The Latvian Gambit is an aggressive chess opening in which Black gives up a pawn early on in the hope of gaining the initiative. It was formerly known as the Greco Counter Gambit until the new name was made official by the FIDE Congress of 1937. The new name was a tribute to the Latvian players, notably Karlis Betins, who analyzed it in the early part of the 20th century. The original name commemorated the Italian player Gioacchino Greco (1600-1634). This opening is rarely played in major tournaments.
The opening is characterized by the following moves (in algebraic chess notation) which give it the appearance of a King´s Gambit with the colours reversed.
- 1. e4 e5
- 2. Nf3 f5
At this point several possible moves by White have been studied, of which the most important are
- 3. Nxe5 - the main line
- 3. Bc4
- 3. exf5
- 3. d4
- 3. Nc3
Several other continuations have been studied but are considered to lack advantage for White
- 3. d3
- 3. b4
- 3. b3
- 3. Qe2
- 3. g4
The ECO code for the Latvian Gambit is C40 (King´s knight Opening).
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