Sicilian Defence, Smith-Morra Gambit

Smith–Morra 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
Moves	1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3
ECO	B21
Named after	Kenneth Ray Smith Pierre Morra
Parent	Sicilian Defence
Synonym(s)	Morra Gambit
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In chess, the Smith–Morra Gambit (or simply Morra Gambit) is an opening gambit against the Sicilian Defence distinguished by the moves:

1. e4 c5

2. d4 cxd4

3. c3

White sacrifices a pawn to develop quickly and create attacking chances. In exchange for the gambit pawn, White has a piece developed after 4.Nxc3 and a pawn in the center, while Black has nothing but an empty square at c7. The plan for White is straightforward and consists of placing his bishop on c4 to attack the f7-square, and controlling both the c- and d-files with rooks, taking advantage of the fact that Black can hardly find a suitable place to post his queen.

The Smith–Morra is not common in grandmaster games, but at club level chess it can be an excellent weapon.

History

The Smith–Morra is named after two players, Pierre Morra from France (1900–69),^[1] and Kenneth Ray Smith of the Dallas Chess Club (1930–99).^[2] Hence in Europe the name Morra Gambit is preferred; names like Tartakower Gambit and Matulovic Gambit have disappeared.

Morra published a booklet and several articles about the Smith–Morra around 1950. Smith wrote a total of nine books and forty-nine articles about the gambit. When Smith participated in an international tournament against several top grandmasters in San Antonio in 1972, he essayed the Smith–Morra three times, against Donald Byrne, Larry Evans, and Henrique Mecking, but wound up losing all three games. (In fact, when Mario Campos Lopez played the French Defence, 1...e6, instead of the Sicilian against Smith, Bent Larsen gave Lopez's move a question mark along with the comment "stronger is 1...c5 which wins a pawn",^[3] presuming Smith would play his d4 gambit.)

Nevertheless, Mikhail Tal used the opening to win a game in 24 moves,^[4] which included a queen sacrifice offered by Tal, which if accepted would have led to forced mate.

Continuations overview

Black has a wide choice of reasonable defences after 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3. White sometimes plays 2.Nf3 and 3.c3, which depending on Black's response may rule out certain lines.

The Morra Gambit Accepted: 3...dxc3 4.Nxc3

• Classical Mainline: 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.0-0 Nf6 8.Qe2 Be7 9.Rd1 e5 10.h3 or 10.Be3
• Scheveningen setup: 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 e6 7.0-0 Nf6 (or Be7) 8.Qe2 a6 9.Rd1 Qc7 (probably inferior Qa5) 10.Bf4 (10.Bg5) Be7
• Siberian Variation: 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 Nf6 and 7...Qc7
• Nge7 Variations: 4...Nc6 (or 4...e6) 5.Nf3 e6 6.Bc4 a6 (Nge7) 7.0-0 Nge7 (d6 8.Qe2 Nge7 9.Bg5 h6) 8.Bg5 f6 9.Be3
• 6...a6 Defence: 4...Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 a6 eventually 7...Bg4
• Fianchetto: 4...g6 (4...Nc6 5.Nf3 g6 allows 6.h4!?) 5.Nf3 Bg7 6.Bc4 Nc6
• Chicago Defence: 4...e6 5.Bc4 a6 6.Nf3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.0-0 and Black plays ...Ra7 at some stage
• Early Queenside Fianchetto: 4...e6 5.Bc4 a6 6.Nf3 b5 7.Bb3 Bb7

The Morra Gambit Accepted: 3...dxc3 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2

This line is similar to the Danish Gambit.

The Morra Gambit Declined

• Advance Variation: 3...d3
• First transpostion to the Alapin: 3...Nf6 4.e5 Nd5
• Second transposition to the Alapin: 3...d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 (Nf6) 5.cxd4

The latter has a bad reputation, as square c3 is free for the knight. Still 5...Nf6 (5...e5; 5...Nc6 6.Nf3 e5) 6.Nf3 e6 7.Nc3 Qd6 is likely to transpose to a main line of the Alapin: 2.c3 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5 4.d4 e6 5.Nf3 Nf6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.0-0 cxd4 8.cxd4 Be7 9.Nc3 Qd6.

See also

• Another anti-Sicilian gambit is the Wing Gambit (1.e4 c5 2.b4).
• List of chess openings
• List of chess openings named after people

External links

• The Smith-Morra gambit

References

1. ^ Chess Notes by Edward Winter, see entry 3953 ("Morra")
2. ^ Kenneth Ray Smith (1930-1999) Obituary at the US Chess Federation
3. ^ Bent Larsen and David Levy (1972). San Antonio, 1972 : Church's Fried Chicken, Inc. First International Chess Tournament. R.H.M. press. 
4. ^ "Mikhail Tal vs Neibult, 1991". ChessGames.com. http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1141196. Retrieved 1 April 2011. 

Further reading

• Flesch, János (1981). The Morra (Smith) Gambit. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-2188-6. 
• Burgess, Graham (1994). Winning with the Smith-Morra Gambit. Batsford. ISBN 0805035745. 
• Langrock, Hannes (2006). The Modern Morra Gambit. Russell Enterprises. ISBN 1-888690-32-1.