The Scotch Gambit

The Scotch Gambit starts with 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4, a fairly common opening. Then, white plays the move 4. Bc4!?. The point of this move is to attack f7, and there are many lines where the bishop is sacrificed on f7. Let's look at the variations.

4. ... Bc5?!

4. ... Bc5?! is the most often played move after the Italian opening, and with such a similar position, it seems like a strong move because it also protects the weak d4 pawn. However, there are two ways to equalize and even gain an advantage!

5. Ng5

Ng5 wins the pawn back, but there is another move that gains a huge positional advantage.

5. c3!

In some positions, the Scotch Gambit looks almost like the Danish Gambit, except white has an extra pawn and should have a good game.

As you can see, 4. ... Bc5!? is not a good move, and with accurate play, white can maintain an advantage. Now, let's look at what happens if black plays Nf6.

4. ... Nf6!?

4. ... Nf6 is a strong move which preserves an equal position. Let's look at some of the variations:

5. O-O

Castling in this position is just fine for white, and black can play in many ways. However, the d4-pawn is going to fall soon, and so black, to preserve his material advantage, probably would play 5. ... Nxe4.

5. e5

5. e5 is another way to proceed in this position.
5. ... Ne4

5. ... Ng4

5. ... d5!
5. ... d5! is the correct way to go, but with accurate play, the position will remain equal.

Black, in fact, can equalize in the Scotch Gambit, and even gain a slightly better position:

4. ... Bb4+!

Bb4+ is the move suggested by stockfish, and it helps get rid of the weak d4-pawn, and develop at the same time.

Conclusion

The Scotch gambit is an aggressive gambit, but also a quite fine one, and in many lines white gets compensation for the gambited pawn. In this post, we looked at the lines of the gambit, and the ways that black can defend against it. Hope you learned something!

~BigBlunderGuy
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