Download PGN of March ’26 1 e4 e5 games
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King’s Gambit 3.Bc4 Qh4+ [C33]
We should never miss out on a chance to see Simon Williams play the King’s Gambit en-route to winning a nice tournament in Norway. The game continued down a popular path with 4.Kf1 d6 5.d4 Be6 6.Qd3 Nd7 7.Nc3:
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Here Black continued with the most popular 7...0-0-0?! in Williams, S - Urkedal, F which gives White good chances after 8.a4! Personally, I would look for a simpler alternative with Black as early as move 3.
Scotch Four Knights 7.Bd3 d5 8.exd5 Qe7+!? [C47]
Heading to Round 1 of the Saint Louis Masters, Black outplayed his talented opponent in an endgame in Yip, C - Durarbayli, V. Following 9.Qe2 Qxe2+ 10.Kxe2 cxd5:
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White needs some version of a Rd1/Kf1 setup, with or without including the interesting 11.Nb5. In the game however, Carissa’s king dropped back to f1 with the rook still on h1 and the lack of coordination cost her the full point.
Four Knights 4.Bb5 Bb4 5.0-0 0-0 6.d3 Bxc3 7.bxc3 d6 [C49]
Needing a win for a GM norm in the last round, White didn’t get his ideal opening choice in Gordon, F - Socko, B. Perhaps 8.Nd2 makes things more difficult for Black than the 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.Nd2 of the game:
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White followed up with an immediate f2-f4, briefly allowed an unusual tactical motif but after opting for the second-best choice, Socko kept control well to take the win.
Giuoco Piano 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 exd4 6.e5 d5 7.Bb5 Ne4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.Nc3 0-0 10.Be3 Bg4 [C54]
Our next two games feature a rare twist on this otherwise well-known line, where White omits the h3/Bh5 with the immediate 11.Qc2. The first game sees the critical 11...Bf5 12.Qe2 Nb4 13.0-0 c6 14.Ba4:
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This allows Black to grab the exchange with 14...Nxc3?! 15.bxc3 Bd3, but it turns out White has more than enough compensation and he won a beautiful game in Yakkuboev, N - Anton Guijarro, D.
Next we look at the logical 11...Nxc3 12.bxc3 f6, analogously to the main line:
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White has options here, although most lines are pretty similar to the main lines with h3/Bh5 included. Regardless, White won a nice game again in Mahdavi, R - Lebedev, A.
Two Knights 4.d4 exd4 5.e5 d5 6.Bb5 Ne4 7.Nxd4 Bd7 [C56]
White got the chance to show off some analysis from his Coffeehouse Repertoire books in Maroroa Jones, G - Murawski, J. The game continued down a main line with 8.Bxc6 bxc6 9.0-0 Bc5 10.f3 Ng5 11.Be3 Bb6 12.f4:
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From Black’s perspective, I would recommend either the trendy 6...Nd7 or perhaps an alternative in this position, whilst the game followed Gawain’s analysis down to move 18 where a blunder put Black’s position beyond repair.
Spanish 3...a6 4.Ba4 Nge7 5.c3 [C70]
We see a different version of an h4 line against the Cozio in Kushagra, M - Hasanov, Z. It arises after 5...Ng6 6.d4 exd4 7.h4!? and now 7...d3!:
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Here White has a choice where the game line of 8.h5 Nge5 9.Nxe5 Nxe5 10.f4 definitely seems the most testing. The resulting positions are very complex, and White kept pretty good control on the way to his win here.
Yurtaev Variation 6.c3 b5 7.Bb3 d6 8.a4 Bb7 9.d4 Bb6 10.Re1 h6 [C78]
Finishing at the promised land, Caruana’s preparation extended to move 29 in the brilliant game Caruana, F - Woodward, A. The line begins with 11.Be3 Ng4 12.Bd3 Qc8!? 13.Nbd2 Nxe3 14.fxe3 0-0:
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Here Fabiano’s novelty was 15.g4!?, hanging a pawn with check, and whilst Black was familiar with the line for a while he eventually crumbled under the pressure.
All the best, Harry
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