Albin Countergambit

When Albin counter-gambit is an opening variant of the Queen's Gambit.

This counter-gambit begins with the trains

1 d2 -d4 d7 -d5 2 c2 - c4 e7 - e5

And one of the closed- games. The corresponding ECO codes D08 and D09 loud.

The gambit was introduced in 1893 in New York by Adolf Albin against Emanuel Lasker in the tournament practice. It applies to black as risky and is therefore rarely played. Nevertheless, in 2004 the world-class player Alexander Morozevich played in several rapid games with Black so. In 2005, he struck so even in a regular tournament game in Wijk aan Zee, GM Ivan Sokolov.

The main variants

The main variants of the counter- gambits include:

• 3 d4xe5 d5 -d4 4 Sg1 -f3 Sb8 - c6 5 g2 - g3 Bc8 - e6 or 5 ... Bc8 - g4, frequently. Associated with Qd8 - d7 and long castling
• 5 g2 - g3 Ng8 - e7 6 Lf1 - g2 - g6 Ne7 7 Lc1 - g5 Qd8 - d7 ( Morozevich )
• 5 a2 -a3 Bc8 - e6 or 5 ... Bc8 - g4

Opening the case

The following sequence of moves is a opening trap that you should know. It goes back to Emanuel Lasker.

1 d2 -d4 d7 -d5 2 c2 - c4 e7 - e5 3 d4xe5 d5 -d4 4 e2 -e3?

Better are 4 Sg1 -f3, 4 a2 -a3 and 4 e2- e4. The latter wants to keep the position closed and has been played by Boris Spassky. More 4 ... c6 5 Sb8 - f2 - f4 g7- g5 6 Sg1 -f3 - g4 Bc8 fragmented the white peasant masses or 4 ... c6 5 Sb8 - f2 - f4 f6 f7 - 6 e5xf6 Sg8xf6 7 Lf1 -d3 Bf8 - b4 developed the blacks.

4 a2 -a3 Sb8 - c6 5 simplifies e2 -e3 d4xe3 6 Dd1xd8 Ke8xd8 7 Lc1xe3 Sc6xe5.

4 ... Bf8 - b4 ! 5 Lc1 -d2 d4xe3 6 Ld2xb4? (Better is f2xe3, which leads to 6 ... Qd8 - h4 to slight black edge. ) 6 ... e3xf2 7 Ke1 - e2 f2xg1S ! ( Sub- transformation )

And after 8 Ke2 - e1 - h4 Qd8 9 Ke1 -d2 Sb8 - c6 Black is winning. Very bad would be 8 Th1xg1? Lc8 - g4 , which wins the lady.