Evans Gambit Sound?

I looked up a couple of videos explaining the Evans Gambit. They made it seem pretty darn venerable, with insane attacking chances and threatening replies to almost anything black does. Did it only seem that way because I was watching GMs go through variations? Would you recommend it for a 1400-1500 player?

I would, the Evans will give rise (usually) to interesting tactical variations and really teaches you about development and piece activity. The fact that in the nineties players like Kasparov played it should prove it is sound, although soundness is relative on our patzer level 😉

The gambit is great fun, but basically it is unsound, doubly so in inexpert hands. These days it is rarely tried at the very highest level, although there have been exceptions (Morozevich-Adams, 2001, 0-1 is an example). Nigel Short has been playing it for years too, with mixed results. White, if well-prepared, can risk it against a stronger opponent with some chance of success. But mainly Black will prevail.

Down in the real world, at club level and lower, I think White has an obligation to play it! The gambit leads to crackling play, honestly testing both White's tactical creativity and Black's defensive reilience in cut-n-thrust chess. If Black has avoided the Two Knights by playing the wimpish 3...Bc5, he deserves nothing better than to have 4. b4 thrown in his face!

Aux armes, citroyens!

I like to annoy white by declining the sacrifice. It may not be the best move, but it's never what white wants 🙂.

You have an absolute obligation to accept it!

See what I mean?

Originally posted by mtthw
I like to annoy white by declining the sacrifice. It may not be the best move, but it's never what white wants 🙂.

According to one of the videos, declining it is unsound. But white probably has to be good for that to matter.

Originally posted by atticus2
You have an absolute obligation to accept it!

I agree. Let's bring back the days when no gambit was declined, when flair, style and daring sacrifices were the order of the day. Where winning was no use if you didn't win with derring-do!

I love this opening. If your a class player and you don't play gambits, your missing out.

I just had a guy who declined the gambit and I got a very quick checkmate with it. But it's like all gambits, if you play someone who knows the line it's probably slightly weaker than other openings. You should still end up with a good fun game of chess though 🙂

The gambit is sound, in another word there are no clear refutations of it (that I've heard of at least).

Here's a good video of Kasparov ripping Anand apart. Kasparov vs Anand

http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=3Sv2H-pMKU0&feature=related