The BEST Chess Opening Against 1.e4 – Every Move is a Trap!

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🔹 Top 5 Traps to WIN Fast in the Bishop’s Opening –

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In this video lesson, GM Igor Smirnov talks about the most underrated chess gambit for Black against the White’s first move 1.e4. It is the Rousseau Gambit (or Ponziani Countergambit) from the Italian Game (Giuoco Piano), which happens after the opening moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f5.

The resulting position is similar to a King’s Gambit Declined with colours reversed. This gambit has a lot of tricks and traps along the way which helps Black to win within just 10 moves in these lines.

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► Chapters

00:00 Underrated chess gambit against 1.e4
00:40 Rousseau Gambit from Italian Game
02:40 Line-1: 4.Nc3 loses quickly
03:31 Line-2: 4.exf5 gives up center
05:39 Amazing combination wins in 9 moves
10:04 Line-3: 4.d3 defending e4-pawn
12:51 2 checkmating threats at a time!
14:35 Line-4: 4.d4 White’s best response
16:44 Conclusion: Black is very active

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500 Comments

  1. I just played this online and won against 1500 rated white player!

  2. Excellent video, as usual, teacher! Thanks a lot, GM Igor! BTW, the word you were looking for at 8:10 was "unfold" (although verbs "develop" and "continue" work as well). "Just to illustrate how the game can possible unfold…" Also, if you have question words (what, how, why, etc.) in the middle of a sentence, the order of words that follow are the same as in a positive statement, as it is NOT really a question. So, if you ask a question "How CAN the game unfold from this point?" then the word "can" comes before the subject "the game", while if you start with "let's see" or "just to illustrate" then this is a statement and NOT a question, and the verb "can" goes AFTER the subject "the game", as in "Let's see how the game CAN unfold from here" If you wish to learn all about reported speech and indirect question you can watch them here on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm-Kls1n8h0, or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-po-pgH8cXY)

  3. in the last 3rd what of he plays b3 when we bring out queen what should we do

  4. D4 was my immediate response to this, I'm pleased to say.

  5. Seriously had a whaaaaat reaction at the end of each sequence and went over many different scenarios and black usually comes out with the advantage when it clearly looks like they don’t but I’m barely above 1200 sooo. Love this opening!

  6. Very interesting, many thanks GM Smirnov.
    But can you please explain and analyze what could happen after 5.Cd4, then probably 5…Cf6, 6.Cxc6 ?
    Thank you in advance

  7. What an interesting opening, a little bit weird but I think it needs more training and attention

  8. 4:43 and what about 5.nd4 nd4 6.qh5 g6 7.fg nf6 8.bf7 ke7 9.qc5_ – white should win

  9. MiI VIDE0 IS AB0UT 3 TRAPS IN LATVIAN GAMBIT !!!

  10. brilliant lesson on an opening I never really considered. Thank you very much ! Great cat by the way 🙂

  11. The first line is good for white! They can Nxe5 and free path for white queen for Qh5+. Eventually you will end up with +1 or +0 material and a lot of traps from white you can fall in.

  12. 4:34 u say there is no way for the knight.. but D4 is the way to go. because kc6 cant take your knight, because of qh5. and with this white is much better?! u missed this or what is going on

  13. Against 3) Bb5 this is known as the Schliemann Variation of the Ruy Lopez.

  14. Definitely going to start playing this as black

  15. 4:40 you can easily play Nd4. Black is “defending that” but not really. Qh5+ is too strong if you take white’s knight on d4

  16. Always be careful with those 'secret weapon' videos – there are no secret weapons in chess openings any more. E.g. as for line 2 (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 f5 4. exf6 e5) saying 'there's no good spot left for the white knight is just not true – white knight does not have to retreat and can just go to d4, because after 5. Nd4 Nxd4 6. Qh5+ Black is in a world of pain. The opening would still be very ok with 5. Nd4 Nf6, don't know why that line is not shown, instead the line where White is retreating its knight is dealt with extensively

  17. Simply 4. d3 gives white a reverse Kings Gambit declined with OK play.

  18. The cat's colors matches the colors of the chess board.

  19. Today I won one match with black in this opening.

  20. I tried this and after f5 then they played Bxg8 then ended up losing, lol.

  21. On 4:40 can you play knight to d5. If black takes the knight with his knight. Than you can play the queen to h5

  22. Lot of interesting traps, but it's a little bit funny to leave White's best alternatives out in almost every line. Even the 5.Nxd4 line is clearly better for White, if White goes 6.Nc3 instead of Nxf5. But certainly this can give a lot of fun and winning games against unprepared opponents.

  23. 11:46 isn’t the most natural move here just g3 fxg3 fxg3 and if say Qf6 just Rf1 and it’s ggs?

  24. Nice Cat 😍❤️
    Oh, and a grate Video, thanks 😃

  25. What a great video. and what a wonderful coach you are. Hats Off BOSS. Thank You.

  26. It's amazing how GM Smirnov suggests bad moves to prove this is a good gambit.

  27. I'm having a great time studying and using this gambit…and came accross this interesting line:
    1. e4 e5
    2. Nf3 Nc6
    3. Bc4 f5
    4. d4 exd4
    5. Ng5 The video does not analyze white's move and although easy to answer, I think is worth making comments about it.

    The best answer I have found is 5. … Ne5

  28. Something important I feel looking at this after is a weird trap move (and engine move, though only third most played on lichess) is after 1. e4 e5 2. nf3 nf6 3. bc4 f5 4. exf4 e4 IF 5. Nd4 DONT TAKE the "free" knight because of the Qh5+ he warned about leads to extreme pain. Play 5.Nf6 to prevent it like he said in the other line and take back with the b pawn if they trade with Nxc6.

  29. So, it is really just like a Vienna gambit reversed with the bishop on c4.

  30. Thank you so much. This gives me hope to cross 1600 after having been at 1550 for long.

  31. What do you do if after 4… F4 they just retreat the knight with 5 G1? Is it pure development? Any tips on how to exploit our position's advantage?

  32. I've tried this quite a few times and no one seems to be falling for the traps 🙁

  33. After 7 … e5 you can also play 8. Sd4!! And after 8. .. Sxd4 9. Qh5+! And the black position is not so good anymore 😞 so can you please add this variant as well and let us know what to do here besides pressing resign? Thanks 😉

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