The Latvian Gambit is an aggressive but dubious chess opening, which often leads to wild complications. 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 virtually never seen at the top levels, but some correspondence chess players are devoted to it.

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. Now after the usual 3...Qf6 (3...Nc6?! is also known), White chooses between 4.d4 d6 5.Nc4 fxe4 and the immediate 4.Nc4, which has the advantage of allowing White to open the center with d3, for example 4...fxe4 5.Nc3 Qg6?! 6.d3 exd3? 7.Bxd3 Qxg2? and now White is winning after 8.Qh5+ Kd8 (or 8...g6 9.Qe5+ and 10.Be4) 9.Be4 Qh3 10.Qxh3 Bxh3 11.Bxb7.
• 3.Bc4 This may lead to perhaps the most notorious and heavily analyzed line of the Latvian, which begins 3...fxe4 4.Nxe5 Qg5 (4...d5 5. Qh5+ g6 6.Nxg6 Nf6 7. Qh4 is slightly less insane) 5.d4 Qxg2 6.Qh5+ g6 7.Bf7+ Kd8 8.Bxg6! Qxh1+ 9.Ke2 Qxc1 (9...c6 is a major alternative) 10.Nf7+ Ke8 11.Nxh8+ hxg6 12.Qxg6+ Kd8 13.Nf7+ Ke7 14.Nc3!.
• 3.Nc3 American grandmaster Joel Benjamin has claimed that this sensible developing move refutes the Latvian.
• 3.exf5
• 3.d4

The ECO code for the Latvian Gambit is C40 (King's knight Opening).

External links

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• Prof. Nagesh Havanur, The Latvian Gambit Revisited, Part One, chessville.com.

• Prof. Nagesh Havanur, The Latvian Gambit Revisited, Part Two, chessville.com.

Chess openings

Lettisches Gambit | Gambetto Lettone | Grecogambiet | Латышский гамбит