The Montgomery Major Attack and Friends

I received an email the other day concerning Montgomery Major, whose name is attached to a gambit - the "Montgomery Major Attack" - that was touched upon in this blog about 4 1/2 years ago.

The line develops out of the Tennison Gambit, going 1.e4 d5 2.Nf3 dxe4 3.Ng5 e5 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.Qh5+. 

Of course, my interest was the way in which the opening showed certain Jerome Gambit (J. H. Blackburne might have said "Kentucky Opening") tendencies - although the piece sacrificed was a Knight, not a Bishop.

Much to my surprise, other than a half dozen bullet (1 minute, 0 increment) games at lichess.org, I have found only one example of the opening.

Watts,J (1835) - Zeidler,S (2235)
West Wales op Swansea, 1999

1.e4 d5 2.Nf3 dxe4 3.Ng5 e5 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.Qh5+ g6 6.Qxe5 Nf6 7.Bc4+ Kg7 8.d4 Nc6 9.Qg5 h6 10.Qg3 Nxd4 11.0-0 b5 12.Rd1 bxc4 13.Rxd4 Qxd4 14.Qxc7+ White Resigned

This, in turn, reminded me of the Damiano Defense 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f6, which can continue 3.Nxe5 fxe5 4.Qh5+. 

The Damiano came up in a couple of my games while I was attempting to reach a Jerome Gambit - starting 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f6. These were examined in "A Jerome Gambit Declined" and "Frustration is the Grandmother of Invention".

Montgomery Major Attack

Even when it comes to the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+), and especially when it comes to related openings, there always seems something new to discover.

Imagine my surprise when, thumbing through John Lutes' Tennsion Gambit I encountered the following line of play

1.e4 d5 2.Nf3

This is the Tennison Gambit, which also can be reached via the Zukertort Opening, i.e. 1.Nf3 d5 2.e4.

2...dxe4 3.Ng5 e5

There is a superficial similarity to the Budapest Gambit (1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5) here, with colors reversed, although the fact that Black has not played ...c7-c5 in the Tennison actually strengthens his position, as the traditional ...Bb4+ in the Budapest – Bb5+ in the Tennison – is more easily met.

4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.Qh5+

Things are already beginning to look a little Jerome-ish, moreso after 5...g6 6.Qxe5, when White looks forward to two pawns for his sacrificed piece and play against Black's vulnerable King.

The Montgomery Major Attack is named after an early editor of Chess Life, who published his analysis of the line in Chess Correspondent in the early 1960s.