Blitz Chess #12: This is How You Play Against Gambits

In the previous blitz game, I faced the Wing Gambit, and I was crushed completely because I didn't accept the gambit. This time, I won very convincingly against another gambit. Actually, it's my second favorite gambit next to the Smith-Morra. I was facing the Blackmar-Diemer gambit in this game and I don't think I have played the Blackmar-Diemer as much yet so I don't know exactly what I should watch out for or how to counter it. I just played what I felt was right I guess.

As you can see from the opening moves, I kind of played this game following the structure of the Scandinavian because I felt that it was generally solid. Plus, I already have an advantage because I am a pawn up since my opponent freely offered up one of his pawns for quicker development and supposedly some prospects for a strong attack. That didn't happen and I should know from playing the Blackmar-Diemer a lot that it is very difficult to set up a good attack with the gambited pawn. Oftentimes, you would end up just being worse. There are instances when the Blackmar-Diemer could turn up some really good results and a thrashing happens but it's not too often.

So I played it a la Scandinavian style. And my opponent made a few mistakes which I picked up on and that's how I was able to win a piece. From there, it was smooth sailing for me. The lesson is basically to accept gambits when it's being offered except for the Queen's Gambit because accepting that would lead to complicated lines that one wouldn't want to get into. Although the Queen's Gambit Accepted is still pretty solid, most top players avoid it I believe just because you give up certain positional points which could bite you in the butt later on.

Despite having a great advantage, I actually lost a good portion of that advantage because I hung a piece. It wasn't too bad though because I was still up a lot of pawns and after most of the pieces were exchanged, I just had an onslaught of pawns waiting to march up the board. As you can see from the final position pictured above, the worst that could have happened to me is that my opponent would somehow sweep all of my pieces and he would have to checkmate me with knight and bishop, a very difficult thing to do unless you know the concepts by heart. I have just been studying the bishop and knight checkmating pattern and it's actually quite tedious to memorize. But you only need to keep a few things in mind anyway and it usually just repeats a certain pattern.

Gambits should never played in very tough competitions. You can play it when you want to have some casual fun or to do something to throw off your opponent. But it won't work against really experienced players because they can defend really well and your attack will fizzle out without it even being launched in the first place. And you will end up just a pawn down for nothing. So don't play gambits if you're playing seriously. Unless you have studied and mastered a certain gambit like say IM Marc Esserman who wrote a whole book on the Smith-Morra Gambit. In any case, it's fun but it won't win you too many games against very strong players.