More Creative Excitement

For the latest in exciting ways to play the Italian Game (C50) - strong gambits in the Giuoco Pianissimo - stop by the link from this blog to "Bruno's Chess Opening Articles", or go directly to the new stuff, featuring the Evans-Bukayev gambit deferred, from Yury Bukayev!

More Russian Home Cooking

I can always count on Yury V. Bukayev for new and interesting chess ideas. Check my link to Bruno's Chess Opening Articles, or "Something New in Something Old" or "Even in the Most Respectable of Settings" or "Update" or "Trick Fork" or "Improve Your Chess" or any number of other posts you can search this site for.

Here's the latest email that I have received. I have not dug deeply into the idea, but it is sure to put a sparkle in your play!

Dear Rick, 
I have the following new present for you! It's my discovery! 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 h6 5.a3 (White has the auxiliary threat: 6.b4.) 5...Nd4? 6.Bf7!! White has a very strong attack! (6.Ne5?! Qg5!-+; after 6.Na4 or 6.b4 black can play 6...Bd6! without fast white's winning.) If you agree, you may call it as "Bukayev GP Jerome counter gambit", where "GP" is the well-known words: "giuoco piano". Later I'll write you about interesting line: 5.Qe2 Nd4...

Best wishes! Yury V. Bukayev

Reflectogen

Readers know that I have encouraged those interested in new cutting-edge chess opening theory, and chess improvement in general, to visit Bruno's Chess Problem of the Day (see "Bruno's Chess Opening Articles" on my list of links). 

For some educational examples, see: "A New Link", "Improve Your Chess", "Something New in Something Old", "Even in the Most Respectable of Settings" and "Update".

The latest entry concerns 1.e4 e5 2.d3 Bc5 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.Nf3! known as the Nf3-Bukayev gambit-reflectogen.

Check it out!

Update

Readers who enjoy visiting "Bruno's Chess Problem of the Day" (one of the sites this blog is linked to) and appreciate Yury V. Bukayev's opening analysis (see "Something New in Something Old" and "Even in the Most Respectable of Settings" for examples) are encouraged to check out his further examinations of the Nh4-Bukayev Gambit (earlier article is here).

Even in the Most Respectable of Settings

These days, the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), or one of its relatives, seems to show up all over the place, even in the most respectable of settings.

For example, consider the analysis of the Giuoco Piano from Yury V. Bukayev, at the Bruno's Chess Problem of the Day site, with a new, in-depth look at  1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.c3 Nf6 5.d3 d6 6.Bg5!?

There is a lot to look at in the article, and I recommend it to those who play, or play against, the Giuoco Piano.

As a side note, the author took time to point out to me the following line, which he referred to (after 6...Bd7) as "the Jerome-Jerome exchange": 7.Nbd2 Na5 8.Bxf7+ Kxf7 9.b4 Bxf2+ 10.Kxf2 Nc6, an extremely rare tactical combination, he mentioned.

(I suspect that the "Jerome-Jerome exchange" may be rare in serious or well-played chess, but I cannot help mentioning that there are about 550 games in The Database with Bxf7+ for White and ...Bxf2+ for Black. Still that is only about 2% of the games in The Database, so I guess that is pretty rare, even among Jerome Gambits.)

Improve Your Chess

Readers who have checked the Links on this site (lower right side) have no doubt visited "Bruno's Chess Problem of the Day". The site now has a link to this one, pleasantly placed in the "Improve Your Chess" section. But, of course!

A New Link

At the request of Yury V. Bukayev,  I've added a new link, one that will take readers to "Bruno's Chess Problem of the Day", a site that has much more than just chess problems. As it says on the site

Welcome on Bruno's Chess Problem of The Day. As its name indicates it, you will find here, every day, a new chess problem. You will find also a big chess problems archive, chess articles (including ones with theoretical opening discoveries), chess news, banks of ChessMasters games in PGN (sorted by opening and by player's name) and of course The chess directory.

I have referred to some of the opening analysis in an earlier post here (see "Jerome Gambit vs Two Knights Defense (Part 3)") and I think that readers will be interested in a number of the Chess Articles along with the rest of the content of the site.