Lots of fun for Black!

7/9/2025 – The Albin Counter Gambit is a provocative attempt to combat the Queen's Gambit: after 1.d4 d5 2.c4, Black sends the second centre pawn forward unprotected with 2...e5. After 3.dxe5, the idea behind the pawn sacrifice is to advance boldly with 3...d4, limiting White’s queen's knight and claiming space advantage in the centre. This is an ambitious move, but one that promises active play for Black. While analysing a highly topical variation, our author Luc Henris recently came across the astonishing piece sacrifice 10...Bc5 – which turned out to be ‘a completely new and incredible concept for Black’! He shares his discovery with you in the current ChessBase Magazine #226. Take a look at this week's free sample!