Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...d5

Elephant Gambit
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3pp3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5
ECO code: C40
Parent: Open Game
Responses: 3. exd5 3. d4 3. Nxe5 3. Nc3

Elephant Gambit

2...d5?!

The Elephant Gambit or Englund Counterattack. Black ignores the attack on his e-pawn and immediately tries to gain time and space. The resulting position can be sharp for White, and thus may be a good surprise opening for Black. It is generally considered unsound, because if White plays accurately Black does not get sufficient compensation for the sacrificed pawn. Still if White doesn't play accurately Black position can soon become overwhelming.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation..

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5?!

	3	4	5	6
	exd5 e4	Qe2 Nf6	d3 Qxd5	Nbd2 Nc6	+/=
	... Bd6	Nc3 Nf6	Bc4 Nbd7	d3 a6	+/=
	d4 Nf6	Nxe5 Nxe4		=
	Nxe5 Bd6	d4 dxe4	Bc4 Bxe5	=
	Nc3 d4	Nd5 c6		∞

References

• Short-Corbin
• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.

• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.