THE GAMBIT PLAYER

                            by Lee Edwards


     In the Evans Gambit Accepted, after 1. e4, e5; 2. Nf3, Nc6; 3. Bc4, Bc5;
4. b4, Bxb4; 5. c3, Black must decide where to move his Bishop.  The
Stone-Ware Defense, 5. . ., Bd6 is rarely seen.  Black can try 5. . ., Bc5,
which was often played in the 19th century and usually leads to the Normal
Position when followed by 6. d4, exd4; 7. 0-0, d6; 8. cxd4, Bb6.  The main
20th century alternatives have been the relatively quiet 5. . ., Be7 and the
incivise 5. . ., Ba5.  The latter may be transpose into the 5. . ., Bc5 lines
if the lines if the Bishop moves back to b6.

                                                                             
      If Black chooses 5. . ., Bc5, White will castle rather than play the
immediate 6. Qb3.  After 5. . ., Ba5, White must choose between the slow 6.
0-0, which may allow Lasker's Defense, 6. d4, a move of medium sharpness
which allows the solid Conservative Defense, or the sharp and little known 6.
Qb3. The lines after 5. . ., Ba5; 6. Qb3 or the closely related Waller
Attack, 5. . ., Ba5; 6. d4, exd4; 7. Qb3 are critical to the assesment of the
Evans Gambit after Black's 5. . ., Ba5.

     In The Italian Game, Harding and Botterill cite two key games in the 5.
. ., Ba5; 6. Qb3 variation, Bird-Chigorin, Hastings 1895 in which Black
played 6. . ., Qf6, and Kipping-Anderssen, Manchester 1857 in which Black
tried 6. . ., Qe7.  Actually, there were several Kipping vs. Anderssen games
in their match of that year and the Liverpool player Kipping was pretty
good too -- he defeated his much more famous opponent in the match. Prior to
the publication of Mark Ishee's book, Evans Gambit Games, it was not easy to
get your hand on either of these games. Another critical game in this
variation is Nunn-Hubner 1981.


Bird - Chigorin
Hastings, 1895

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 
6.Qb3 Qf6 7.O-O Bb6 8.d4 exd4 9.e5 Qg6 10.cxd4 Nxd4 
11.Nxd4 Bxd4 12.Nc3 Nh6 13.Be3 Bxe5 14.Bxh6 Qxh6 15.g3 O-O 
16.Rfe1 d6 17.Rac1 c6 18.Qb1 b5 19.Bd3 Bb7 20.Nd1 a6 
21.Ne3 c5 22.Nf5 Qf6 23.Be4 Bxe4 24.Qxe4 Rae8 25.Kg2 Re6 
26.Qg4 Rfe8 27.Rc2 Qg6 28.Qf3 h5 29.Rce2 c4 30.Nh4 Qd3 
31.Qc6 Bf6 32.Rxe6 Rxe6 33.Rxe6 fxe6 34.Qe8+ Kh7 35.Qxh5+ (1/2-1/2)

Kipping - Anderssen
Manchester, 1857

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 
6.Qb3 Qe7 7.Ba3 d6 8.d4 exd4 9.O-O Bb6 10.e5 Nxe5 
11.Nxe5 Qxe5 12.Bxf7+ Kf8 13.Nd2 Ne7 14.Rae1 Qf6 15.Bc4 Bf5 
16.Ne4 Bxe4 17.Rxe4 dxc3 18.g3 g5 19.Bb4 Nc6 20.Bxc3 Ne5 
21.a4 Re8 22.Be2 a5 23.Kg2 Qg6 24.f3 h5 25.Bd3 Nxd3 
26.Bxh8 Nf4+ 27.gxf4 gxf4+ 28.Kh1 Rxe4 29.fxe4 Qxe4+ 30.Qf3 (1-0)

Nunn - Hubner
Johannesburg, 1981

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 
6.Qb3 Qf6 7.O-O Bb6 8.d4 d6 9.dxe5 Nxe5 10.Nxe5 dxe5 
11.a4 a6 12.Kh1 Ne7 13.f4 Be6 14.a5 Bc5 15.Qxb7 O-O 
16.fxe5 Qg6 17.Nd2 Bxc4 18.Nxc4 Qe6 19.Qb3 Rab8 20.Qa4 Nc6 
21.Bf4 Rb5 22.Rad1 Ba7 23.h3 h6 24.Rd5 Rxd5 25.exd5 Qxd5 
26.Ne3 Bxe3 27.Bxe3 Nxe5 28.Bf4 Rd8 29.Bxe5 Qxe5 30.Qc4 Rd5 
31.Qxa6 Rxa5 32.Qc4 Rd5 33.Qb3 g6 34.Qc4 Kg7 35.Qb3 Qe4 
36.Qa2 Qd3 37.Rf3 Qe4 38.Rf1 h5 39.Qb3 Qd3 40.Kg1 Rd7 
41.Qb4 Qe3+ 42.Kh1 Rd5 43.Qb3 Qd3 44.Kg1 c5 45.Qb7 Qe3+ 
46.Kh1 Qe6 47.Qc7 Rg5 48.Qf4 Rf5 49.Qc1 Re5 50.Qd1 Re2 
51.Qd3 Qe4 52.Qg3 Re3 53.Qf2 f5 54.c4 Rxh3+ 55.Kg1 Re3 
56.Rd1 Re2 57.Qg3 Qe5 58.Qh4 Kh6 (0-1)

Estrin - Palciauskas
World Correspondence Championship, 1984

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 
6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 Qd7 8.dxe5 Bb6 9.Nbd2 Na5 10.Qc2 Nxc4 
11.Nxc4 d5 12.Nxb6 axb6 13.O-O dxe4 14.Qxe4 Qg4 15.Qe3 Ne7 
16.Nd4 O-O 17.h3 Qg6 18.f4 c5 19.Nb5 Rd8 20.Nd6 Nf5 
21.Nxc8 Raxc8 22.Qf3 h5 23.Qxb7 Rc6 24.Qa6 c4 25.Qa4 Rd3 
26.Rb1 Rxh3 27.e6 Rxe6 28.Qxc4 Qg3 (0-1)


Purser-Mack, APCT  1975/76
Correspondence   1-0
BDG World, April, 1990

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 
6.d4 exd4 7.O-O Bb6 8.cxd4 d6 9.Nc3 Na5 10.Bg5 f6 
11.Bh4 Nxc4 12.Qa4+ Qd7 13.Qxc4 Qf7 14.Nd5 Be6 15.Qa4+ Bd7 
16.Qc2 Bc6 17.Nxb6 axb6 18.Rfc1 d5 19.e5 g5 20.Bg3 g4 
21.e6 Qe7 22.Nh4 O-O-O 23.Qe2 b5 24.a4 b4 25.Rxc6 bxc6 
26.Nf5 Qe8 27.Qa6+ Kb8 28.Qb6+ Ka8 29.Bxc7 (1-0)

James Caristi - Norman Cohen
Chess Life postal insert, January, 1979

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bd6 
6.d4 Qe7 7.O-O Nf6 8.Nbd2 O-O 9.Bd3 exd4 10.cxd4 Ba3 
11.e5 Nd5 12.Bxa3 Qxa3 13.Bxh7+ Kxh7 14.Ng5+ (0-1) Kg6 15.Qg4 f6 
16.Qe4+ Kxg5 17.Qh7 fxe5 18.Ne4+ Kf4 19.g3+ Kg4 20.Qg6+ Kf3 
21.Nd2+ Ke2 22.Qc2 (adjudication analysis)


Bullockus-Weaver, CCLA 1985
Correspondence        

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Be7 
6.d4 Na5 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Nxe5+ Kf8 9.Qf3+ Nf6 10.Nd3 d6 
11.e5 dxe5 12.dxe5 Bg4 13.Qg3 Bh5 14.exf6 Bxf6 15.O-O Be2 
16.Nf4 Bc4 17.Nd2 Qd7 18.Nxc4 Nxc4 19.Nh5 Be5 20.f4 Bd6 
21.Qf3 c6 22.Ng3 Re8 23.Kh1 Qf7 24.Ne4 Bc7 25.Ng5 Qd5 
26.Qxd5 cxd5 27.f5 Be5 28.Rb1 b6 29.Rb5 Bxc3 30.Rxd5 Bf6 
31.Rd7 Re7 32.Ne6+ Kf7 33.Nd8+ Ke8 34.Rxe7+ Kxe7 35.Nc6+ Kd6 
36.Nxa7 Ra8 37.Rd1+ Kc5 38.Rd7 Re8 39.Rd1 Re2 40.a4 Ra2 
41.Bf4 Rxa4 42.Nc8 b5 43.g4 Ra1 44.Rxa1 Bxa1 45.Bb8 b4 
46.Ba7+ Kb5 47.Ne7 b3 48.Nd5 Be5   0-1