Elephant Gambit

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 {{chessgloss|space}}.

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 {{chessgloss|development}} after 4.Nc3.

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{{cite web |url=http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1139713 |title=Mikhail Tal vs. Anatoly S. Lutikov, Tallinn (1964) |website=Chessgames.com }} 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.

{{Chess diagram

| 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.

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{{chesspunc|?}} leads to an advantage for White after 4.d4 f6 5.Nd3 dxe4 6.Nf4 Qf7 7.Nd2 (Bondarevsky–Lilienthal, USSR 1941).

• List of chess openings

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

• Burgess, Graham. The Mammoth Book of Chess. London: Constable and Robinson, 2000.
• {{cite book

|last=de Firmian

|first=Nick

|author-link=Nick de Firmian

|title=Modern Chess Openings

|edition=14th

|publisher=David McKay Company Inc

|location=New York

|year=1999

|pages=150–51

}}

• {{cite book

|last1=Hooper

|first1=David

|author-link1=David Vincent Hooper

|last2=Whyld

|first2=Kenneth

|author-link2=Kenneth Whyld

|title=The Oxford Companion to Chess

|publisher=Oxford University Press

|edition=2nd

|year=1996

|orig-year=First pub. 1992

|contribution=Queen's Pawn Counter-gambit

|page=329

|isbn=0-19-280049-3 }}

{{Wikibooks|Chess Opening Theory|1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...d5|Elephant Gambit}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131005204316/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/kibitz15.txt The Kibitzer: "We're Going On An Elephant Hunt"] by Tim Harding (August 1997) at ChessCafe.com

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Category:Chess openings