Göring Gambit

In the Göring Gambit White declines to recapture on d4 and plays 4. c3, inviting 4...dxc3 so that a piece can be developed with tempo on c3 while the c- and d-files open. It is a delayed form of the Danish Gambit, 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3, and the two can transpose. The engine regards the position as roughly balanced, and White scores well in online practice.

Taking the pawn with 4...dxc3 is by far the most common reply. After 5. Nxc3 White has given a single pawn, and the usual scheme is Bc4 and Qb3, sometimes with Ng5, to work against f7, while the knight jump to d5 is a recurring resource. The Main Line, 5...Bb4, pins the knight; after 6. Bc4 d6 7. O-O Bxc3 8. bxc3 Black parts with the dark-squared bishop to remove a central attacker, whereas 7. Qb3 is the older treatment that hits f7 directly. The Bardeleben Variation, 6...Nf6 in place of 6...d6, develops a piece rather than reinforcing the center.

With 5. Bc4, the Double Pawn Sacrifice, White ignores the c3-pawn. Black can grab a second pawn with 5...cxb2 6. Bxb2, after which both white bishops bear down on the black kingside. More restrained is 5...d6 6. Nxc3, when 6...Nf6 7. Qb3 Qd7 8. Ng5 Ne5 9. Bb5 c6 10. f4 is the principal line and 6...Be6 7. Bxe6 fxe6 8. Qb3 trades off the Italian bishop. The Bardeleben position can also arise here through 5...Nf6 6. Nxc3 Bb4, and 5...Bb4 transposes to the London Defense of the Scotch Gambit.

The most respected way to decline is 4...d5, after which Black scores better than White. The critical sequence 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. cxd4 Bg4 7. Be2 Bb4+ 8. Nc3 Bxf3 9. Bxf3 Qc4 is known as the Capablanca Variation after Marshall–Capablanca, Lake Hopatcong 1926. White must then either trade queens, for example 10. Qb3 Qxb3 11. axb3 Nge7, reaching a level ending, or give up castling with the risky 10. Be3; this prospect discourages many would-be gambiteers. If Black avoids that ending, White's active pieces compensate for the isolated d-pawn. The reply 4...Nf6 transposes to the Ponziani Opening.

Howard Staunton played the gambit in the 1840s, the earliest known game dating probably from 1843, and Meek–Morphy, New York 1857, may be the first game in which it was accepted. Carl Theodor Göring brought it into master practice in 1872. Later adherents include Frank Marshall, Alexander Alekhine, David Bronstein, Jonathan Penrose and Ljubomir Ljubojević.