Recently I found out the gambit introduced in last week’s blog actually has a name. It’s known as the Kunin Double Gambit. It comes from the opening moves; 1.d4 d5 2.e4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4, daring Black to take the second pawn with 5…Qxd4.
Because the name is a mouthful, and I’m not entirely sure to pronounce it, we’ll just call it KDD.
Last week we covered the very active line 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.Nf3, leading to all types of chaos and confusion.
I promised we would look over the more popular 6.O-O-O. So, here we go …
The move 6.O-O-O leads to some pluses in White’s game. His king is safer from check, his rook has a nice d-file to attack the enemy queen and his bishop is ready to move to e3, g5, or even take on c3 should Black play …Bxc3. Meanwhile White’s queen is hitting the kingside pawns and keeping an eye on the center.
Black can certainly castle, but that is a passive plan. Black’s kingside pawns are normally used to harass the white queen move away from the center and develop his queenside pieces. For the moment at least Black’s king is going to stay on e8.
That doesn’t mean he is entirely safe on e8.
White usually stands better in the KDD if Black fails to push his kingside pawns.
Miles-Marshall
Wolverhampton, England, 1968
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O Nf6 7.Qxg7 Rg8 8.Qh6 Ng4 9.Qh4 Qxf2 10.Qd8+ Kxd8 11.Bg5+ Ke8 12.Rd8mate 1-0
F. Bengochea-F. Palmieri
Buenos Aires Amateur Team Ch.
Argentina, 1997
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O Ne7 7.Bf4 Qxf2 8.Nxe4 e5 9.Qxg7 Qxf4+ 10.Kb1 (White has three main threats. One is the immediate 11.Nf6+, winning the queen. If Black protects his rook with 10…Ng6, then 11.Nf6+ Ke7 12.Nd5+ again wins the queen. Finally, If the knight is taken, then White has 11.Qxh8+ Ng8 12.Qxg8+, which is good enough for a win.) 1-0
Frank Drill (2165)-IM Grzegorz Masternak
Berlin Summer Open
Germany, Aug. 12 1998
1.d4 d5 2.e4 e6 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O Nf6 7.Qxg7 Rg8 8.Qh6 Rg6 9.Qh4 Rg4 10.Qh3 Qxf2 11.Be3 Qf5 12.Bb5+ c6? (14…Bd7 is better.) 13.Rf1! Qe5 14.Rxf6!! (White clears the board to clarify his advantages in space, development, and king safety.) 14…Qxf6 15.Qxg4 cxb5 16.Qg8+ Bf8 17.Nxe4 Qe5 18.Qxh7 f5 19.Nf3 Qxe4 20.Bg5 Bd6 21.Rd1 Qb4 22.Qg8+ Kd7 23.Ne5+ (And mate next move.) 1-0
Black can try 6…f5. And White can try 7.Bh5!?.
Kunin-Oksengoit
Moscow, 1958
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O f5 7.Bg5!?
7…Qe5? [Not 7…Qxd1+, hoping for 8.Nxd1? fxg4, but 8.Qxd1! wins. But after 7…Qxf2 (forced), Black is doing OK.] 8.Rd8+ Kf7 9.Nf3
9…Qa5?! (Not 9…fxg4? 10.Nxe5!#. But 9…exf3 10.Qxb4 is probably OK for Black.) 10.Bb5! (White is now threatening 11.Be8+ Kf8 12.Bg6#.) 10…Nc6?? (Necessary is 10…g6.) 11.Ne5+ Nxe5 12.Be8+ Kf8 13.Bg6mate 1-0
Instead, White has 7.Qg3!, increasing pressure on Black’s kingside pawns and protecting his own kingside pawns.
Vishniatzky-Perenosnikov
Tashkent, USSR, 1950
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O f5 7.Qg3 Bd6 8.Bf4 Bxf4+ 9.Qxf4 Qc5 10.f3 exf3 11.g4 f2 12.gxf5 fxg1=Q 13.Rxg1 Qe7 14.Bb5+ c6 15.Ne4 e5 16.Qe3 Bd7 17.Bc4 Nf6 18.Nd6+ Kf8 19.Qg3 b5 20.Nc8 Bxc8 21.Rd8+ Ne8 22.f6 Qxf6 23.Qa3+ (23…Qe7 24.Rxg7!) 1-0
Jan Banas-Vladimir Stefl
Czechoslovakia U26 Ch.
Cihak, 1969
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O f5 7.Qg3 Bd6 8.Bf4 Bxf4+ 9.Qxf4 Qc5 10.f3 Nf6 11.fxe4 O-O 12.Nf3 Ng4? 13.Rd2? [Even better is 13.exf5! Qe3+!? (An obvious and interesting move.) 14.Qxe3 Nxe3 15.fxe6 Nxd1 16.e7!] 13…Nf2 14.Rg1 fxe4 15.Nxe4 Nd3+ 16.Rxd3 Rxf4 17.Nxc5 Nc6 18.Re3 Nb4 19.a3 Nd5 20.Re4 Rxe4 21.Nxe4 b6 22.Bc4 Bb7 23.Neg5 b5 24.Bxb5 Nf4 25.Nxe6 +- 1-0 (25…Nxe6, then 26.Bc4 Bc8 27.Re1 Kf7 28.Ng5+)
Finally, Black can play 6…h5. This pawn push is protected by the rook and Black, at least for the moment, doesn’t have an additional weakness on the kingside.
Here, Black has a decent chance.
Theodor Ghitescu-Dieter Bertholdt
Romania vs. E. Germany, Sept. 28 1959
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O h5 7.Qg5 Be7 8.Qg3 Bd6 9.Bf4 h4 10.Qg4 Nf6 11.Qg5 Bxf4+ 12.Qxf4 Qc5 13.Nxe4 Nxe4 14.Qxe4 Nc6 15.Nf3 Bd7 16.Qf4 O-O-O 17.Qxf7? (White has already positionally lost the game. Now he loses it tactically.) 17…Nb4 18.c3
18…Nxa2+ 19.Kb1 Nxc3+ 20.bxc3 Qxc3 21.Rd3 Qb4+ 22.Ka2 Rhf8 23.Qxg7 e5 24.Qxe5 Rf5 25.Qb2 Qa4+ 26.Qa3 (26.Kb1 Rb5) 26…Qc2+ 27.Ka1 Ra5 28.Qxa5 Qc1+ 29.Ka2 Be6+ (30.Rb3 Rd2+) 0-1
Capra-Cappello
corres.
Italy, 1962
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O h5 7.Qg5 (Perhaps a little too aggressive.) 7…Be7 8.Qg3 Bd6 9.Bf4 h4 10.Rxd4 hxg3 11.Bxd6 cxd6 12.Nxe4 Nc6 13.Rxd6 Rxh2 14.Nxg3 Rxh1 15.Nxh1 Ke7 16.Rd3 e5 17.c3 Be6 18.a3 Rc8 19.Rg3 g6 20.Bb5 Nd4 21.Ba4 Nh6 22.Bc2 Nxc2 23.Kxc2 Nf5 24.Rd3 Nh4 25.Re3 f6 26.g3 Nf5 27.Re1 Rh8 0-1
A. Jenkins-Craig Laird (2297)
Columbus Open
Columbus, OH, 1977
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O h5 7.Qg3 Bd6 8.Bf4 Bxf4+ 9.Qxf4 Qc5 10.Nxe4 Qe7 11.Nf3 f6 12.Bb5+ Nc6 13.Rhe1 e5 14.Qg3 g5 15.Nexg5 h4 16.Nxh4 Rxh4 17.Qxh4 fxg5 18.Qh8 Kf8 19.Bxc6 bxc6 20.Rxe5 Qf6 21.Qh7 Nh6 22.Rd8+ Qxd8 23.Qxh6+ Kf7 24.Rxg5 Qf6 25.Qh7+ 1-0
Goldin-Trosman
Moscow, 1978
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O h5 7.Qg3 h4?8.Qxc7! +/- (The refutation.) 8…Qc5 9.Nb5 Qxc7 10.Nxc7+ Kd8 11.Bf4+ Nd7 12.Nxa8 e5 13.Bxe5 1-0
Thomas Broek-P. Van Diepen
Alkmaar Open, 1982
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O h5 7.Qg3 Bd6 8.Bf4 Bxf4+ 9.Qxf4 Qc5 10.Nxe4 Qe7 11.Bb5+ Kf8 12.Nf3 a6 13.Ne5 Rh6 14.Rd8+ 1-0
Jacques Demarre (2325)-Snorri Bergsson (2230)
Paris Open Ch.
France 1990
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Bd2 dxe4 5.Qg4 Qxd4 6.O-O-O h5 7.Qg3 Bd6 8.Bf4 h4 9.Qg4 Bxf4+ 10.Qxf4 Qc5 11.Nxe4 Qa5 12.Bb5+ Bd7 13.Bxd7+ Nxd7 14.Rxd7 Kxd7 15.Nf3 Qf5 16.Rd1+ Ke8 17.Qxc7 Qxe4 18.Qd7+ Kf8 19.Qd6+ Ke8 20.Qd7+ Kf8 21.Qd6+ 1/2-1/2
I hope you enjoyed this coverage of the KDD. If you have any games you wish to share, please email them. Love to see them! Thanks!
The Gambit Chess Player 