Englund Gambit: Complete Guide

Englund Gambit is the name for 1. d4 e5, a pawn Black gives up on move one against a queen's pawn player. It is not a respectable main line. Engines rate it close to a full pawn worse for Black than 1...d5, and with exact defense White keeps an edge. It is still one of the most effective surprise weapons below 1600, because the most natural moves for White walk into tactics: a queen check on b4 that forks b2 and a loose bishop, a mate on c1, and a knight fork on c2 that wins the white queen. Among lichess players rated 1000 to 1600, about one Black player in fourteen answers 1. d4 this way.

This course teaches the gambit honestly. The first half is the trap tree after 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qe7 4. Bf4 Qb4+, including every common way White blocks the check. The second half is what most Englund material skips: roughly four opponents in ten never take the pawn at all, and for each of those declines (2. Nf3, 2. d5, 2. e3, 2. c3, 2. c4, 2. Nc3, 2. Bf4) the course gives you a short, sound line that reaches a normal game instead of a lost one.

Answer 1. d4 with 1...e5. About six White players in ten capture with 2. dxe5, and the course replies 2...Nc6, attacking the pawn at once. After 3. Nf3, the queen comes to e7 to hit e5 a second time and to eye the b4-square. Now 4. Bf4 is White's most popular move, about four times in ten, and it is the one the whole trap is built around: 4...Qb4+ checks the king and attacks both b2 and the bishop on f4.

If White develops differently on move four (4. Nc3, 4. e3 or 4. Bg5, together about four games in ten), you either win e5 back at once or, after 4. Bg5, collect b2 first and e5 later. If White declines on move two, the course sorts the replies into a few families: when White's queen takes on d4 you chase it with ...Nc6 and develop, when a pawn takes back on d4 you strike with ...d5, when White does not take at all you push past with ...e4 or develop with ...Nf6 and ...Bb4, and 2. Bf4 simply drops the bishop to ...exf4.

Facing the Englund with White, two squares decide the game: f4 and c2. The f4-square matters the moment 4...Qb4+ lands: block on d2, with the bishop or the queen, and the bishop stays safe, while a knight block or c3 leaves it with no guard, a mistake two club players in five make. The c2-square matters for the rest of the game, because every Englund queen win in this course ends with a black knight landing there with check. At club level 6. Nc3 is already the usual answer to 5...Qxb2, almost three games in four, and it is the right one: b1 empties, and the queen on d1 covers the rook on a1. One player in four still reaches for 6. Bc3 and loses at once. After 6. Nc3 Bb4 7. Rb1, which four in five find, the rook comes to b1 and the knight to d5, and the black queen runs out of room. The last trick to respect is the knight jump ...Nb4: after 7. Nd5 Bxd2+ 8. Nxd2 Nb4 9. Nxc7+ Kd8, cover c2 with 10. Rc1 and the game stays level, but grab the a8-rook and ...Nxc2+ takes your queen.

Its ECO code, A40, files 1. d4 e5 among the miscellaneous replies to 1. d4 rather than as a defense in its own right, and that is a fair summary of its standing. The name comes from Fritz Englund, a Swedish master of the early 1900s who kept playing and promoting it when few others would. Several Black second moves belong to the same family (2...d6 and 2...f6 are also played after 2. dxe5), but 2...Nc6 with 3...Qe7 became the standard version because of the b4 check. Its home today is fast online chess below 1600. On lichess, about one Black player in fourteen rated 1000 to 1600 answers 1. d4 with 1...e5, and about one White player in four who reaches 5...Qxb2 still answers 6. Bc3, so many opponents know the trap by name without knowing the moves that avoid it.

How does the Englund Gambit trap work?

The best-known version runs 1. d4 e5 2. dxe5 Nc6 3. Nf3 Qe7 4. Bf4 Qb4+ 5. Bd2 Qxb2 6. Bc3 Bb4. If White defends with 7. Qd2, Black plays 7...Bxc3 8. Qxc3 Qc1#, mate on move eight. If White takes with 7. Bxb4, which is the more common reply at club level, 7...Nxb4 threatens a knight fork on c2 that wins the white queen. About one in four White players who reach 5...Qxb2 play 6. Bc3.

Should a beginner play the Englund Gambit?

As a practical weapon, yes, as long as you know it is objectively dubious. Below 1600 the traps work because the losing moves look natural: blocking the check with a knight, or hitting the queen with 6. Bc3. What beginners usually lack is a plan when White declines, and about four opponents in ten do. This course covers both halves: the trap tree, and a short sound line against every common decline.

How should Black play when White declines the Englund?

It depends on the move. Against 2. Nf3, push 2...e4 and gain space, with a knight trap if White plays 3. Ne5. Against 2. d5, develop with 2...Nf6 and ...Bb4. Against 2. e3, 2. c3, 2. c4 and 2. Nc3, take on d4 first: if the queen recaptures, hit it with ...Nc6, and if a pawn recaptures, answer with ...d5. Against 2. Bf4, the bishop is simply hanging and 2...exf4 takes it.

How do you beat the Englund Gambit as White?

Guard two squares. When the queen checks on b4, block on d2 so the f4-bishop is never left loose. When it takes b2, bring the queen's knight to c3 and never the bishop, since 6. Bc3 walks into ...Bb4 and loses at least a piece, often the queen or the game to a mate on c1. Then 7. Rb1 leaves the black queen a single square, a3, and White is clearly better. The only trick left after that is a black knight jumping to c2 with check, so keep c2 covered and do not take the a8-rook while that knight is near.

What happens in the Englund Gambit after 6. Nc3?

This is the correct defense and the real test. After 6...Bb4 7. Rb1 Qa3, White is clearly better and Black is playing for tricks, so the queen has to know its squares: ...Qa5 against 8. Rb3, ...Bxd2+ and ...Qxa2 against 8. Nb5, and ...Ba5 against 8. Nd5. If White plays 7. Nd5 instead, 7...Bxd2+ 8. Nxd2 Nb4 attacks c2, and if White follows 9. Nxc7+ Kd8 with the greedy 10. Nxa8, ...Nxc2+ wins the queen. The final chapter of the course drills all of these.