A recent game in an unusual Morra Gambit Declined

I recently beat a higher rated player as White in an unusual line of the Morra Gambit Declined.

4...g6 looks like a slightly inferior way of declining the gambit, allowing White a classic two-pawn centre.  After 5.cxd4 the Chesslive.de database gives 569 games with 5...Bg7 (probably best) when White is scoring 59.6%.

Over the board I spent a while deliberating over 5...d5 6.exd5 or 6.e5, and correctly selected exd5.  I was playing by analogy with some Göring Gambit Declined lines that I'd looked at before, where Black has to beware of the d4-d5 pawn push if White can get a knight out to c3 without it being hit by the pinning ...Bf8-b4.  I gave 6.exd5 Qxd5 7.Nc3 Qa5 in the notes, but most often played has been the retreat 7...Qd8, albeit with White still scoring a hefty 71.2%. 

I got very tempted by the possibility of trapping the black queen.  Fritz says that Black can survive, but admittedly has to walk a proverbial tightrope.  Overall I thought it was a pretty well-played game, though as usual at club level there were some mutual inaccuracies.

Meanwhile over at my gambits site I'm working on updating the Urusov Gambit coverage, as that is rather out of date at the moment.

More on the Morra: the declined variations

I've been pretty busy with other things recently but have got around to including some coverage of the Morra Gambit Declined, with 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 where Black does not take on c3.

 So far I've got around to covering all lines except for 3...Nf6, but I expect to follow up with three practical examples of 3...Nf6 in the very near future.  The link is here:
http://tws27.weebly.com/morra-gambit-declined.html

Unlike most other sources on the declined variations of the Morra, I have devoted rather more coverage to 3...d5 than to 3...d3, a decision which was partly influenced by some analysis by Mark Nieuweboer illustrating that it is harder for White to claim a substantial advantage than many sources (including Esserman) suggest.  I don't think much of 3...d3, which allows White to set up a favourable version of the Maroczy Bind, such as in the following diagram:

3...d5 probably does not equalise fully, since by comparison with the Danish Gambit Declined, Black is one move further away from developing the kingside pieces (due to having played ...c7-c5 rather than ...e7-e5), but I think that with accurate play White only gets a small edge in a typical "isolated queen's pawn" situation, with active piece play providing compensation for having an isolated pawn on d4.  After 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.cxd4 Black has to choose between setups based on ...Bg4, ...e6, or ...e5.  I think the continuation with 5...Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 is a bit suspect due to the sharp ending that arises from 7.Nc3 Bxf3 (7...Qa5 8.d5) 8.Nxd5 Bxd1 9.Nxc7+ being favourable for White, but after either 6...e6 or 6...e5 (the immediate 5...e5 is also worth considering) Black gets quite a reasonable game, though probably falls short of full equality.

I have not yet examined the 3...Nf6 lines (which, after 4.e5 Nd5, transpose directly into the Alapin variation of the Sicilian, 2.c3 Nf6 3.e5 Nd5 4.d4 exd4).  I have found three attractive attacking high-level games from White's perspective but my preliminary impression is that theoretically Black should be doing fine.

A little recap on the 3...dxc3 lines

Daniel King was quite dismissive of the gambit in his recent "How Good is your Chess?" article for Chess Monthly, referring to the line 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 a6 7.Bg5 Nf6 8.Bxf6 gxf6 9.0-0 Bg7 10.Nd4.

I didn't even mention the line starting with 7.Bg5 in my own coverage, but I have no regrets about this, since as King points out, this position is an Open Sicilian position (1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 d6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3 a6 6.Bg5 Nc6 7.Bxf6 gxf6 8.Bc4 Bg7 9.0-0) but where White is missing a pawn on c2, and thus it is no surprise that White struggles to obtain decent compensation for the pawn.  7.0-0, intending 7...e6 8.Bf4, is the way to go against the Taylor Defence starting with 6...a6.

However, my opinion of the Morra has dropped a little after, with the help of Mark Nieuweboer, uncovering a few move-order tricks for Black which, while not really changing the assessment of the line from "dynamically equal", suggest that there may be certain lines where the onus is more on White to prove full compensation for the pawn, than on Black to prove equality.  Nonetheless, I expect to continue employing the Morra at times, alongside the Open Sicilian, for the foreseeable future.

Extensive updates on the Morra Gambit Accepted

The Morra (or Smith-Morra) Gambit against the Sicilian Defence runs 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3, though it is also sometimes reached via 2.Nf3 and then 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3, or 2.d4 cxd4 3.Nf3 and then 4.c3.

At my Gambiteers' Guild site I have finally completed an extensive coverage of Black's various defences in the accepted lines of the gambit.  Each of the main lines contains discussion of a high-level practical example (indeed, each game has players rated no lower than 2295 Elo) and (and references to other examples in the notes) as well as analysis of alternatives for both sides.

http://tws27.weebly.com/morra-gambit-accepted.html

It has proved to be a large undertaking, highlighting the issue that the Morra is not a good way of trying to avoid the heavy theory associated with various lines of the Open Sicilian (with Nf3, d4 and Nxd4).  However, most club players should be able to get by with a working knowledge of the key ideas for White against Black's various defences, and if you know what you're doing you can pull off some fine attacking wins.  As far as I'm aware, Black has at least a few defences that are sufficient to keep the game level with accurate play, but no refutations, and some of Black's more popular defences, such as the Classical Main Line with ...d6, ...e6 and ...e5, actually give White good chances of a theoretical edge, such as in this position, from G.Compagnone,G-R.Pietrocola, ICCF email 2011:

A key factor behind the recent revival of the gambit is the realisation that although in the lines with ...d6 and ...e6 with the black queen left on d8, White's best approach is a slow build-up starting with Qe2 and Rd1, against many of Black's other defences, White is advised to go for a more "gung-ho" approach, and should not be afraid to sacrifice further material in order to break through to Black's king, particularly the Nc3-d5 sacrifices.  In some lines the Qe2, Rd1 approaches simply leave White a pawn down for not much.

Here are a few attractive piece sacrifices, which, to my knowledge, are not only 100% sound, but also represent best play for White in the following positions:

1) The Chicago Defence, 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 e6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Bc4 Nc6 7.0-0 d6 8.Qe2 b5 9.Bb3 Ra7 10.Rd1 Rd7 11.Be3 Nf6

12.Nxb5! (G.Souleidis-B.Kohlweyer, Germany 2000)

2) The early ...Nge7 defence:  1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 a6 7.0-0 Nge7 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3 Ng6 10.Bb3 b5

11.Nd5! (M.Esserman-L.Van Wely, Orlando 2011)

3) The early attempt to undermine White's e4-pawn by playing ...b7-b5-b4:  1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 e6 5.Nf3 a6 6.Bc4 b5 7.Bb3 Bb7 8.0-0 b4

9.Nd5! (M.Esserman-J.Sarkar, Miami 2008)

Of course you have to take care when going all-out for glory like this - for instance, the Nd5 sacrifice tends not to be particularly sound when Black is only one move away from castling kingside (though even here, there are exceptions where White then gets a crushing kingside attack).

Black does have various ways of declining the gambit, including 3...Nf6, 3...d5 and 3...d3, and I intend to update my coverage of the gambit by discussing examples of these as well, as they are all frequently encountered in practice.

Mayhem in the Morra- White's sacrificial play rebounds

I had a game in the Morra Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3) by transposition that didn't turn out too well, but I got quite a good position out of the opening.  (I plan to get around to giving the Morra some discussion at my Gambiteer's Guild site eventually, but we might be talking a year or more later, depending on my progress with covering other variations.)

The game, with light annotations:

It's frustrating when you get to play one of your pet lines, emerge with a good position out of the opening and then screw up, but at least then you can't blame your loss on the opening!  As it happens, the whole game up to move 13, as observed in my notes, is covered in Marc Esserman's book Mayhem in the Morra (a book well worth getting if you are interested in this gambit, as he carries across a lot of enthusiasm for the opening as well as extensive coverage of the various lines).