The Swiss Gambit is a
chess opening
A chess opening or simply an opening is the initial stage of a chess game. It usually consists of established theory; the other phases are the middlegame and the endgame. Many opening sequences have standard names such as the "Sicilian Defens ...
which is an offshoot of
Bird's Opening
Bird's Opening (or the Dutch Attack) is a chess opening characterised by the move:
:1. f4
Bird's is a standard flank opening. White's strategic ideas involve control of the e5-square, offering good attacking chances at the expense of slightly ...
(1.f4) and begins with the moves:
:1.
f4 f5
:2.
e4
Published theory
The following were the main lines of the Swiss Gambit given by F. A. Lange in 1859:
*2...fxe4 3.Qh5+
*2...fxe4 3.f5
*2...fxe4 3.Bc4
*2...fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d3
Polish theoretician
Alexander Wagner
Alexander (Aleksander) Wagner (7 August 1868 – 1942) was a Polish chess correspondence master and theoretician.
He studied law in Lemberg (Lwów, Lviv), playing chess in the Lviv Chess Club. He took 4th at Lviv 1895 and 6th at Lviv 1896, both w ...
(1868–1942) published an article entitled ''A New Gambit. The Swiss Gambit'' in 1912. The Wagner Gambit begins with the moves: 1.f4 f5 2.e4 fxe4 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.g4.
Other uses
The term "Swiss Gambit" is also used colloquially to describe a strategy for
Swiss system tournaments. In a "Swiss Gambit", a player loses or draws against weaker players early in the tournament, in the hope of being paired against weaker opposition in later rounds and finishing in the prize money.
See also
*
List of chess openings
This is a list of chess openings, organized by the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'' () code. In 1966, Chess Informant categorized the chess openings into five broad areas ("A" through "E"), with each of those broken down into one hundred subca ...
*
List of chess openings named after places
Below is a list of chess openings named after places. ''The Oxford Companion to Chess'' lists 1,327 named chess openings and variants. Many of them are named for geographic places.
A
*Aachen Gambit of the Nimzowitsch Defense 1.e4 Nc6 2.d4 d5 3 ...
References
{{reflist
Chess gambits