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Englund Gambit

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The Englund Gambit is a rarely played chess opening that starts with the moves

1.d4 e5

It is also known as the Charlick Gambit after Australian Henry Charlick (1845–1916) who introduced it in the early 1890s. Charlick became the second chess champion of Australia in 1897. Swedish player Fritz Carl Anton Englund (1871–1933) also played this opening, which is sometimes called the Englund Counterattack. It is considered weak, and thus is never seen in top-level play.

Charlick's idea was for Black to avoid the closed openings with 2.dxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6. This gambit is very rarely played because it is considered unsound. White remains a pawn up with a comfortable advantage after 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4.

More common today is Englund's 2.dxe5 Nc6 3.Nf3 Qe7. White can try to keep his extra pawn with 4.Qd5!? f6 5.exf6 Nxf6, when it's questionable whether Black has enough for the sacrificed pawn. More often, White allows Black to win back the pawn at the cost of lagging development. Perhaps White's most popular line is 4.Bf4 Qb4+ 5.Bd2 (5.Nc3!? Qxf4 6.Nd5! is interesting) Qxb2 6.Nc3! (6.Bc3? Bb4! 7.Qd2 (7.Bxb4 Nxb4 also wins for Black) Bxc3 8.Qxc3 Qc1#! is a notorious trap) when Black has a difficult game after either 6...Bb4 or 6...Nb4 7.Nd4 c6. Also good is simply 4.Nc3 Nxe5 5.e4, when White has a lead in development and Black's queen is misplaced.

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