Originally posted by no1marauder
To thy own self be true; if you're risk aversive, don't play gambits.
I don't like opening gambits myself on either side; they're usually extremely "booked" and require a lot of memorization. The Smith-Morra is an annoying one to face that I usually decline and turn into a c3 Sicilian (I'm a Sicilian player). I do like the Alekhine-Chatard Attack against the French though.
Ok checked it out, not my style really, rather interesting though.
Chesskid, here's a more general idea on Gambits from my own point of view.
They're risky, usually too risky. First, and this is of the utmost importance, you HAVE to know what you're doing in almost every gambit line. I can think of only a few where this is untrue...Benko (I use it, and have done almost 0 reading on it, the pieces really slide into place) and maybe some others. I WAS going to say the King's Bishop Gambit, but that actually does require *some* theory, and more if you want to play it right. Really, you say your play is risk free, and you like it that way, but you think you're missing out on something. Yeah, I had this feeling once, and now my main opening is the KG. Basically I just found that playing wild games were more fun that positional games. In fact I'd say my transition from positional to wild is extreme. Back in April I played 1.c4 (see CMSMaster vs. Sun Tzu General or CMSMaster vs. WhiskeyJack), and one day decided to try out the KG for some fun. Two unrated FICS games, 2-0 score with a total of under 25 moves, and I found somebody on there they talked about it with me for a couple of hours. Since then I have (of course) been playing lots of gambits. Among them I've tried the KG, the BG, The Smith-Morra (Rarely, and I've since decided upon the Grand Prix Attack), the Reti Gambit (1.e4 e6 2.b3!? d5 3.Bb2!?), and others others very seldom. Honestly it's a risk, I like them, because to me, it's more fun. Not only that, but for a while I had no positional sense. Playing things like the English didn't always offer best results, especially OTB. There's one EXTREMELY important thing to remember though. Nobody is equal. (GG Founding Fathers) If you want to then you should play some gambits. But don't feel like your missing out if you don't. People that play gambits miss out on the slower more positional games. You can't have it all, it's one way or the other. I like gambits, despite how risky they can be. But, there was a time when I thought slowly choking the opponent in your positional grasp could be awesome. Honestly, asking people to tell you if you should or should not play gambits leaves them in a tough spot. Who are we to tell you if you should play gambits or not? You have to make that decision for yourself. If I created a thread asking "Should I play the King's Gambit?" And if it weren't for a handful of people (Me, Dragon Fire, Aging Blitzer, Northern Lad, Cludi, Bedlam, Tebb (used it OTB), Zebano...) I'm sure I'd get an overwhelming amount who say "No way, it's too risky." But I decided it was best for me to play it myself and see if it worked for me. Yeah, it does, and yes I use it.
That better answer your question.
Advice on Gambits
31 Aug '06 21:59
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