Ulysses Gambit

The Ulysses Gambit departs from the usual handling of the central tension after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5. White does not protect e4, exchange or advance. Instead 3. Nf3 allows 3...dxe4, and 4. Ng5 sends the knight after the extra pawn. The aim is to regain e4 with gain of time or to profit from the knight's early activity. Black is a pawn up with doubled e-pawns, while White keeps the d4-pawn and half-open d- and e-files.

Black's most common reply by a wide margin is 4...Nf6, which defends e4 while developing. 4...Bf5 protects the pawn with the bishop that the Caro-Kann aims to activate, and 4...h6 questions the knight at once. Engines prefer all three for Black and judge the second player clearly better, so the gambit is a surprise weapon rather than a theoretical main line. In Lichess games Black scores slightly better, though White's results are not much worse, which reflects the practical traps available against careless defense.