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Stafford Gambit

a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Moves	1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6
ECO	C42-C43
Origin	19th century
Named after	Stafford
Parent	Petrov's Defense
Synonym(s)	Reversed Boden-Kieseritzky Gambit

The Stafford Gambit is a chess opening and gambit involving a pawn sacrifice originating from the Petrov's Defence characterised by the following moves:

1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nf6
3. Nxe5 Nc6!?

This dubious gambit has some history, and was notably first adapted by its namesake, Stafford (an American chess player with no recorded first name) who used it to win a correspondence miniature against Irving Lowens in six moves. In recent years, the opening has been popularly adopted by online content creators such as Eric Rosen, and utilized in high-level chess tournaments by grandmasters Daniil Dubov and World Chess Championshipchallenger Fabiano Caruana during a Titled Tuesday tournament on Chess.com.

While chess engines grant the white pieces the initial advantage after 3. Nc6, the opening has a notoriously tricky reputation for its many trappy lines that white can easily fall into if not prepared. At the amateur level, the opening scores highly for black, while at the grandmaster level, black has only won 20% of the time. If white castles, which is normally natural, tactics involving the absolute pin of the f-pawn as well as attacks on it by black's developed soldiers can be problematic and result in swift defeats.

History

The first recorded Stafford Gambit was played in 1857 by 19th-century chess master Howard Staunton, versus an unnamed opponent in a London simultaneous exhibition. The white position eventually crumbled, but Staunton missed multiple winning moves and eventually resigned the game to his unnamed opponent, rare for a master of his caliber.

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Position after 6...Bc5!

The gambit was later notably brought to light after a 1950 six-move victory by its namesake, an American chess player named Stafford, who has no recorded first name. The game was played via correspondence.

1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nxc6 dxc6 5.e5 Ne4 6.d3?? Bc5! 0-1 White resigned in light of a crushing attack on the weak f2-pawn: 7.dxe4 Bxf2+ winning the queen via deflection (if 8. Kxf2 Qxd1, if 8. Ke2 Bg4+ skewers).

In 2019, when the Stafford Gambit was relatively obscure, grandmaster Lucas van Foreest utilized the gambit against IM Viachaslau Zarubitski at the U18 European Youth Rapid. Foreest and Zarubitski drew after 70 moves.

In 2021, Grandmaster Daniil Dubov utilized the Stafford Gambit with the black pieces to defeat Women's World Chess Champion and Grandmaster Hou Yifan in the Goldmoney Asian Rapid tournament. Yifan notably did not play 4. Nxc6, instead opting for the more timid "declined" Stafford Gambit with 4. Nf3. Play continued 4... Nxe4, and by move 6 the structure resembled a reverse French Defence Exchange Variation. Yifan resigned after 46 moves after allowing a fork of her king and rook.

In 2022, Grandmaster and World Chess Championship challenger Fabiano Caruana utilized the Stafford Gambit in a blitz game as part of Chess.com's September 27 Titled Tuesday event to defeat Artur Gabrielian with the black pieces. Gabrielian accepted the gambit and lost in 40 moves. Caruana decided to use the opening after promising chess content creator Eric Rosen that he would use the gambit in the next Titled Tuesday event on an episode of Caruana's C Squared podcast. After the Titled Tuesday event, fellow grandmaster and Dutch champion Anish Giri tweeted about how a C Squared podcast episode featuring Hikaru Nakamura featured excessive crticism of the comparatively solid Sicilian Defense, Najdorf Variation, an opening that Giri had developed a course for. Jokingly, Caruana tweeted in response, "Who even plays the Najdorf now? Gross. Stafford ride or die"

Content creator, Twitch streamer and International Master Eric Rosen popularized the gambit's frequent use in fast games taking place on internet chess servers, as well as in rated blitz games taking place over the board. As of May 2023, the gambit has been played over 8.9 million times on the chess server Lichess, with the black pieces winning 50% of the time, and the white pieces winning only 46% of the time. Rosen's most popular YouTube video extensively features a showcase of common traps in the gambit, and has over 3 million views.

Traps

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Position after 8...Qd6! If white blunders with 9. hxg4?? hxg4! and mate along the h-file is unstoppable.

The following is a list of common traps in the Stafford Gambit:

Fishing pole trap

This trap is similar to the trap of the same name in the Ruy Lopez opening where white sacrifices a knight, hoping white blunders by capturing it for imminent mate along the h-file.

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bc5 6. Be2 h5!? 7. O-O!? Ng4! 8. h3 Qd6! 9. hxg4?? (chess engines give the pawn sacrifice 9. e5! Nxe5 as drawn) hxg4! with checkmate unpreventable along the open h-file.