Stafford Gambit

STAFFORD GAMBIT

The Stafford Gambit is one of the most challenging openings for White to counterattack. There are so many traps that Black can give to White. I will be showing you the most common traps inside the Stafford Gambit.
You might be asking yourself, 'What is a Gambit?'. Glad you asked, a Gambit is like a changing game, and your opponent has an advantage. But you can throw traps, opening advantages, and even material advantages.
The Stafford Gambit starts with 1. P-E4, P-E5; This is known as the King's Pawn Opening, and this Opening will lead to a sharp game. Then 2. N-F3, N-F6; Black is Gambitting their Central Pawn on E5 which is giving a free Pawn toward White's Knight. Then 3. NxP, N-C6; 4. NxN, P-D7xN; This is getting rid of a powerful Knight in the Central Squares for a more passive Knight and when you attack a piece with a Pawn, you should attack it towards the Center. But in this case, Black needs to attack the Knight away from the Center to open line with the Whtie Square Bishop, the Dark Square Bishop, and the Queen.
White is now up a Pawn but has no Knights or Bishop moved (These are known as Minor Pieces), and Black is now threatening to take back their Pawn because it is undefended. White now has to Defend the Central Pawn with either N-C3, P-D3, B-D3, P-F3, Q-E2, Q-F3, or Q-G4. Let's look at all of these moves and see if they work.
N-C3, This move Develops a Minor Piece (The Knight or Bishop) and does not Block anything, it can not be attacked. So this is a fine move. P-D3, This move makes a strong Pawn Structure and opens up the Dark Square Bishop. But Sadly, it blocks the White Square Bishop. So this is a good move, but might not be the best move that White could move. B-D3, This moves a Minor Piece (Knight or Bishop), but it's making it so that if White wants to Develop their Dark Square Bishop, White will have Difficulty in doing so by moving the D Pawn to D3, allowing the Dark Square Bishop to Rome Free, so this is not the right move for White. P-F3, this move is making a strong Pawn Center but is Blocking the Queen from leaving her square and is weakening the King-Side Which is to the Right of the King. Q-E2, This is protecting the Pawn but is developing a Major Piece (A Major Piece is a Queen or a Rook) in the Opening, which is usually not the best move to play and it blocks the Light Square Bishop. Q-F3, the only flaw is that you are moving a Major Piece (Queen or Rook) in the Opening (the First ten moves or so), so this is an ideal move. Q-G4 is by far the worst move you could play to Defend the Pawn, not only that it is Moving a Major Piece in the Opening, But the Knight and the Bishop can Attack it.
The Best move is the Knight move or the Pawn of the D file move (P-D2). Let's look at the Pawn move with an attack with Black. Black will want their Dark Square Bishop to C5, Developing a Minor Piece, Attacking the Weak Pawn on F2 that is only Defended by the King, and that this starts on of several traps Black can pull on White. Now, White thinks that this is a normal Developing move and so starts Developing their knight to C3, a common good move that is actually a mistake and now Black can show White the Trap. Which starts as N-G4. Adding two attackers on the Weak Pawn and now White needs to resolve the issue They have. White needs to play B-E3. This is the most common move that White plays. This move blocks the two attackers from using a future Fork by moving the Knight to F2 because the King can not attack the Knight from the Bishop Defending it. So White removes one attacker, the Bishop. So Black can not use this Fork. Now, Black will take the Bishop with their Knight, then Black will take the Knight with the Pawn, and finally, Black will take the Pawn, gaining the Pawn Back. So now, we know that Moving the Knight is not the Best Move, it is actually a mistake.

Queen Sacrifice Checkmate

If White plays the moves P-D3, you will move the Bishop to C4, attacking the Weak Pawn. But instead of moving the Knight to C3, White can Fork the Knight against the Queen with the move B-G5. This is a Blunder. Because now Black can take the Pawn on E4. This move might seem really bad, but it is a great move with, "Oh no my Queen" -IM Erick Rosen. Now, White is tempted to take the Queen which is a Blunder with a Checkmate. After 7. BxQ, BxB+; 8. K-E2, B-G4#. The King is forced to move to E2 and then, the stylish checkmate comes with the Bishop move, B-G4#.

Gaining a Better Position

Now, White knows about the Knight move (N-G4). And now Black can set another trap. Starting with P-H5. Know, White can Castle to Get their King to Safty, but instead, to get their King to Danger. This move to castle is a Mistake and now Black can unleash their traps with N-G4. The Correct move is to take the Knight with the Bishop, but White usually plays P-H3. Black Sacrifices the Knight and to play Q-D6. Making a hard line for White to deal with for all of the King-Side Weaknesses. After White takes the Knight, it is mate is five moves. Making this a Blunder for White. After 10. ..., PxP; 11. R-E1, Q-H2; 12. K-F1, Q-H1#. And also could be after 10. ..., P-G3; This is checkmating in one move, after QxP#. The Pawn can not attack the Queen because it is Pinned against the King with the Bishop. So if the Pawn takes the Queen, the Bishop will take the King and win the game.

Bishop and Queen Checkmate

Let's look at another Trap which is a checkmate trap. After 5. N-C3, B-C5; 6. B-C4, N-G4; When White moved their Bishop, with was a Mistake and allowed Black to start another trap. When White Castles, this is a blunder after Q-H4, threatening checkmate on the next move by moving the Queen to H2#. So White moves P-H3 to block the Checkmate, but after NxP; RxN, BxR+; When the King moves to H1, this is a blunder. and after BxP, PxB, another blunder. White needed to play Q-G1 to survive just a few moves. But after PxP, QxP# What White should have done was not to move the King to H1, but to move it to F1, avoiding checkmate.

Knight and Queen Checkmate

There is another Checkmate Trap that is Similar to the Bishop and Queen checkmate. But it is with a Knight and not a Bishop which starts as the same moves After 5. N-C3, B-C5; 6. B-C4, N-G4; 7. P-H3, NxP; Q-F3, this move is a blunder and makes a mate-in-seven after this move. After NxP-H3, this double attack the King, forcing it to move. If White moves the King to H1, and after N-F2. Double attacking the King and forcing it to move to G1, and now Black can checkmate White on the next move by moving the Queen to H1#.

Knight Checkmate

Is trap starts with the Knight moving to C3, then moving the Bishop to C5, White moves the Pawn on f2 to f3, and now black will start the trap by moving the Knight to H5 adding pressure on the G3 square and weakening the King-Side with an attack. But also moving a Minor Piece two times in an Opening. After B-C4, Black can deliver a check by moving the Queen to H4+. If the Pawn blocks the Check with P-G3, White will take the Knight with the Pawn and then Black can take the Rook with a Check. Now, if the King tries to run to E2, Black can now checkmate the King in just two moves, starting with, Q-F2+ then K-D3, then delivering the checkmate with a Knight, N-F4#.

Thanks For IM Eric Rosen for making this possible. Most of these Trap are from Him. Thank You!

Nice but due to stafford becoming so popular by Eric rosen it has been trashed by many gms so now every body know the traps and no one will fall for it untilll you r playing a novice and dont see Eric rosen video to much you will be misguided this gambits are not his main line openings he just plays it for fun

 

 

I think you shouldn't play it in classical otb tournament I was1500 otb last time I played a gambit was against 800 who knewed the reputation and I lost and from then I never play gambits in any type of chess games except some bullets on lichess

Go for the standard opening with 1.e4/d4  and sicilian najdorf and grunfeld as black against e4 /d4 /c4 /nf6

Yeah, the problem with the stafford is that it is too well known these days.

Gotta have to wait for it to leave the trend and become forgotten again before getting some wins with it. It's a shame, it's such a good gambit

Well, isn't the Stafford Gambit refuted? 

Like in this video, it's clearly shown how Stafford gets crushed if White knows their stuff.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNpREPX09ho

Sure, it's playable at below 1500 level and try to hope for some traps, but the refutation is way too simple and Black loses a pawn for nothing when White plays it right.

“The stafford gambit is one of the most challenging for white to counterattack…”

sorry to bust your bubble, but after Nxc6 dxc6, white can LITERALLY play f3 and have a +2 position. They don’t even have to play d3. Even then, the stafford is basically refuted. Usually it’s not a good sign if your opponent can play f3, and not develop a single piece for a move or two, and still have a much better position. 

I'm wondering why no one is going for the BKG (Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit, 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Bc4 Nxe4 4. Nc3) these days, it's much better than Stafford objectively.

5. f3! is just winning for White:

5...Bc5?! 6. c3! +/-

5...Be6 (threatening Nxe4) 6. d3 Bc5 7. c3 +/-

5...Nxe4? 6. fxe4! Qh4+ 7. g3! Qxe4+ 8. Qe2 and the queen is pinned. +-

5...Nh5 6. g3 Bc5 7. c3 +/-

There are tons of lines that I could go over. All of them are close to winning for White.

5 PQ3 KBB4 6 BK2 PKR4?! (Objectively safer is 6...NN5 7 BxN QR5 8 PKN3 QxN 9 QxQ BxQ where Black is 1 pawn down but still holds bishop pair. But, tactical tension is none in this line.) 7 PQB3 NN5?! (Safer maybe is 7...BN3, but Black has already given up a pawn, so the knight must fight!) 8 PQ4! QB3?! (8...BN3 is still an option. If 8...QR5? 9 PKN3! QB3 10 PKB3! +/-) 9 PKB3! QR5+?! (The Fork is inevitable, so Black tries to coerce White into making tactical mistakes.10 PKN3! QR6? (Black discovers a hole, but it is actually a TNT trap! Alternatively, Black can move 10...QK2 and play a piece down!) 11 BB1! QxRP 12 RxQ NxR 13 PxB NxB 14 KxN +-.

Stafford is difficult to defeat if you does not know the lines well! I know this by experience.

Learnt a new opening

yeah, and now I have found playing bullet/blitz will make the opponent blunder. I have a massive study of this gambit.

Horrible gambit that I had never seen until a month ago, now anonymous lichess players seem to love it.

Stop trying to trick us into fishing pole traps, please. It gets boring quickly.

Hello @HarpyEagleSkull i just refuted the Stafford gambit, be sure to check this study made by me on lichess https://lichess.org/study/FnHg9iVz, i know it's on spanish but you can translate it. Anyways have a nice day and let me know your thoughts on it!

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. f3!

The move f3 simply refutes the Stafford gambit and there are no good replies for black, in this study we see how each of black's replies is easily refuted.

My advice is to have fun with it. Play stuff that you enjoy. Just because the opening has been refuted doesn't mean that you can't play it.

I played the Englund Gambit exclusively OTB for years against 1. d4. Most of my opponents were in the USCF 1600-1800 rating range. Many were in my chess club and had time to prepare for it. I only lost twice.

Even though everyone knew it wasn't a great opening, and many people got good positions against me, I knew the theory better. I knew the best moves to play and usually wiggled out of trouble.

You may have a similar experience with the Stafford. Sometimes someone will fall in to a trap, and you will in easily. Sometimes they will "refute" the gambit, and you still might win because you know the theory better.

Most of us won't become GM's, almost everything is playable against lower rated players if you are prepared.

Have fun,

I won't argue that. I did have fun with it though.

I'm sure that I never encountered that exact line, but it would not be fun if everyone played it. I was playing it back in the 1990's, it wasn't as easy to get much info about it. Many people had never even seen it.  Now, thanks to the internet, everyone seems to have seen it and have some idea as to how to approach it. I doubt I would have as much fun with it today as I did back then.

That's what I'm saying but these stafford people don't listen to the simplest of refutations

at least in the englund gambit, white has to remember some moves.