early sharp gambits

The following gambits are recommended and analyzed by Eric Schiller in his Gambit Opening Repertoire for White:

1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 d4 ed 4 c3 dc 5 Nc3 (Goring Gambit)
1 e4 c5 2 d4 cd 3 f4 (Halasz Gambit)
1 e4 c6 2 d4 d5 3 Nf3 de 4 Ng5 (Ulysses' Gambit)
1 e4 e6 2 d4 d5 3 Be3 de (Alapin Gambit)
1 e4 d5 2 Nf3 de 3 Ng5 (Tennison Gambit)

Schiller's Gambit Opening Repertoire for Black recommends the following:

1 e4 d5 2 ed Nf6 3 d4 Bg4 (Portugese Gambit)
1 e4 d5 2 ed Nf6 3 c4 e6 4 de Be6 (Icelandic Gambit)
1 d4 d5 2 c4 e6 3 Nc3 c5 4 cd cd (Hennig-Von Schara Gambit)

Some weird gambit ideas that I've seen and/or played:

1 c4 b5 2 cb d5
1 Nf3 g5 2 Ng5 d5
1 f4 g5 2 fg h6

Just some food for thought.

I always play the Schliemann defence against the Ruy Lopez as black
Here are some of my games
Game 4788807
Game 4750044 I almost lost on this one; White's downfall Bd3; Be2 was better

I have finally got round to purchasing Nigel Davies' Gambiteer II. The Schliemann's long been part of my repertoire, so it's obviously of interest to me. (I've also played the Albin on the odd occasion.) I'll let you know what I think of it shortly.

Originally posted by Northern Lad
I have finally got round to purchasing Nigel Davies' Gambiteer II. The Schliemann's long been part of my repertoire, so it's obviously of interest to me. (I've also played the Albin on the odd occasion.) I'll let you know what I think of it shortly.

It's quite good actually! Some interesting ideas following radjabov's recent games.

Unfortunately still no real solution to the problem of the early forced draw with exf5:
Davies suggests 1.e4 e5; 2.Nf3 Nc6; 3.Bb5 f5; 4.exf5 e4; 5.Qe2 Qe7; 6.Bxc6 bxc6 instead of dxc6, but what to do against the move order 4.Bxc6, then exf5 ?

Originally posted by shorbock
It's quite good actually! Some interesting ideas following radjabov's recent games.

Unfortunately still no real solution to the problem of the early forced draw with exf5:
Davies suggests 1.e4 e5; 2.Nf3 Nc6; 3.Bb5 f5; 4.exf5 e4; 5.Qe2 Qe7; 6.Bxc6 bxc6 instead of dxc6, but what to do against the move order 4.Bxc6, then exf5 ?

Gambiteer II is a much more useful book than the first one.
The first one is ok for an overview, but for in-depth original analysis, the Black repertoire stuff is superb.

Originally posted by shorbock
It's quite good actually! Some interesting ideas following radjabov's recent games.

Unfortunately still no real solution to the problem of the early forced draw with exf5:
Davies suggests 1.e4 e5; 2.Nf3 Nc6; 3.Bb5 f5; 4.exf5 e4; 5.Qe2 Qe7; 6.Bxc6 bxc6 instead of dxc6, but what to do against the move order 4.Bxc6, then exf5 ?

What's wrong with simply 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.exf5 Bxf5? Looks pretty good for black to me.

Originally posted by Northern Lad
What's wrong with simply 4.Bxc6 dxc6 5.exf5 Bxf5? Looks pretty good for black to me.

Lol yes of course you're right ! after exf5, e4 is so automatic for me that i didn't even notice that simple possibility!

Originally posted by Squelchbelch
Gambiteer II is a much more useful book than the first one.
The first one is ok for an overview, but for in-depth original analysis, the Black repertoire stuff is superb.

Yes i also had the impression that Davies put more work on the vol 2...Or maybe the lines he chose for black are sounder

Didn't look to this thread for a while ! Thanks to all of you ! I got plenty new ideas !!

Now I have to choose my repertoire from all material you've posted.

Another question...

How do you build your OTB repertoire ? How do you memorize opening variations... do you write it down in some notebook and then memorize the whole tree or your opening choices or you try to memorize openings and variations you like right away, as soon as you know about their existence... ?

More concretely speaking, how do I implement gambits that I like from this thread and its lines in most fast, reliable and efficient way ?

Originally posted by ivan2908

Another question...

How do you build your OTB repertoire ? How do you memorize opening variations... do you write it down in some notebook and then memorize the whole tree or your opening choices or you try to memorize openings and variations you like right away, as soon as you know about their existence... ?

The way I do it now (and now truely means some time ago when I had more free time. 🙁) is using BabasChess. First off I read the chapter (or whatever relevant part of the book you're on) in a quick way. Then in a more slow reading I'd take notes of the lines and variations being displayed on BabasChess while writting what I thought that was more relevant. After that I just wnet through it via BabasChess and things sticked better this way.

I thinkn this method is better to memorise/understand lines than reading a book with multpiles boards were one plays the main line and the other variations.

A trimmed (I don't want to give away all my secrets 😛) example of what I'm talking about:

1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 {The closed sicilian. A solid but slow building up attack by
white is the main ideaby white. Unless of course black blunders and in that
case immediate punishment should be inflicted. The normal plan in this
opening is for both sides to fianchetto their king bishops. Nc3 preventsright
away d5 by black.} Nc6 3. g3 g6 4. Bg2 Bg7 5. d3 {Securing the e pawn and
making way for white's queen bishop. Now black has three main choices: ...
e6, ... Rb8, ...d6.} e6 {Prepares Nge7 and postpones a committment for the d
pawn.} (5. ... Rb8 $5 {Black doesn't want to commit himself right away on the
kingside and prepares a b pawn push. This gains important space on the queen
side and can give more strentgh to the g7 bishop.} 6. Be3 Nd4 $5 7. Nce2 $5
Nxe2 8. Nxe2 Bxb2 9. Rb1 Bg7 (9. ... Qa5+ $2 {This move is a mistake by
black!} 10. Bd2 Qxa2 11. Rxb2 Qxb2 12. Bc3 {And black had better days.} ) 10.
Bxc5 d6 (10. ... Qa5+ $6 {This gives white lot of compensation for the pawn.}
11. Bb4 Qxa2 12. c4 ) ) (5. ... d6 {A sensible reply by black that is the
most popular choice. The c8 bishop is now free to roam but other than that
black's game is still very free.} 6. Be3 {And now we have four main possible
replies by black: Nf6, e5, Rb8, e6.} Nf6 ) 6. Be3 $1 {Initiating the plan of
dark squared bishops exchange so that white can benefit from black's dark
squares around the king.} Nd4 $5 7. Nce2 $1 {Challenging the d4 knight} Ne7
8. c3 Nxe2 9. Nxe2 d6 10. d4 cxd4 11. Nxd4 O-O 12. O-O a6 13. Qd2 {The d6
pawn is weak so white can (must) play to increase the pressure down the d
file}

This comes from Attacking With 1. e4

Originally posted by shorbock
Yes i also had the impression that Davies put more work on the vol 2...Or maybe the lines he chose for black are sounder

I haven't actually read Gambiteer I, but I've been told there's a lot of fairly dodgy stuff in it.

Originally posted by Northern Lad
I haven't actually read Gambiteer I, but I've been told there's a lot of fairly dodgy stuff in it.

I used to own Gambiteer I and read only some of it. It's difficult (impossible?) to produce an entire repertoire for White that employs sharp opening systems in only one volume. Probably only "paint-by-the-numbers" openings like the London System or the King's Indian Attack can be adequately covered in one volume. Gambiteer I has a lot of good ideas in it, but the reader may wish to do some additonal research to play the lines with confidence.

The biggest omission from the book is that after 1 e4 c5 2 b4 cb 3 a3, Davies doesn't even mention the possibility of Black taking the pawn on a3! In other words, Davies recommends that White play the Wing Gambit with 3 a3, but doesn't inform the reader what s/he should do if Black accepts the gambit!

Gambiteer II doesn't attempt to provide a complete gambit repertoire for Black, but spends almost all of its pages analyzing the Schliemann Variation (1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 f5) and the Albin Counter-Gambit (1 d4 d5 2 c4 e5). The book's more limited scope allows for much deeper analysis of what it does cover.