Lisitsyn Gambit

The Lisitsyn Gambit, also spelled Lisitsin, answers the Dutch-style 1...f5 with 2. e4, offering the e-pawn before Black can support f5 with ...Nf6 or ...e6. The move looks illogical, since after 2...fxe4 White gets no new developing move and must move the f3-knight a second time. The idea is that the knight lands on g5, where it is hard to drive away, and from there it generates tactical threats that go beyond simply recovering the pawn on e4. Black must avoid several traps, but accurate defense leads to approximate equality, and the engine rates the position as level.

Accepting with 2...fxe4 is the critical test; the engine's other preferred replies are 2...d6 and 2...Nh6. In practice the most common answer by far is 2...e5, transposing to the Latvian Gambit, which hands Black more initiative but yields little against a well-prepared opponent. Other replies also reach named gambits: 2...Nc6 the Colorado Countergambit of the Nimzowitsch Defense, 2...e6 the Franco-Hiva Gambit, and 2...c5 the Brussels Gambit of the Sicilian. Online results are split almost evenly.