Raymond Keene's Book of Gambits

1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qe7 {Now we wait.....Will White try to hang onto the pawn.} 4. Bf4 {Yes...the first part of the bait has been taken.} 4... Qb4+ {Hitting the loose Bishop on f4} 5. Bd2 Qxb2 {This is the dodgy part. 6.Nc3 is the move here. But if White spots and plays the attractive looking....} 6. Bc3 {Then you have him.} 6... Bb4 7. Qd2 {The plausible follow up but at this stage White is in a mess, other moves lose material.} 7... Bxc3 8. Qxc3 {Everything is covered....} 8... Qc1 {...except the King. Checkmate.}

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nxe5 Nxe5 4. d4 Ng6 5. Bc4 Nf6 6. Bxf7+ {I like this lad's approach to game.} 6... Kxf7 7. e5 Ne4 8. Qf3+ Kg8 {White now played 9.0-0 d5 and did infact go on to win this game. but instead of castles he did have...} 9. Qb3+ {And that is actually mating Black.} 9... d5 {Only move.} 10. exd6+ Be6 {Only move.} 11. Qxe6 {Mate.}

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. Ne5 {This is the key move of the Salvio, 5.0-0 gxf3 is the Muzio ( which gets 3 stars from Raymond Keene).} 5... Qh4+ 6. g3 fxg3 7. Bxf7+ Ke7 {White is in a spot of trouble here. His best (if best is the correct word) is 7.Qxg4 Qxg4 8.Nxg4. Instead White seeks King safety.} 8. O-O {An extreme example of castling into it.} 8... Qxh2 {Checkmate.}

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. Ne5 Qh4+ 6. Kf1 Nc6 {This is regarded as best by Keene. 7.Nxf7 Bc5 8.Qe1 g3 9.Nxh8 Be2 and Black has the attack.} 7. Nxc6 {Chopping a developed piece and lifting the pressure on f7 must be wrong.} 7... dxc6 8. d4 f3 {Black starts to open up lines against the White King.} 9. gxf3 {This is what Black wants. 9.Be3 or 9.Bf4 not opening the diagonals and files and getting a piece out to help the King were better options.} 9... gxf3 10. Qxf3 Bh3+ {The King has to go to g1. 11.Ke2 Bg4.} 11. Kg1 Qe1+ 12. Bf1 Nf6 {Developing with a nasty threat. Rg8+. The open files and diagonals are murdering White.} 13. Bf4 {If White takes the h3 Bishop then Rg8+} 13... Rg8+ 14. Bg3 Bh6 {Be3+ is coming and White can do nothing about it.} 15. Qxf6 {A spite capture. But the open files and diagonals around the White king cannot all be covered.} 15... Be3+ 16. Qf2 Bxf2 {Checkmate.}

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. Ne5 Qh4+ 6. Kf1 {As I said earlier Keene now suggests 6...Nc6 7.Nxf7 Bc4 Black comes up with another idea.} 6... f3 7. d4 Nf6 8. Nc3 Nc6 {So far White has refrained from jumping onto f7 till he is better developed. Now he judges the time is right.} 9. Nxf7 fxg2+ 10. Kxg2 Qh3+ 11. Kg1 Rg8 12. Nb5 g3 {Looks threatening but White, thanks to his patient development can handle this.} 13. Ng5 {Hits the g8 Rook and also attacks the Black Queen.} 13... Rxg5 14. Bxg5 {14...g2 wins the h1 Rook but Black is also losing a Rook. (Nc7+) Black is then 'attacking' only with his Queen v White's developed pieces and extra material.} 14... Nxe4 {This rushing to get another piece near the White King is wrong. 14...g2 and hope White makes a big blunder.} 15. Nxc7 {White is not given the chance to make a big blunder. That is checkmate.}

1. e4 d6 2. d4 Nf6 3. Nc3 Nbd7 4. Nf3 e5 {We have by way of a different move order a Philidor Defense.} 5. Bc4 Be7 6. O-O O-O {In this set up Black will try to refrain from playing exd4 as long as possible and White will be doing the same regarding dxe5.} 7. Re1 c6 8. a4 {Now 8...Qc7 is a good square for the Queen and still passing the buck about a capture in the centre seems to be the most popular choice.} 8... a6 {But using a pawn move to pass the buck is rarely good.} 9. a5 {White latches onto the weak b6 square and the whole game now revolves around this square.} 9... h6 {Another pass the buck move? Maybe, maybe not - see the first analysis game.} 10. h3 {White waits....this luxury move is OK no harm done and why not pass the move back. Black is wrecking his position with pawn moves. Please play more.} 10... Qc7 11. Be3 {X-raying that weak b6 square. Black has waited long enough...possibly too long.} 11... exd4 12. Bxd4 Ne5 13. Nxe5 dxe5 14. Bb6 Qd6 15. Qxd6 Bxd6 {Black's bid for freedom (11...exd4) has not left him any material down but as far as equalising goes he is lagging way behind.} 16. Na4 {There is an instructive move. The Knight is heading for b6 before Black can play Bb4 pinning it and easing things by exchanging.} 16... Nd7 {Black is not only seeking exchanges he wants to get a Rook on d8 to challenge the d-file.} 17. Rad1 {White, with every piece pumping iron is now clearly on top. It's not won yet but Black's choices are getting limited and White can keep improving his position.} 17... Be7 18. Bc7 {Black now had a chance to make a desperate bid for freedom. Desperate is the correct word, can you see what it is (see 2nd analysis game.) it was certainly better than....} 18... Bd8 {White now forces Black into a deadly pin.} 19. Bxd8 Rxd8 20. Nb6 Rb8 21. Re3 {With the simple threat of Red3 doubling Rooks against the d7 Knight and then playing Nxc8.} 21... Kf8 {The King heads for e7 to help cover d7.} 22. Rg3 {Aimed at stopping the Ke7 idea which was possibly Black best chance in hanging on (a very slim chance at that)} 22... h5 {22...g6 23.Rf3 and the roof caves in on that part of the board.} 23. Rg5 {At last a material gain for White.} 23... g6 24. Rxe5 {Black now tries to make a fist of it but it’s all looking very gloomy.} 24... Re8 25. Rxe8+ Kxe8 26. Nxc8 Rxc8 27. Bxf7+ Ke7 {27...Kxf7 28.Rxd7+ and Rxb7 is just as bad for Black.} 28. Bxg6 h4 {White now played 29.Bf5 and Black resigned. The no nonsense wrap up is....} 29. Rxd7+ Kxd7 30. Bf5+ {Going into an easily won game.}

[FEN "r1bq1rk1/1p1nbppp/p1pp1n2/4p3/P1BPP3/2N2N2/1PP2PPP/R1BQR1K1 w - - 0 9"]
9. a5 {Black here played 9....h6. What was he worried about.} 9... Re8 {A perfectly natural and common move, protecting e5, x-raying the e4 pawn and vacating f8 for the Bishop.} 10. Bxf7+ {A shot both players must consider every move when a Bishop sits on the diagonal hitting f7 (or f2).} 10... Kxf7 11. Ng5+ Kg8 12. Ne6 {Wins the Queen. It was ideas like this that prompted h6.}

[FEN "r1b2rk1/1p1nbpp1/pBp4p/P3p3/N1B1P3/7P/1PP2PP1/3RR1K1 w - - 0 18"]
18. Bc7 {Black opted for 18...Bd8. But note the Knight on a4 and the Bishop on c4.} 18... Bb4 19. c3 Bxa5 {This pseudo piece sac would have relieved some of the pressure.} 20. Bxa5 b5 {And Black wins back the piece. However White would still hold a good plus with....} 21. Bb3 bxa4 22. Bxa4

[FEN "1k3q2/p1p5/1p5p/4p3/4Q3/8/P4PpP/3R2K1 w - - 0 36"]
36. Qxe5 Qf3 37. Rc1 Qf7 38. a4 h5 39. Rb1 h4 40. Qh8+ Kb7 41. Qxh4 Qf5 42. Rb5 Qd3 {White has probably notched this one up as a win a long time ago and is now skipping through the moves.} 43. Qh5 {With the idea to play Qd5+ and get the Queens off thus ending the game. To a certain extent it did work.} 43... Qf1 {The game did indeed end. White has been checkmated.}

[FEN "r4k2/2pn1ppp/2p5/p1P5/1P6/5N2/P4PPP/4R1K1 w - - 0 21"]
21. a3 axb4 22. axb4 Rb8 {The b-pawn cannot be defended by Rb1 because then Black will exploit the pin on the b-pawn and play Nxc5.} 23. Re4 {This lateral defence of the b-pawn means the b-pawn is no longer pinned. Or does it?} 23... f5 24. Rd4 {Rf4 was the move because the b-pawn is still pinned due to the back rank weakness.} 24... Nxc5 25. bxc5 {Obviously White did not read that previous note.} 25... Rb1+ 26. Ne1 Rxe1

[FEN "1nk4r/2p2pp1/p1P1r3/2qNp2p/6Q1/4P3/PP3PPP/R2R2K1 w - - 0 23"]

23. Qxg7 Qf8 24. Qxf8+ Rxf8 25. Rac1 Nxc6 26. e4 Rd8 {White is a pawn up with the much better pawn structure. There are target Black pawns all over the board.. So luft, swap a few pieces and look forward to a nice game.} 27. Rxc6 {But this combination is unsound as long as the back rank is hanging.} 27... Rxc6 28. Ne7+ Kb7 {If White had luft (h3 a hole for the King to run too) then this combo would have been sound.} 29. Rxd8 Rc1+ {but it is unsound and it is mate next move.} 30. Rd1 Rxd1