Play the Danish Gambit Reversed!

    In online Blitz games my favorite defense to 1.e4 is the Danish Gambit Reversed. It’s unsound for sure, but it's also reckless and a lot of fun. This game took less than 20 minutes to play, but two hours to analyze because it turned out to be far more complicated that I first thought. 

 

 

[Event "Chess Hotel G/10"] [Site "?"] [Date "2026.??.??"] [Round "?"] [White "Anonymous"] [Black "Tartajubow"] [Result "0-1"] [ECO "B01"] [Annotator "Stockfiah 18"] [PlyCount "46"] [EventDate "2026.??.??"] {Danish Gambit Reversed} 1. e4 d5 2. exd5 c6 3. dxc6 {This is the only movethat gives white any advantage.} (3. d4 cxd5 4. c4 e6 5. Nf3 {is for the unadventurous.}) 3... e5 {[%mdl 32] Most of my opponents hesitate for a moment here deciding whether to take the P or decline it and play either 4.Bc4 or 4. Nc3.} 4. cxb7 {Unlike most opponents white neither hesitated nor declined the secomf P..} Bxb7 5. Nf3 {Should black defend the P with 4...Nc6 (Stockfosh) or plat 6...e4?} (5. d4 exd4 6. c3 (6. Nf3 Nc6 7. c3 dxc3 8. Qxd8+ Rxd8 9. Nxc3 { White is a solid P up. Buchenau,F (2218)-Castellanos Gomez,A (2277) Titled Tue chess.com INT 2022}) 6... Bc5 7. Nf3 Qe7+ 8. Qe2 dxc3 9. Nxc3 Nc6 10. Nd5 Qxe2+ 11. Bxe2 {White is better. Gallinnis,N-Trzaska,P Bundesliga, Germany 1987}) (5. Bb5+ {This is seen most often,} Nc6 6. Nf3 e4 7. Qe2 Nf6 8. Ne5 {White is much better. Fiori,H (2171)-Galleto,R (2014) Villa Martelli ARG 2013}) 5... Bc5 { This caused some hesitation on white's part. Should he take the P?} (5... e4 6. Ne5 Bd6 7. Bb5+ {and black has to move the K, so advancing the e-Pawn is out.}) (5... Nc6 6. d3 {Engines want to play 6...Qc7, but on similar positions I have played...} Qb6 {to hinder the development of the B on c1.} 7. Be2 Rd8 8. Nbd2 Nf6 9. O-O Bc5 {White is better.}) 6. Bb5+ {The best way to meet this is probably 6...Nc6, but I wanted to avoid any exchange of pieces.} (6. Nxe5 { is met by} Bxf2+ 7. Kxf2 Qh4+ {and white has to accept a draw.} 8. Ke2 Qe4+ 9. Kf2 Qh4+ {etc.}) 6... Kf8 7. O-O {This, the engine's preference, was somewhat surpring as I expected white to prevent the advance of the e-Pawn with 7.d3} ( 7. d3 Qb6 {Now if the B retreats black has ...Bxf2+. White's best move is hard to spot.} 8. d4 exd4 9. Bd3 Qe6+ 10. Qe2 Qxe2+ 11. Bxe2 {and white is two Ps up and has a solid position. Black is probably doomed.}) 7... e4 {Nw it's clear why engines had no fear of this advance! Its evaluation has jumped a whole P in white's favor who now had a 3+ P advantage.} 8. Ne1 {White has a decisive advantage.} (8. d4 {This is white's strongest move.} exf3 9. dxc5 Qxd1 (9... Qc7 10. Bf4 Qxf4 11. Qd8#) 10. Rxd1 fxg2 11. Nc3 Nc6 12. Rd7 {White is winning.}) 8... Bd6 9. Nc3 {Here Stockfish wants me to paly 9...Nf6 when I am ay a 2.5 P disadvantage.} Qh4 {It's odd, but it took a couple of minutes for this move to even show up on the engine's output where it eventually made it to the secong choice. No matter...I am 3 Ps down in the evaluatiom with the comment than white has a decisive advantage.} 10. h3 {This is not bad, but at least 10.g3 would hve forced the Q to retreat and avoided some later difficulties.} a6 {Ti firce the B back so I can develop the N without having it exchanges,} 11. Bc4 {d3 would now be deadly.} (11. Ba4 {renders mu plan null and void.} Qf4 12. g3 Qf5 {White has to be very careful!} 13. d3 (13. h4 Qh3 14. d3 exd3 15. Nf3 Bxg3 16. fxg3 Qxg3+ 17. Kh1 Qh3+ {is a draw.}) 13... e3 14. Bxe3 Qxh3 15. Ne4 {Loojing deeply into the position with an engine reveals no significant attacking opportunitied for black even after 15...h5}) 11... Nc6 {Here white has two good ways of jeeping his winning advantage: 12.Bd5 or the even bestter 12.d3!} 12. f3 {This rates a question mark because it weakens the K's position andthrows away almost all of his advantage.} (12. d3 Ne5 { Unmasking the long diagonal.} 13. Bd5 {Plugging it up.} Bxd5 {The following moves are not always the engine's top choice, but they are plausible. The position is pretty messy and things could easily go wrong for either side.} 14. Nxd5 g5 15. dxe4 g4 16. Bf4 Nf6 17. Ne3 Nxe4 18. Nxg4 Rd8 19. Nf3 Nxf3+ 20. Qxf3 h5 21. Ne5 Bxe5 22. Bxe5 {and the attack is pver and white is clearly winning.}) 12... exf3 13. Rxf3 {[%mdl 8192] Played almost instantly; white forgot his B was hanging.} (13. Bd5 {was correct.} Bc5+ 14. Kh2 (14. Kh1 fxg2+ 15. Kxg2 Nf6 {and white's badly weakened K-side leaves ho, ex[osed to damger.}) 14... Bd6+ {draws.}) (13. d4 {This, too, is a possible defense, but it's quite complicated.} Nxd4 14. Be3 Nf5 15. Rxf3 Bxf3 16. Qxf3 Re8 17. Qd5 Re7 {This messy position is evaluated as being equal.}) 13... Qxc4 14. d3 Qh4 {I am told that 14...c5 was a bit better. Hereabout white began using some time. I had a pretty good time advantage because having had a lost postion right out of the opening there was nothing to lose. White on the other hand has just blown the win and is now in a very difficult situation.} 15. Ne4 Nd4 {[%mdl 8192] It turns out that this should have lost! Retreating the Q to e7 was correct. The position is simply too complicated for either side tio handle! It's now white to play and win.} 16. Rf1 {[%mdl 8192] The Tactical Analysis with Fritz slapped two question marks on this move.} (16. Bg5 Nxf3+ 17. Nxf3 Qh5 18. Nxd6 Bxf3 19. Qxf3 Qxf3 20. gxf3 {White has a B+2Ps vs a R, but he has an active position and with a clear advantage.}) (16. Nxd6 {This is an OK move. White keeps the advantage after} Bxf3 17. Nxf3 Qf6 18. Be3 Qxd6 19. Nxd4) (16. Rxf7+ {What a surprise!} Kxf7 17. Bg5 {Wait a minute! The Q has no place to go.} Qf4 {Best.} (17... Qxe4 18. dxe4 {Whiye is winning.}) 18. Bxf4 Bxf4 {White has a Q+3Ps vs, A R+2Bs and a theoretical win.}) 16... Bxe4 17. dxe4 Qxe4 18. Nf3 Ne2+ {This, the strongest move, was played by luck only.} (18... Nxf3+ { This is not bad, just nor as strong as the move actually played.} 19. Rxf3 { Black's problem here would be to think up a plan of some sort. Foryunately after 18...Ne2+ the moves suggest themselves/}) 19. Kh1 Ng3+ 20. Kg1 Bc5+ { A last second choice instead of the obvious 20...Nxf1} 21. Rf2 {I took sone time here and decided to add a R to the attack. Stockfish wants me to play 21.. .Qe2 or 21...Ne2, but they are are a;; equally efficient+/-} Re8 {Black is clearly winning.} 22. Qd3 Qe2 23. Qxe2 Rxe2 {[%mdl 64] White resigned Pin. Weighted Error Value: White=1.25/Black=0.53. Loses game: White=1 --- Missed win: White=2 Black=1 Mistake: --- Black=1 Inaccurate: White=3 Black=2 OK: White=4 Black=4 Best: White=1 Black=1} 0-1