The Steinitz - Sveshnikov Attack in the Giuoco Piano

I have recently been experimenting with The Steinitz - Sveshnikov Attack as an important addition to my Urusov Gambit System. The line gives me a good response to early Black deviations, and I typically reach it after 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nc6 (or 2...Bc5 3.Nf3 Nc6) 3.Nf3 Bc5 (against 3...Nf6 I play the Modern Two Knights with 4.d4 exd4 5.e5!) 4.c3 (I also like 4.O-O!?) 4...Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5! I wish I had more time these days to offer you a long analysis, but I thought it was about time I published what I do have.

Urusov Update

Meijer - Van t' Hof
White to Play

I have posted a Urusov Gambit 2008 Update, where I analyze over ten games from the past year or so that began with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4. I was inspired to put this together by GM Boris Alterman's "Gambit Guide" video at ICC this week, which offers Part One of a series on the Urusov. In the first of two installments, he offers a review of basic and brutal Urusov tactics against typical Black mistakes. My only criticism is that he lets pass without comment the common move order problem 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. Bg5?! rather than the superior 6. Nc3! (discussed at my Urusov Gambit System website), which seems still relatively unknown among players.

While the Urusov is very popular at club level, it remains relatively under-represented in databases. So putting together a collection of recent games can be a bit tricky. Most games that you find that open with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 either transpose immediately to the Two Knights Defense (with 3...Nc6!? 4.Nf3 or 3...exd4 4.Nf3 Nc6 etc.) or are too poorly contested by both sides to be worthy of attention. After scouring the globe (using Google and the ICC database anyway), I turned up ten interesting games. I'd be glad to have more and invite reader submissions.

Urusov Gambit - The Tricky 3...Nxe4 4.dxe5 Line

A Tactically Charged Position
1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5

I continue my re-analysis of the Urusov Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4) with a look at "The Tricky 3...Nxe4 4.dxe5 Line."  The position in the diagram above (with Black to move) is already very tactical.  The Knight is vulnerable at e4, giving White immediate threats, including 5.Qd5 forking f7 and the Knight at e4 and 5.Bxf7+ Kxf7 6.Qd5+ followed by Qxe4 winning a pawn and misplacing Black's King. But Black does have the move, and he has a number of attacking ideas of his own, including the f2-assaults 4...Bc5, 4...Qh4, and 4...Nxf2, none of which is effective against precise play.  Black's best move in the position is probably 4...c6, countering White's Qd5 threats and hoping to expand by 5...d5.  After 5.Qe2 Nc5 White keeps an edge but Black has chances.

Urusov Gambit -- Patzer Variation or Refutation?

The Patzer Variation, 4...Bb4+

One of the most difficult lines to prove a White advantage against in the Urusov Gambit is the surprisingly good 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3 Bb4+. I have posted two recent games that show the typical struggle in that line, which often develops into a rather tactical endgame, with both Kings in the center and potential targets all over the board. Urusov expert Max Burkett (who sent me the second game) likes to call this "the Patzer Variation," after the phrase "patzer sees a check, patzer plays a check." But it may actually come closest to being a "refutation" of the Urusov, in that it probably allows Black to equalize with precise play. Fortunately, the move continues to be favored only by patzers, so Urusov aficionados will not usually have to face the most precise defense.

Urusov Gambit - A Rare Practical Example of 8...d5!? 9.O-O-O Be6 10.Nxd5!

White to Play: 10.Nxd5!

I have posted the fascinating correspondence game Legendre (Agashak)-NN (TheKing), France 2008, which offers a rare practical example of NM Victor Baja's idea 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qxd4 Nf6 6. Nc3 Nc6 7. Qh4 Be7 8. Bg5 d5!? 9. O-O-O Be6 10. Nxd5!

The real treat of this game, however, is in Black's wonderful improvement on my published analysis, by which he finds an incredible draw by perpetual check in what appears to be a completely lost position. You can see the original game online at the EchecsEm@il website. It was played at 5 days + 36 hours per move.

Black to Play and Draw

Urusov Analysis - 3...Nxe4 4.dxe5 Qh4

Continuing my re-analysis of the Urusov Gambit, I present a refutation of the unusual line 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 Nxe4 4.dxe5 Qh4, which received some positive press following its use in the USSR championship of 1974. White has to be careful here; Black threatens mate, after all, and the natural 5.Qe2? is met by 5...Nxf2! But there are two ways for White to gain a clear advantage.

I counted up about 40 lines from my Urusov Gambit site that will eventually receive reconsideration (with the help of Max Burkett). With this second entry, I figure we're 5% finished. What form the final analysis will take (whether website, book, or CD) is yet to be determined.

Urusov Analysis - 5.Qxd4 Qe7?!

I have seen a number of statements online to the effect that 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qxd4 Qe7?! is the "refutation of the Urusov." Of course, there's really no hope for such a silly looking move, even if it can be a little tricky. After winning a game against it on ICC (where my opponent seemed to play the move quite deliberately), I set about analyzing it a bit and present to you "Refuting 5...Qe7." Special thanks to Max Burkett for his feedback on my analysis here.

I have set about slowly re-analyzing my Urusov material and hope to present a number of pieces in coming weeks and months.

Urusov Gambit Update

I have annotated ten relatively recent games featuring the Urusov Gambit. I had been meaning to offer a Urusov Gambit Update like that for a while, and was finally prompted to action by Steve Doyle and Pete Tamburro's very nice column in The Sunday Star-Ledger (June 17, 2007) which annotated the game Svensson-Tolksdorf, Correspndence 1973-1974 and made positive mention of my Urusov Gambit website. The game they chose, while a typically attractive Urusov blow-out, struck me as rather out-dated, especially since its formerly main line with 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.Qxd4 Nf6 6.Nc3 Nc6 7.Bg5 Be7 8.Qh4 d6 9.O-O-O Be6 10.Bd3?! is convincingly refuted by the simple 10....Ng4! as I discuss on my site. Fortunately, White has other choices at move 10 -- though Black does not have better than 9...Be6 in my view. Doyle and Tamburro suggest 9...h6 10.Bxf6(?) Bxf6 as being better for Black, which it is, of course; but White hardly need oblige by exchanging at f6 since there is no threat on his Bishop with the h-pawn pinned. White should therefore play 9...h6?! 10.Rhe1! with a strong attack.

In any event, Svensson-Tolksdorf is no longer important to "theory," if traditional theory is really keeping track. After all, the Urusov, while very popular at the amateur and club level, is not played by GMs and therefore not likely to receive extensive "book" coverage. For instance, Nunn's Chess Openings, which I have handy, offers only a single line of text and seven brief footnotes (less than a sixth of a page in a 544 page volume). As my extensive analysis suggests, a bit more might be written, though the absence of GM games is inhibiting. There are, however, plenty of interesting games, many by masters (2200+) and even some by titled players. French IM Luc Bergez has added it to his repertoire, and I have annotated a few of his games. But, as my notes suggest, even strong players are not the best guides to the "theory" of the line. The Urusov remains very much an unexplored territory, and therefore fertile ground for the adventurous gambiteer.

Related Links

• The Urusov Gambit System
• Urusoff / Urusov Gambit Bibliography
• Urusov Gambit Novelty
• Notes on the Two Knights with d4
• Anti-Antoshin
• Once more unto the Urusov, dear friends, once more... by Tim Harding