Hillbilly Attack

The Hillbilly Attack, 2. Bc4, puts the king's bishop on the diagonal toward f7 as though Black had answered 1. e4 with 1...e5. Against the Caro-Kann the plan runs into trouble at once, because 1...c6 exists to prepare ...d5, and that advance attacks the bishop while closing its diagonal. The move therefore has a poor reputation in conventional theory and is treated as a dubious sideline.

Black answers with 2...d5 in the vast majority of games. The bishop cannot take on d5, since the pawn there is guarded twice, from c6 and from d8. If White releases the tension with 3. exd5 cxd5, Black has a central pawn and the bishop must still retreat, so White has spent an extra move for nothing. Black scores well in this line, and engines judge the position roughly level, by a small margin in Black's favor. The second most frequent reply, 2...e5, transposes to the Bishop's Opening: Philidor Counterattack, where White's results are noticeably better than after 2...d5. The quieter 2...e6 and 2...d6 are seldom chosen, though engines rank them among Black's sound options.

What keeps 2. Bc4 in circulation is the Schaeffer Gambit, 3. Bb3 dxe4 4. Qh5. Rather than lose time, White preserves the bishop on the a2-g8 diagonal and gives up the e-pawn, then brings the queen out to join the bishop against f7, which only Black's king defends. Black normally parries with 4...g6 or 4...e6, after which White relies on rapid development and pressure against Black's slightly loosened position while Black tries to consolidate the extra pawn. The play is sharp and largely unexplored, which suits fast time controls.

The gambit has been promoted by Simon Williams, and through his advocacy 2. Bc4 has become a surprise weapon in online blitz, which explains why the position is reached in a large number of Lichess games. Williams credits the name to National Master Jack Young, who reportedly chose it to reflect the crude character of the move and said he came up with it in 1988. Williams himself played it as early as 2011 and presented it in his Spicy Gambits series in 2015.