The Gambit Player

                        by Lee Edwards

	Most gambits with which we are familiar, and certainly all of the Romantic 19th century gambits, begin with 1. e4 e5.  There are also a few gambits in the Sicilian (Wing, Smith-Morra) and against the French and Caro-Kann, as well as a few true gambits in the Queen's pawn openings (Blackmar-Diemer, Staunton, Korchnoi).  Gambit 59, also known as the Buecker Gambit and the Dada Gambit, begins with 1. g3.  It is a pure coffeehouse gambit, obscure, not quite sound, easy to get your opponent to play into, and trappy.  It is not the sort of thing you would want try in postal chess, but it can even be played with White or Black.
     1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 (Of course, Black could play an Indian formation with Nf6, but many players will choose to move both center pawns.) 3.b4!? ("Black just cannot believe this move!" - Wolfgang Schroeter. Perhaps White should let out an audible gasp and inquire as to whether the touch move rule is in effect.) Bxb4 (What else?) 4.c4 (The point, threatening the Bishop on b4! And now the fun really begins) Ne7 (The correct defense, which you will seldom ever get to see.  Of course not 4. . . dxc4 5.Qa4+ Nc6 6.Bxc6+ and the Black Bishop  falls.) 5.Qb3 (5.cxd5 Nxd5 6.Qb3 Be6 7.a3 Bc5 8.Qxb7 Nd7 9.Bxd5 Rb8 10.Qc6 Rb6 11.Qa8 Rb8 with a draw -Buecker) Nbc6 6.dxc5 (6.a3?! dxc4!) Nd4! 
     Of course, you can obtain the gambit by way of 1.g3 d5 2.Bg2 e5 3.b4, or 1.g3 d5 2.b5!? inviting e5, or even as Black 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Bc4 b5!?  My friend Dewitt Pullen once fell into this trap against me: 1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.b4 Bxb4 4.c4 Nc6 5.cxd5 Nd4 6.e3 and now Black must drop a piece.  In spite of this, Dewitt took advantage of my structural weaknesses and went on to win the game, but he has used the gambit himself on several occasions, including a brilliant win over Ed Newkirk first published in TCN (December 1991-February 1992). 
       I first saw this gambit described by Bent Larsen in How to Open a Chess Game by 7 Grandmasters.  Raymond Keene, in his newly published, The Complete Book of Gambits calls it the Dada Gambit and rates it playable by both sides.
(By the way, Keene's book really isn't complete. He omits the Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit: 1.d4 Nf6 2.g4.)  The best analysis of this opening is Stefan Buecker's Gambit 59, which is unfortunately published only in German.  Analysis can also be found in old issues of the Myers Openings Bulletin.

 
       Why do they call it Gambit 59?  Because of this game, played in 1959.

Larsen - Olafsson
Beverwijk, 1959

1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.b4 Bxb4 4.c4 Be6 5.Bb2 Nc6 
6.f4 Nge7 7.Nf3 d4 8.Nxe5 Nxe5 9.fxe5 O-O 10.Qc2 Ng6 
11.Bxb7 Rb8 12.Be4 f5 13.Bd3 Nxe5 14.O-O Bc5 15.Ba3 Qd6 
16.Bxc5 Qxc5 17.Qc1 f4 18.gxf4 Nxd3 19.exd3 Bh3 20.Rf3 Qh5 
21.Rg3 Rxf4 22.Na3 Rbf8 23.Nc2 Qf5 (0-1)


Dr. Pusch - S. Buecker
Mannschaftskampf, 1976

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Bc4 b5 4.Bxb5 c5 5.Bc4 cxd4 
6.Ne2 Nc6 7.O-O Qb6 8.c3 Nf6 9.Nxd4 Nxe4 10.Nxc6 dxc6 
11.Qe2 Nd6 12.Bg5 O-O 13.Bb3 Ba6 14.Qf3 Bxf1 15.Bxe7 Rae8 
16.Bxd6 Re1 17.Nd2 Rxa1 18.Nxf1 Qa6 19.c4 Re8 20.Bb4 c5 
21.Bd2 Qd6 22.Be3 Qd3 (0-1)

K. De Smet - P. Oesterle
Correspondence, 1989

1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Bc4 b5 4.Bxb5 c5 5.Nf3 Qb6 
6.Na3 cxd4 7.O-O Nc6 8.Bd3 Nf6 9.Nc4 Qc7 10.e5 Ng4 
11.Bf4 Ngxe5 12.Nfxe5 Nxe5 13.Be4 Rb8 14.Qxd4 d6 15.Bxe5 dxe5 
16.Qd5 O-O 17.b3 Bb7 18.Qd3 Rbd8 19.Qe2 Bxe4 20.Qxe4 f5 
21.Qe3 f4 22.Qe2 f3 23.gxf3 Rd4 24.Rae1 Rf5 25.Ne3 Rh4 
26.Ng4 Rf4 27.Kg2 e4 (0-1)

DeWitt Pullen - Ed Newkirk
Nashville Preliminaries, 1991
Gambit 59

1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.b4 Bxb4 4.c4 Nf6 5.Qb3 Be7 
6.cxd5 c6 7.Nc3 O-O 8.dxc6 Nxc6 9.Nf3 Rb8 10.O-O Be6 
11.Qa4 Nd5 12.Bb2 Nb6 13.Qc2 f5 14.d3 f4 15.Ne4 fxg3 
16.hxg3 Nd4 17.Qd2 Rc8 18.Rac1 Nxf3+ 19.Bxf3 Bxa2 20.Qa5 Rxc1 
21.Rxc1 Bd5 22.Qxa7 Nd7 23.Nd2 Bxf3 24.Nxf3 b5 25.Rc7 Bc5 
26.Rxc5 Nxc5 27.Qxc5 e4 28.Qe5 Qd7 29.Qxe4 Re8 30.Ne5 Qa7 
31.Qd5+ Kf8 32.Ba3+ (1-0)



Robin Forman - Joe Shipman
Offhand Game, New York, 1977
Gambit 59

1.g3 e5 2.Bg2 d5 3.b4 Bxb4 4.c4 Ne7 5.Qb3 Nbc6 
6.cxd5 Nd4 7.Qd3 Nxd5 8.e3 Nxe3 9.fxe3 Nf3+ 10.Ke2 Nxg1+ 
11.Rxg1 Bg4+ (0-1)

Humphrey DeForest Bogart - N.N.
1933
Gibbins-Weidenhagen Gambit

1.d4 Nf6 2.g4 Nxg4 3.f3 Nf6 4.e4 d6 5.Be3 g6 
6.Nc3 Bg7 7.Qd2 Nc6 8.O-O-O O-O 9.Bd3 e5 10.d5 Nb4 
11.Bc4 a5 12.a3 Na6 13.h4 Nh5 14.Nge2 f5 15.Bg5 Bf6 
16.f4 exf4 17.Nxf4 Nxf4 18.Qxf4 fxe4 19.Bh6 Re8 20.Nxe4 Bg7 
21.Bxg7 Kxg7 22.h5 Bf5 23.hxg6 Bxg6 24.Qh6+ Kg8 25.Rdg1 Qe7 
26.Rxg6+ hxg6 27.Qh8+ Kf7 28.Rh7+ (1-0)



Cyberpunk (Lee Edwards) - Grant
USA Today Postal, PA #57, 1993
Dutch Defense, Korchnoi Gambit

1.d4 f5 2.h3 d5 3.g4 fxg4 4.Qd3 Nf6 5.Bg5 Nc6 
6.hxg4 Bxg4 7.Bxf6 exf6 8.Rxh7 Rxh7 9.Qg6+ Kd7 10.Qxg4+ Ke7 
11.Bh3 Qd6 12.Nc3 a6 13.O-O-O g5 14.e4 Rxh3 15.Nxh3 dxe4 
16.Qxe4+ Kd8 17.Re1 Kc8 18.Qf5+ Kb8 19.Re6 Qxd4 20.Re8+ Ka7 
21.Rxa8+ Kxa8 22.Qc8+ Ka7 23.Qxf8 Qd7 24.Qh8 Qe6 25.Qh5 Qe1+
26.Qd1 Qe6 27.Ng1 Qf5 28.Qf3 Qe5 29.Qe3+ (1-0)  


Fricke - Michael Wind
Correspondence, 1992
Gibbins - Weidenhagen Gambit

1.d4 Nf6 2.g4 Nxg4 3.e4 d5 4.Be2 Nf6 5.e5 Ng8 
6.Nc3 Bf5 7.Nf3 e6 8.Bg5 Be7 9.Rg1 Bxg5 10.Nxg5 Ne7 
11.Nf3 Rg8 12.Qd2 Nd7 13.O-O-O c6 14.h4 Qc7 15.h5 O-O-O 
16.h6 gxh6 17.Qxh6 Bg6 18.Nh4 Nf5 19.Nxf5 Bxf5 20.Qe3 Rde8 
21.Bd3 Bg6 22.Rh1 h5 23.Be2 Rh8 24.Qg5 Qd8 25.Rdg1 Qxg5+ 
26.Rxg5 h4 27.Rg4 h3 28.Rg3 Rh4 29.Rg4 Reh8 30.f4 h2 
31.Rxh4 Rxh4 32.Kd2 Rxf4 33.Rxh2 Rxd4+ 34.Bd3 Bxd3 35.cxd3 Nxe5 
36.Rh3 Rh4 37.Rxh4 Nf3+ 38.Ke3 Nxh4 39.Kd4 f6 40.Ne2 Kd7 
(0-1)


Cyberpunk - Megabyte
USA Today Sports Center, 1993
Cochrane Gambit

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.d4 Be7 
6.Nc3 Re8 7.Bc4+ Kf8 8.Qf3 Nc6 9.Be3 Qd7 10.h3 Na5 
11.Bd3 Nc6 12.g4 h6 13.O-O-O Qd8 14.Rhg1 Be6 15.g5 hxg5 
16.Rxg5 Nb4 17.Rdg1 Nxd3+ 18.cxd3 Qd7 19.Rxg7 Reb8 20.e5 dxe5 
21.dxe5 Qd8 22.exf6 Bxf6 23.Bc5+ (1-0)