Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nf6/3. Nxe5/3...Nc6/4. Nxc6/4...dxc6/5. e5/5...Ne4/6. d3
| Stafford Gambit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. e5 Ne4 6. d3 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stafford Gambit edit
6.d3?? edit
Although better than 6.f3??, the move gives Black a winning tactic. Instead of moving the knight away, Black has the move 6...Bc5!, sacrificing the knight.
Targeting the weak f-pawn, White's best move is blocking with 7. Be3. After the bishops trade 8...Qh4+ wins the rook for a knight, a common theme in the Stafford Gambit.
More commonly, White captures the knight with 7. dxe4. This allows 7...Bxf2+, sacrificing the bishop. If the White king captures the bishop, Black will capture the undefended queen. Otherwise, the White king will move up and 8...Bg4+ wins the queen.
