Chess Gambits Against The Sicilian, The French and Ruy Lopez
If you’re looking for aggressive opening lines as White against the French and the Sicilian and a remedy as Black to the Spanish torture of the Ruy Lopez, then look no more!
This course offers a great selection of opening videos based on gambits you can play against each of these super popular openings.
Grandmaster Boris Alterman covers several sharp and aggressive opening gambits you can play against the Sicilian, French and Ruy Lopez.
There are 49 top-quality videos of Grandmaster analysis on these exciting openings.
Each video is aimed at teaching you the in’s and out’s of a gambit, covering the best moves and most likely responses from your opponent, as well as providing a review of instructional games so you can see the gambit being used in a practical setting.
About the Author:
Boris Alterman is an Israeli chess Grandmaster, FIDE Senior Trainer (2010), and also an advisor of the Junior chess program. He started playing chess at the age of 7. His career highlights include earning the IM title in 1991, and the GM title in 1992.
He is the winner of the following Open and GM tournaments: Haifa 1993, Bad Homburg 1996, Rishon LeZion 1996, Beijing 1995 and 1997, and Munich 1992.
He plays for Rishon LeZion chess club and produces video lectures on the Internet Chess Club Website.
What you get from this course:
If you’re looking for ways to bust the Sicilian Defense, the French Defense or the Ruy Lopez, then this video series is for you!
Here’s what you’ll get:
Chess Gambits Against The French Defense
Grandmaster Boris Alterman covers three sharp and aggressive opening gambits that you can play against the French Defense.
Milner-Barry-Gambit (2 Part Series)
It was invented by legendary World War II Enigma Code breaker Sir Stuart Milner-Barry, who always liked to play with a sense of adventure.
Now, in his latest Gambit Guide series, GM Boris Alterman re-evaluates the Milner-Barry Gambit as a potent weapon for white – and especially for players who like to play actively.
French-Alekhine Gambit (6 Part Series)
In a new six-part series for this Chess Gambits Guide, our intrepid gambit guru, GM Boris Alterman takes a closer look at two very aggressive Alekhine chess gambits against the normally solid French Winawer.
First up will be a four-part series on 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Nge2 followed by a two-part series on the apocryphal ‘finger slip’ variation, when Alekhine meant to play 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 e5 c5 5 Bd2 against Flohr at Nottingham 1936, but instead touched his c1 bishop first so the game went 1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Nc3 Bb4 4 Bd2 dxe4 5 Nxe4 Qxd4 6 Bd3 Bxd2+ 7 Qxd2.
Chatar-Alekhine-Attack (2 Part Series)
The Chatard-Alekhine Attack in the Classical French Defense with 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Bg5 Be7 5.e5 Nfd7 6.h4!? is a formidable weapon in the hands of an aggressive player – and only a few years ago, Alexander Morozevich used it to demolish French expert Viktor Korchnoi in just 20 moves!
White sacrifices his h-pawn for an immensely dangerous initiative. This leads to a complex struggle, where White has a rapid and easy development.
Chess Gambits Against The Sicilian Defense
Grandmaster Boris Alterman and GM Alex Lenderman cover four sharp and aggressive opening gambits you can play against the Sicilian Defense.
The Sicilian Defense – famed chess opening, known as one of the sharpest, most double-edged, aggressive, complicated and successful chess openings for Black.
It is said that you don’t really understand chess until you’ve explored the Sicilian Defense!
It’s not an easy opening to play, either as Black, or facing it as White. There are simply so many variations and sidelines, it is next to impossible to remember them all. It’s a good idea to learn the general ideas and principles involved and make sure you have a plan of progress.
Sveshnikov-Sicilian Sacrifices on b5 (5 Videos)
He was the driving force and inspiration of the variation during the early 1970s when he was a young IM – and back then, it was his creative mind who developed this aggressive method of playing as black.
Since then, elite stars such as Kasparov, Kramnik, Topalov, Leko, Radjabov, and Shirov have all adopted this variation into their arsenal because it often leads to imbalanced positions.
There are many methods to combat the Sveshnikov, but one of the most macho involves the early sacrifice of either a knight or a bishop on b5. And in his latest series, GM Boris Alterman checks the status of both the Nxb5 and Bxb5 gambits vs. the Sveshnikov.
The Sicilian Defense – Moscow Variation (2 Videos)
A favorite of chess players is unquestionably the late great David Bronstein (1924-2006), who was nothing short of being a true chess genius.
He was an independent thinker at the board, and our gambit guru, GM Boris Alterman investigates two highly-respected (and typical) Bronstein gambits for rapid development in the Sicilian Moscow variation after 3. Bb5+.
First up will be 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bd7 Qd7 5. c4 Qg4?! 6. 0-0! followed by 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 d6 3. Bb5+ Bd7 4. Bd7 Qd7 5. 0-0 Nc6 6.c3 Nf6 7. d4!?
Smith-Morra Gambit (4 Videos)
The Smith-Morra Gambit against the Sicilian Defense (1 e4 c5 2 d4 cxd4 3 c3 dxc3 4 Nxc3!?) is perhaps not common in grandmaster chess, but at club level, it can be a very potent attacking weapon.
The gambit is named after two players, Pierre Morra from France (1900-1969) and Ken Smith (1930-1999) of the Dallas Chess Club, who popularized it to the masses by writing nine books and fifty articles about it.
This is a 3 part series from GM Alex Lenderman, with one extra video from GM Boris Alterman covering the spectacular attacking game of IM Marc Esserman who beat GM Van Wely with the Smith-Morra.
Kamsky Gambit (1 Video)
Former US champion, Gata Kamsky, came up with a new gambit idea in the Sicilian Najdorf with 1 e4 c5 2 Nf3 d6 3 d4 cxd4 4 Nxd4 Nf6 5 Nc3 a6 6 a4 Nc6 7 a5!? that our gambit guru, GM Boris Alterman, takes a closer look at.
Chess Gambits Against The Ruy Lopez
If you’re looking for ways to bust the Ruy Lopez, then this video series is for you! Grandmaster Boris Alterman and Grandmaster Ronen Har-Zvi cover several sharp and aggressive chess gambits you can play against the Ruy Lopez.
You receive 27 top quality videos of Grandmaster analysis on these exciting openings:
Cordel Gambit (2 Part Series)
Oskar Cordel (1843-1913) was not so much a top player in Germany but more thought of as a theorist on the game, with many published opening books and magazine articles to his name.
Nevertheless, the author did leave a lasting legacy of two variations in the Ruy Lopez he championed: the Cordel variation and the Cordel gambit with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Bc5 4 c3 f5?!
The Cordel gambit can lead to some very strange positions and there are many bizarre responses to it – but ultimately it has never proved to be strictly sound, though it is useful as a surprise weapon when you are looking for wild, tactical games.
The Cordel gambit has been adopted as such by modern-day grandmasters Ivan Sokolov, Ian Rogers, and Jonny Hector.
Dilworth Variation (2 Part Series)
Dilworth became famous overnight after his analysis was spotted by the great Mikhail Botvinnik, who used the tricky line (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0–0 Nxe4 6.d4 b5 7.Bb3 d5 8.dxe5 Be6 9.c3 Bc5 10.Bc2 0–0 11.Nbd2 Nxf2!?) as a surprise weapon against Vassily Smyslov during the 1943/4 Moscow Championship.
And the ‘Dangerous Dilworth’ is not only tricky but still alive and kicking today with many titled players over the years falling victim to it.
Gajewski Gambit (2 Part Series)
As chess gambits go, the Gajewski Gambit with 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0 0 Be7 6.Re1 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.c3 0 0 9.h3 Na5 10.Bc2 d5!? is a relative newcomer to the game.
The position after White’s tenth move had been reached thousands of times with 10…c5 being universally played, before the Polish grandmaster Grzegorz Gajewski revealed recently that Black has a fascinating, almost Marshall Attack-like gambit at his disposal with 10 …d5!?
The introductory game came at the 2007 Czech open, when Gajewski uncorked it against the unsuspecting Kuznetsov, in a brilliant attacking game that soon became a hot candidate for the novelty of the year.
It was then given the seal of approval at the elite level by being taken up after this by Carlsen and Leko. And in a new series of GM Boris Alterman’s Gambit Guide, our gambit guru takes a closer look at the adventurous Gajewski Gambit.
Riga Variation (2 Part Series)
The Riga variation is exciting and often leads to many wild sacrificial gambits galore, which, if White is unsure of what is going on, can easily lead to many Black quick wins.
Marshall Gambit (10 Part Series)
One of the world’s first Grandmasters, America’s Frank J. Marshall (1877-1944) left behind a lasting legacy to the chess world with his revered gambit against the Ruy Lopez: the Marshall Attack with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 0-0 Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 0-0 8 c3 d5!
The myth goes that Marshall deliberately kept his analysis secret for seven years before playing it against Capablanca at New York 1918, but this has since been debunked by historians. Regardless of its origins, it continues to wreak havoc both at the club and elite level over 90 years on – GM Ronen Har-Zvi comprehensively covers the Marshall Attack in this 10 part series.
Hector Gambit (3 Part Series)
The Ruy Lopez Exchange (or Spanish Exchange) was championed by two great world champions – first by Emmanuel Lasker as a secret weapon to take on the mighty Capablanca; and then arguably more famously by Bobby Fischer, who finely honed it with his modern-day update in the 1960s.
The concept of the opening is simple: Take all the pieces off the board and White wins the ending. But with the bishop pair, there are many ways for Black to counter the Exchange Lopez, and one enterprising way is to adopt an adventurous gambit made popular by the swashbuckling Swede, Jonny Hector, with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Bxc6 dxc6 5 0-0 Bg4 6 h3 Bh5!? that features in this three-part series.
Janisch Gambit – Ruy Lopez (2 Part Series)
The Jaenisch or Schliemann Gambit in the Ruy Lopez with 3 …f5 dates back to 1847. This provocative pawn sacrifice by black as early as move three often leads to games of a swashbuckling nature. Black dictates the action from the earliest moment – and often it can confuse the players of the white pieces.
It has received a new lease of life with its adoption at the elite level by Teimour Radjabov and others. GM Boris Alterman takes a close look.
Schliemann Defense Deferred (2 Part Series)
The Schliemann Defense Deferred, with 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 f5 is, of course, very similar in nature to the more popular Schliemann Defense covered during an earlier series of Gambit Guide. It has never had a good reputation, but it remains a surprise weapon with no clear refutation.
The key difference between the two is that in the deferred form Black can have a timely …b5 available. The deferred was a favorite of the original chess thinker David Bronstein, and even Viktor Korchnoi used it to draw with Anatoly Karpov during their many world championship battles; lately, Alexei Shirov has played it. And in a new series of Gambit Guide, we take a closer look at the nuances of the Schliemann Deferred.
Siesta Variation (2 Part Series)
The Siesta Variation in the Modern Steinitz (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 d6 5.c3 f5) is a dangerous weapon against the Ruy Lopez and is anything but sleepy. It is very similar in style to the Janisch (or Schliemann) Gambit, but can prove more potent as accepting the gambit can see White getting a rude wake-up call by being hit with a quick and ferocious kingside attack.
Many believe it has Spanish origins due to the name, but it is in fact derived from the location of the 1928 Budapest tournament, held in the Siesta Sanatorium, where Jose Raul Capablanca successfully deployed it against Andreas Steiner.
Capablanca viewed it then to be “too risky,” but modern-day champions of the Siesta, such as the Russian GM Valeri Yandemirov, have developed the shaper play around it.