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Robert Ris' Fast and Furious: The Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6!?)

by Robert Ris

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12/11/2020 – In this week's show, well-known Dutch trainer Robert Ris takes a look at a way to spice up the Petroff - the Stafford Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6!?. | "Fast and Furious" is available on-demand with a ChessBase Premium Account. You can register a Premium account here.

Mastering Pattern Recognition in the Opening

Mastering Pattern Recognition in the Opening

Pattern recognition is an important tool in modern chess, as it helps you to understand better the characteristics of a position. Particularly when you have been confronted with a surprise opening system played by your opponent, it helps when you can just

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The Stafford Gambit

Robert Ris: "The Stafford Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6!?) is a rather unusual treatment of the usually very solid Petroff opening. On move three Black sacrifices a pawn for fast development. Objectively the soundness of this gambit is in doubt, though for good reasons it's an incredibly popular choice among club players. White players have to walk through a minefield of possible tactics they may fall victim of. An ideal weapon against 1.e4 for Black players who want to grab their opponents by the throat!"

Warming up exercise: Black has just sacrificed a piece, but is the attack decisive?

You can move the pieces on the live diagram!

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Master Class Vol.10: Mikhail Botvinnik

Our experts show, using the games of Botvinnik, how to employ specific openings successfully, which model strategies are present in specific structures, how to find tactical solutions and rules for how to bring endings to a successful conclusion

Robert is on air every other Thursday at 18:00 UTC (19:00 CET / 16:00 EST)

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Special attention will be paid to Intermediate Moves, Quiet Moves, Sacrifices on Empty Squares, Mating Patterns, Ignoring Opponents Threat, Calculation in Defence and Method of Comparison. Plus 50 interactive examples to test your knowledge.

Solution of the exercise

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Books, boards, sets: Chess Niggemann

Books, boards, sets: Chess Niggemann

Robert Ris Robert is an International Master who mostly spends his time training and coaching talented youngsters. On the PlayChess server The Fast and the Furious is a popular show where he explains sharp opening lines for a wider audience. He is also a well-known ChessBase author who produced numerous DVDs and regularly contributes to ChessBase Magazine as well. Since 2015 he is the organizer of the Dutch Rapid Championships in his home town Amstelveen. He has started a YouTube channel with chess analysis as well.

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