sharp openings

what are your favorite sharp openings?

I guess the King's Gambit and the Pogulaevsky Najdorf.

I'm a 1.e4 player so with White Morra Gambit is excellent at club level, simple plans and very tactical.

I've found that it is easier to pick a sharp favourite line with Black. Against 1.d4 I play Benko Gambit and against 1.e4 aim for Two Knights (Traxler Counter-Attack!) or Marshall Attack in Ruy Lopez.

- bahus

Cochrane Gambit ( Petrov defense )
Marshall Attack ( Ruy Lopez Opening )
Danish opening
King's Gambit
Benko's Gambit
Blackmar-Diemer Gambit

French defense/advance variation
Petrov defense

Don't know the name but
d4
c4
Nf3
Nc3

I heard the Pirc has some super-sharp lines.

The Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit is fantastically sharp. I play it via the Bishop's opening rather than the Petrov:

1. e4 e5
2. Bc4 Nf6
3. Nf3 Nxe4
4. Nc3 Nxc3
5. dxc3

I always like to fianchetto my king's bishop and get my knights out early:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Nf6 Nc3
4. g3
5. Bg2

Then I tend to castle. Should I instead play d3 or d4 and bring my queen's bishop out?

Originally posted by eagleeye222001
what are your favorite sharp openings?

The Dragon, Benoni, Semi-Slav.

The Dragon and Milner-Barry Gambit.

Originally posted by Akashic
The Dragon and Milner-Barry Gambit.

The Dragon, Benko, and my favorite, the King's Gambit.

Originally posted by bahus
I'm a 1.e4 player so with White Morra Gambit is excellent at club level, simple plans and very tactical.

I've found that it is easier to pick a sharp favourite line with Black. Against 1.d4 I play Benko Gambit and against 1.e4 aim for Two Knights (Traxler Counter-Attack!) or Marshall Attack in Ruy Lopez.

- bahus

Is this referring to the Smith-Morra Gambit Variation of the Sicilian? I'm glad you recommended this, because I need a solid response to the Sicilian and so I might give this a try. (Right now I'm using the Grand Prix Attack, but never seem to get good results with it!).

Originally posted by cmsMaster
Is this referring to the Smith-Morra Gambit Variation of the Sicilian? I'm glad you recommended this, because I need a solid response to the Sicilian and so I might give this a try. (Right now I'm using the Grand Prix Attack, but never seem to get good results with it!).

The Smith Morra is a deadly weapon at the low levels, but I think once you get higher up and meet dedicated Sicilian veterans, you will get tortured. I don't think the opening is objectively any good. I am just making sure that you know that, because when I choose an opening, I always like to make sure that it's objectively good at a high level.

I've been playing Grob's attack (1 g4) of late and it's definitely resulted in some wide-open tactical games. It's surprising how many players around my level (c. 1400) have dropped a piece to Qa4+ with a double attack, or gone down a pawn early after Qxb7. I'm sure I'd get picked apart against quality opposition, but then again that would happen no matter what opening I chose. 🙂 At least this way the losses are quick and dramatic instead of slow and suffocatng....