Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5/2. Nf3/2...e6/3. d4/3...cxd4/4. Nxd4/4...Nc6/5. Nb5/5...d6/6. c4/6...Nf6/7. N1c3/7...a6/8. Na3/8...d5

Garry gambit
	a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h
	Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) r1bqkb1r/1p3ppp/p1n1pn2/3p4/2P1P3/N1N5/PP3PPP/R1BQKB1R
	Moves: 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 d5
	ECO code: B45
	Parent: Szén variation

8...d5!? · Garry gambit

Black challenges White in the centre to open up the position.

White has four attackers to Black's three defenders. However, after 9. cxd5 exd5 10. exd5, Black intends to play 10...Nb4, bringing another attacker.

History

The Garry gambit was first played by Garry Kasparov in two games of the 1985 World Championship match with Anatoly Karpov (see sample game).

After the discovery of the continuation 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Qa4+! (see below) this fell out of favour for Black.

Sample game

Karpov v Kasparov, 1985

The sixteenth game of the World Championship match.^[1]

1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 e6 3. d4 cxd4 4. Nxd4 Nc6 5. Nb5 d6 6. c4 Nf6 7. N1c3 a6 8. Na3 d5

Kasparov plays the "Garry gambit".

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Position after 10...Nb4.

9. cxd5 exd5 10. exd5 Nb4

This position had already been reached in their twelfth game of the match. In that game, Karpov (playing White) continued 11. Bc4, a natural move to defend the pawn, and continued cautiously before having to settle for a draw: 11...Bg4 (compelling White's bishop to retreat) 12. Be2 Bxe2 13. Qxe2+ Qe7 14. Be3 Nbxd5 (Black recovers the pawn) 15. Nc2 Nxe3 16. Nxe3 Qe6 17. O-O Bc5 18. Rfe1 O-O ½-½.

11. Be2

This time White intends to control d5 with a Be2-Bf3 manoeuvre.

11...Bc5

Rather than take back the pawn, Black leaves it and focuses on development instead. They can quickly capitalise on good, active squares for their pieces, while White's knight on a3 is passive.

Kasparov analysed 11...Nbxd5 12. O-O Be7 13. Nxd5 Nxd5 14. Bf3 (attacking knight) Be6 (defending knight) 15. Nc2! as better for White. The c2 knight threatens to come to d4, where it can take bishop on e6 that is tied down to protect the knight.^[2] Black therefore avoids taking the pawn because of the difficulty in defending the knight on the d5 square.

12. O-O

When Karpov faced this line again in 1986, he played the improvement 12. Be3 Bxe3 13. Qa4+! forking the now-undefended knight on b4.^[3]

12...O-O 13. Bf3 Bf5

Black locks out the a3 knight from play. It now cannot go to c2, and Nc4 allows Bd3, forking the knight and the rook. (In fact, modern engines are happy with the transformation 14. Nc4 Bd3 15. Ne3 Bxf1 16. Kxf1 for White: willing to sacrifice the exchange to eliminate Black's active bishop and revive the prospects of White's knight).

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Black's monstrous knight.

14. Bg5 Re8 15. Qd2 b5 16. Rad1 Nd3

This piece starts out as a knight but shortly transforms into a monstrous centralized octopus, tentacles grasping in all directions, hovering over key squares.
—Manoeuvres in Moscow, Keene & Goodman

Black's knight takes over a superb outpost and dominates White's position. Black threatens b3, forking the knights.

17. Nab1 h6 18. Bh4 b4 19. Na4 Bd6

White's position is close to paralysis: Black's monstrous knight is preventing White from bringing their rooks into the game, White's knights have been pushed to the rim with nowhere to go, and now Black threatens to trap White's queen with Rc8 and Bf4.

20. Bg3

Forced, to prevent White's queen becoming trapped.

20...Rc8

Black had to discard two alternatives:

20...Ne4 21. Bxe4 Bxe4, winning the bishop pair and weakening White's d5 pawn. Seirawan's analysis picks out the danger of 22. Qe3 as a continuation, allowing White to untangle their position by playing Qb6 to trade queens^[2] (though the engine likes this for Black. One continuation is 22...Bf5 23. Qb6 Bxg3 24. Qxd8 Bxh2+ 25. Kxh2 Raxd8∓).
20...Bxg3 21. hxg3 Qa5 22. b3 Rad8 23. Na3 (the b3 pawn is pinned to Black's queen) Nxd5 and Black wins the d5 pawn, then 24. Nc4 Qb5 25. Bxd5 Rxd5 26. Ne3 Rdd8 27. Nxf5 Qxf5. Kasparov believed he had more chance to play for advantage by avoiding the trades and "tightening the screws on the position [asking] White how he intends to solve his problems."^[2]

Black takes the open c-file and control of even more of White's space.

21. b3

To allow Nb2: White hopes to trade off Black's monstrous knight.

21...g5 22. Bxd6 Qxd6 23. g3 Nd7 24. Bg2 Qf6

White can't get in Nb2 now. Their a4 knight is so out of play that they are practically down a piece; their b1 knight is no better.

25. a3 a5 26. axb4 axb4 27. Qa2

White is desperate to untangle their position and get some piece activity. Unable to shift Black's b pawn, White moves the queen to make room for Nd2 instead.

27...Bg6

Black can meet Nd2 with Re2!, pinning the knight to White's queen. However, if say 27...h5 28. Nd2 Re2, White has the defensive resource Bf2^[4]. By moving their bishop back, Black allows their queen to control f2 and 28. Nd2 Re2 29. Bf3 Rxd2 30. Qxd2 Qxf3-+ wins two pieces for a rook.

28. d6 g4 29. Qd2 Kg7 30. f3 Qxd6 31. fxg4 Qd4+ 32. Kh1 Nf6 33. Rf4 Ne4 34. Qxd3 Nf2+ 35. Rxf2 Bxd3 36. Rfd2 Qe3 37. Rxd3 Rc1 38. Nb2 Qf2 39. Nd2 Rxd1+ 40. Nxd1 Re1+

Black has mate in 2 (41. Nf1 Rxf1+ 42. Bxf1 Qxf1#). White resigns.

Theory table

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References

↑ Karpov v Kasparov 1985 - Chessgames.com
↑ ^a ^b ^c Seirawan, Yasser (2003). Winning Chess Brilliancies. Everyman Chess. ISBN 978-1857443479.
↑ Karpov v van der Wiel, 1986 - Chessgames.com
↑ Modern engine analysis is actually is unimpressed by the Bf2 resource. The engine finds 27...h5 28. Nd2 Re2 29. Bf3 Rxf2! taking the pawn instead of the knight, very good for Black: 30. Rxf2 Nxf2 31. Kxf2 Qd4+ 32. Kg2-+ and Black may have given up a knight but the threat of Rc2! is devastating.