Evans Gambit – How to Play?1 min read
Evans Gambit is an aggressive variation from Giuoco Piano Opening(The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has two codes for the Evans Gambit, C51 and C52), at the cost of a pawn White often gets complete domination of the centre or an assault against Black’s King(i.e, to keep the black king from castling). Black usually should give back the pawn advantage and get counter play in development but many players never like to give back any material once they get it.
The variation goes this way:
1. e4-e5
2. Nf3-Nc6
3. Bc4-Bc5
4. b4
White sacrifices a pawn to move the black bishop on c5.There are two choices for Black now. If Black accepts, White can follow up with c3 and d4,
Breaking the centre open, further planning to play Ba3 and Qb3 to threaten the f7 pawn and destroy the Black’s king side castling.
If Black doesn’t capture the pawn on b4, the b4-pawn stakes out space on the queenside, and White can follow up with a4 later in the game, potentially gaining a tempo by threatening to trap Black’s dark-square bishop.
If you choose to play Evans Gambit with white pieces, here are a few tips you should follow:
- You will have to play aggressively.
- Pieces should not be traded.
- Every move should come with an attack!
- Enemy’s king should be tied up in the center.
- Every piece should be brought to the center for active play.
- Key squares for white are Queen on b3, Bishop on c4, Bishop on a3 (To destroy king side castling for black) and Knight on c3( to gain control over the center).
