Snatching the b-Pawn

We have all read about the dangers in snatching the b-Pawn. In the following Internet 15-minute game my opponent did exactly that. Some time ago, writing in Chess Life magazine, GM Robert Byrne said the Budapest Gambit was better than its reputation and GM Arthur Bisguier has used it on occasion.



Occasionally I have used it with varying degrees of success and it was my intention to do so in this game. When White played 2. Nc3 instead of 2.c4 I decided to play 2…e5 anyway…sort of a Faux Budapest Gambit.


I’ve run into a lot of White players who like to play Qd5 against the Budapest in order to hold on to the P and when White played it in this game I wasn’t surprised but the move seems a little risky because with his next move 10.Bd2 he severely limited retreat squares for his Q. Grabbing the b-Pawn wasn’t actually bad, but unfortunately for White, he didn’t realized the danger his Q was in and it got trapped right in the center of the board.