Latvian Gambit
The Latvian Gambit is a chess opening characterised by the moves:
The opening has the appearance of a King's Gambit with colours reversed. It is an aggressive but rather dubious choice for Black which often leads to wild and tricky positions. FIDE Master Dennis Monokroussos even goes so far as to describe it as "possibly the worst opening in chess". As assessed by Paul van der Sterren :
The Latvian is uncommon at the top level of over-the-board play, but some correspondence chess players are devoted to it.
The ECO code for the Latvian Gambit is C40 (King's Knight Opening).
History
The opening was originally known as the Greco Counter-Gambit, and some modern writers still refer to it as such. That name recognised the Italian player Gioachino Greco (1600–34), who contributed to the early theory of the opening. The name Latvian Gambit is a tribute to the Latvian players, notably Kārlis Bētiņš, who analysed it in the early part of the 20th century.
White's third move
Many responses for White have been analyzed. The most important of these are:
Podcasts:
