nc3 O-O (6... Nc6 $5 7. d4 d5 8. Bd2 Bg4
$17) 7. d4 (7. g4 $2 fxg3 8. hxg3 $2 Nxg3 9. Qh2 Nxh1 10. d4 d5 11. Bd3 g6 12.
Bf4 Bg4 13. Qxh1 Nc6 $19 {0-1 (25) Manca,F (2355)-Lalic,B (2600) Montecatini
Terme 1997}) 7... d6 8. Bd2 Bg4 9. O-O-O Nd7 10. Qe1 (10. Qe4 dxe5 11. dxe5 c6
$1 $146 (11... Nc5 $6 {exposes Black's queen needlessly} 12. Qe1 $15 {1-0 (40)
Baroin,B (2223)-Yepez Gutierrez,J (2255) ICCF email 2006}) 12. Kb1 (12. Be2 g6
$17) 12... Qc7 13. Bxf4 Nxf4 14. Qxf4 Bxf3 15. Qxf3 Nxe5 $17) 10... Re8 (10...
c6 $2 11. Be2 $44 {0-1 (23) Carlsen,M (2863)-Ding,L (2791) chess24.com INT
2020 Don't get yourself fooled thinking, the King's Gambit must be good
because it was Carlsen choice. In a blitz game he uncorked the novelty 1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb4 h5 ?!?. Obviously, this man is already bored by correct chess and has
entered into the decadent phase of his career ;-)}) 11. exd6 (11. Be2 c5 $17)
11... Bxd6 12. Qf2 c5 13. Bb5 Rc8 $17) (6. g4 fxg3 7. Qg2 (7. d4 d6 $17) 7...
Nf4 $1 $146 {This move contains a nice self-destructing-mechanism, which is
known from studies.} (7... gxh2 $6 {1-0 (33) Orlowski,J-Yates,J USA 1998}) 8.
Qxg3 Nh5 9. Qg2 {We have reached the same position as before, with the
exception that there is no black pawn on g3 anymore, preventing Black's bishop
from giving check on h4.} O-O 10. d4 Bh4+ 11. Kd1 d6 $19 {Who is attacking who?
}) 6... O-O (6... d5 $4 7. exd6 {This position came about 14 times. In the
majority of the cases it happened via the move order 5.d4 d6 6.Qe2 Be7 7.exd6.}
Qxd6 8. Qb5+ $18 {[%cal Rb5e8,Rb5h5] [#] and the precious Schallopp-knight
drops off. If you don't specifically belong to the group of victims, you will
have to admit that this is a beautiful geometrical pattern.}) 7. g4 (7. Nc3 d6
8. Bd2 {leads to 6.Nc3 above. This was the actual move order Carlsen chose and it
appears to be slightly more accurate than 6.Nc3 which allows 6..Nc6.}) 7...
fxg3 {[#]} 8. Qg2 {White prepares to open the h-file.} (8. Nc3 d6 9. Bd2 (9.
Qg2 dxe5 10. dxe5 Bg4 $17 {0-1 (28) Zikharev,V-Zaitsev,V corr 1990}) 9... Nc6
10. O-O-O Bg4 11. Qg2 dxe5 12. h3 (12. dxe5 Nd4 13. Nxd4 Qxd4 14. Be2 Nf4 $19)
12... Bxf3 13. Qxf3 g6 $1 (13... exd4 {0-1 (48) Syska,A (2300)-Schlager,T
(2325) Germany 1996}) 14. dxe5 Bg5 $19) (8. Be3 d6 (8... Bh4 $2 {1-0 (20)
Schlange,S (2241)-Happe,U (2054) Germany 2007}) 9. Nc3 Bg4 10. O-O-O Nc6 11.
hxg3 dxe5 12. dxe5 Qc8 13. Qf2 Qf5 14. Be2 f6 $17) (8. hxg3 Nxg3 9. Qh2 Nxh1
10. Bd3 g6 11. Qh6 (11. Bh6 d5 12. Nbd2 Nc6 13. c3 f6 $19 {0-1 (40) Szmetan,
J-Amado,C Lobos 1972}) 11... d5 12. Nc3 c6 $1 $146 {Stabilizing the pawn, thus liberating the queen.} (12... Ng3 {1/2-1/2 (15) Muehlbach,P (2100)-Breustedt,W (2235)
Bad Wiessee 1997}) 13. Ng5 (13. Qxh1 f6 $19) 13... Bxg5 14. Bxg5 f6 15. exf6
Rxf6 16. Bxf6 Qxf6 17. Qxh1 Qg5 $19) 8... d6 {White's problem is that he is at
least one tempo short, so Black will be able to open up the center and stop
the attack.} 9. hxg3 Bg4 10. Nh2 (10. Be3 Nc6 11. Nc3 (11. Nbd2 dxe5 12. dxe5
Qd5 13. Bd3 Rad8 14. Be4 Qb5 $19 {0-1 (24) Malecki,R (1994)-Kucza,K (2308)
Wroclaw 2018}) 11... dxe5 12. d5 e4 $1 13. Nh2 (13. Nxe4 $6 Qxd5 $19 {0-1 (23)
Kampelmacher,M-Tanner,P Buenos Aires 1959}) 13... Ne5 14. Qxe4 Bd6 15. Nxg4 f5
16. Nh6+ gxh6 17. Qg2 Ng4 $19) (10. Bd3 Nc6 11. Nh2 (11. Nc3 dxe5 $1 (11... Nb4
$19 {1-0 (26) Junge,K-Diemer,E corr 1942}) 12. dxe5 (12. Nxe5 Qxd4 $19) 12...
Nb4 $146 (12... Nd4 $2 {0-1 (28) Zikharev,V-Zaitsev,V corr 1990}) 13. Be4 f5 $1
$19) 11... Qd7 $146 (11... Nxg3 $2 {0-1 (23) Aldazabal,B-Aparicio,A ICCF corr
1973}) 12. Nxg4 Qxg4 13. Qh3 Qxh3 14. Rxh3 g6 $19) 10... Nxg3 {[#] At the end
of the day, White's attacking ambitions are doomed to fail, as he has more
than enough problems with his own king.} ({If you feel like humiliating your
attacking-player type of opponent, you can insert the moves} 10... Bc8 11. Nf3
Bg4 {when he is forced to meekly agree to a repetition of moves by playing} 12.
Nh2 {, which you then will reject, entering the mainline with} Nxg3 {. As
chess is widely considered to be a psychological battle, it appears to be
legitimate to me to gain the psychological high ground by demonstrating your
power. No need to also drum on your breast like a Silver Back when doing so, of
course.}) 11. Rg1 (11. Nxg4 Nxh1 12. Qxh1 dxe5 $1 $146 (12... Bh4+ {1-0 (45)
Elliott,K-Dodge,R CServe email 1996}) 13. Bd3 Bh4+ 14. Kd1 h5 15. Ne3 (15. Nxe5
Qxd4 16. Nf3 Qg4 $19) 15... g6 16. d5 f5 $19) 11... Bf5 12. Bf4 (12. Nf3 Nh5
13. Rh1 Bg6 $19 {1/2-1/2 (32) Kanios,M (1410)-Hassan,W (1665) IECC email 1999})
12... Nh5 $1 $146 (12... Be4 $19 {0-1 (26) Wade,R-Alexander,C Birmingham 1951})
13. Be2 Bh4+ 14. Kd1 (14. Kf1 Qd7 $19 {[%cal Rf5h3]}) 14... Bg6 15. Bxh5 Bxh5+
16. Kc1 Bg6 $19 {[#] Let's agree that Black managed to establish a bunker.} *

Recent Posts