girtkaz Says:

Nov 27, 2008 - Nice to see Latvian gambit. Variations are old and the main line 3.K:e5 Qf6 4.Kc4(instead of d4) was not presented.

crowchains Says:

Mar 11, 2009 - After 9.Ke2 Qxc1 10.Nf7+ Ke8 11.Nd6+ Kd8 game is a draw. An interesting gambit!

ishcairn Says:

May 30, 2009 - Thanks so much for posting this. My favorite line of the Latvian is: 1. e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3. exf5 Bc5 4.Nxe5 Bxf2 It's insane and will catch anyone's pants down. They have to take with the king, you follow with Qh4 check, and they're suddenly backpedaling and losing tempo (and probably the knight, unless they go Kf3 after Qh4 check.

gtamateur Says:

Jun 20, 2009 - that pretty basic analysis. What i see just give the taste to never do this gambit. the black king in the majority of position than you show cnat castle

thegambitking Says:

Aug 18, 2009 - ishcairn, the line that you mention is the main one that I play. And I also found a novelty in it that speeds up Black's development greatly: 1. P-K4 (e4) P-K4 (e5) 2. Kt-KB3 (Nf3) P-KB4 (f5) !? 3. PxP (exf5) B-B4 (Bc5) !? 4. KtxP (Nxe5) BxP ch. (Bxf2+)! 5. KxB (Kxf2) Q-R5 ch. (Qh5+) 6. K-B3 (Kf3) ! Kt-QB3 (Nc6) !! -- Now, White is forced to exchange knights, and after 7. KtxKt (Nxc6) QPxKt (dxc6) ! Black has such a great lead in development he's surely winning! The Gambit King

TheJomogogo Says:

Aug 19, 2009 - Latvian Gambit is a ballbuster that takes years of intense study to "get" and you can still get caught with your pants down and lose against a lucky nO0B in 15 moves. God has not figured out the Lat yet.

ishcairn Says:

Aug 19, 2009 - that is a good line for development, but several issues arise if White plays correctly. Our "pet line" is technically unsound and will result in an eventual defeat at the hands of anyone above 1600 in most cases (rybka scores black over a point down after Bxf2). In playing the Latvian in more advanced circles, the poisoned pawn variation is probably best.

thegambitking Says:

Oct 15, 2009 - "Poisoned pawn variation" as in the one analysed by Keres? That's crazy! LOL I'd much rather play Svedenborg's or Blackburne's lines if someone trotted out 3. B-B4 (Bc4)... however, I'm actually not convinced that it's totally unsound.