Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Bc4/3...Nf6/4. d4/4...exd4/5. O-O/5...Nxe4/6. Nc3/6...dxc3/7. Bxf7/7...Kxf7/8. Qd5/8...Kf6/9. Qxe4

Nakhmanson Gambit
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) r1bq1b1r/pppp2pp/2n2k2/8/4Q3/2p2N2/PPP2PPP/R1B2RK1 b
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d4 exd4 5. O-O Nxe4 6. Nc3 dxc3 7. Bxf7 Kxf7 8. Qd5 Kf6 9. Qxe4

Nakhmanson Gambit, Kf6 Defence, Queen Capture

9. Qxe4

White now has the very simple threat of Bg5+ winning the Black queen.

Let's look at some obvious defences that don't work:

• 9...h6?? 10.Nh4! sees the White queen invade on g6 in combination with a rook on e1, for example
  • 10...g5 11.Qg6+ Ke5 (Ke7 12.Nf5#) 12.Re1+ Kd5 13.Qe4+ Kc5 14.Be3+ Kb5 15.a4+ 1-0
  • 10...d6 11.Qg6+ Ke7 12.Re1+ Ne5 13.Bf4 Kd7 14.Bxe5 Qxh4 (or 14...dxe5 15.Rxe5 with threats of Qf7+, Qe6+ and Qg4+) 15.Bf6! 1-0
  • 10...Ne7 (to control g6 and stop that from happening) 11.Qf4+ Ke6 12.Re1+ Kd5 13.Re5+ with mate in 2
• 9...d5?? 10.Bg5+ Kf7 11.Qf4+ 1-0
• 9...Ne7?? would be the correct move against 9.Re1, but here it fails quickly to 10.Qf4+ when 10...Nf5 11.Qg5+ wins the queen anyway, and 10...Kg6 or 10...Ke6 allow the f3-knight in with check.

The correct move is to indirectly control g5 with 9...Be7! which also vacates the f8 square on which the Black king can shelter from e-file checks. Black's Plan A is to make an immediate dash for f8, but this isn't always possible.