Chess Openings - Calabrese Countergambit

The Calabrese Countergambit is a very aggressive line that black can take against the Italian Game from white. Black looks to take advantageous of white having no knights developed and take control of the center of the board. White has to be careful because the Calabrese is full of traps that will leave white scratching his head with no board state.

[@abhishekmbc333]

Kevin you please keep doing these chess videos. I personally have got a lot of success because of your teachings and i also thanked you for that on G-mail. I have watched all your videos from the beginning and each video has been better and better. So keep up the good work and i am always going to support you.

[@eddie_0584]

5:24 the bishop is hanging, can anyone explain?

[@void7455]

Hault Jeverson the idea is the material is then even, but black has the advantage in development

[@sarojsaroj3856]

f5×rook is better, qxbishop is obvious

[@sarojsaroj3856]

and d6 or d5 by black is imminent from start , any line,

[@eddie_0584]

@Markis Yao Zen Tew Qxg6+

[@jesusramirez4678]

@@sarojsaroj3856rook is pinned, also even though qxbishop seems obvious I like Pg4

[@MegaFerxs]

I like too much this aggressives openings, but we must to know perfectly the variation because is very risky start up the kingside so early

[@franc_dep6960]

15:07 from here the white queen can just take the black bishop, there is no actual way to stop her...? Also the rook will be at risk. Doesn't seem like a very good situation for Black. Maybe (black) queen to f7 would be better defense for the rook?

[@thing2ization]

Super helpful as always, Kevin. You've done tons of work for my chess game.

[@michaelmorris2852]

After 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 f5 3. d4 exd4 players of the Falkbeer will likely play 4. e5 which you didn’t cover. Stockfish recommends d5 hitting the bishop but after the en passant capture white can castle quickly and put a lot of pressure on the e file.

[@Wi11daThri11]

I think you missed several good moves for white. In the beginning why would white move Qa8 or Qa6 when Qa3 is safer (and from which only one queen move is needed to defend the c2 pawn)? Second at 13:25, white can move bd3 to defend that f5 pawn and seems totally fine from there. Third, at 15:09 how is white in a bad position after black plays Nc6 and white responds Nge2? At that point, white is ready to castle and is matching black in development. Fourth, what happens if white with e5 at 15:25 as black usually does in the King's counter-gambit? Lastly, at 16:55, how is white bad after moving Qh4? It covers the knight move against c2, makes it easy to counter Bb4+ with Bd2, and tucks away the queen so white could proceed with developing and castling.

[@rogerdeoliveira6749]

i just won a game with this opening without ever having seen it before because i thought my opponent was going to play the accelerated london (which i play) and i thought, what counter move would ruin my day.

[@rogerdeoliveira6749]

i mistakenly** thought it was an accelerated london

[@lucasgreyfield1350]

At 04:25, I don't the Queen move to e7, f6 seems more active and protects the f5 square when the light squared Bishop captures the pawn.

[@rsmolkin]

At 5:15, why wouldn't the white queen just take the unprotected bishop?

[@doc6823]

Around 17:50 what if d6 instead moving the knight or anything else by white?

[@KHades396]

At 5:40, can't the queen take the bishop?

[@collinharrington7139]

but black caputerd whites bishop and a pawn, im not sure if he just missed that or what.

[@stefankrieg8367]

after the queen takes the bisshop, you can play Rg5, then Qh3, Nd4 and whites king is getting misplaced (either by defending the pawn, losing the rook or playing Na3, Qe5, and Ne6 black has to move his king as Nf4 will just completely destroy him

[@KnighteyKnight]

At 5:30... Qxf5, not sure why you didn't go a little further. Rxg2, and the game is complicated

[@SteelPokemonFan]

Because then he'd be spending over half the video on a line that nobody will play instead of just half the video.

[@DrumApe]

5:17 White queen can take the black bishop thou...

[@fainey0019]

That can be pretty devastating.

[@supercool1312]

Itallian game is knight first no?

[@MrIsh23456]

Yes, 1e4 e5 2 Bc4 is Bishop's Opening, Italian game is 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bc4 but Italian game can also be reached via 1 e4 e5 2 Bc4 Nf6 3 Nf3 Nc6

[@peterbago4574]

Can someone answer why queen just does not take bishop easily at 5:40?

[@thejuggler42]

She does, and then material is even again, and black has the positional advantage and a tempo.

[@wizardsmix7961]

@@thejuggler42 you dont have tempo because of the attack on your rook

[@MrBesseggen]

This video is "completely dominating".

[@user-rv9yt2gq6c]

18:49why don't just capture the pawn right away and if your opponent take the pawn by his knight you can just d5 to fork bishop and knight?

[@chelcea9013]

12:33 why take the pon?isnt posible...why,i dont understand...this happened when play chess on line...

[@raxoran713]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/En_passant this is a legal move

[@itskmillz]

2 things: 1 why is it called a "Counter-gambit" isn't it just simply a gambit? 2. Isn't the Italian game not technically the Italian game until both the knight AND bishop have been developed?

[@SusanBoots]

Any gambit made with the black pieces is sometimes called a counter-gambit

[@AxentMafia]

I don't understand why it's called a countergambit. Isn't a countergambit when you respond to a gambit with one of your own. Here White hasn't played a gambit , so how can it be a countergambit?

[@bryansatinitigan2916]

This is one of my favorite gambit in black agains e4-Bc4 by white, thank u bro now i can use this variation to improve that. 😁👍

[@SkyWolfSkydive]

At 5:38 why does white queen not just take light squared Black Bishop?

[@KA1blow]

5:06 it would be even better for white to move with f5 pawn capturing xg6 pawn.. after Rxg6 he could Nxg6 attacking bishop and Queen.

[@theatom1208]

But Paul Morphy didn't give up his lightsquared bishop in the calabrese countergambit after exf5.

[@wickerman28]

Great video. I'd love to see a whole series of videos on gambits.

[@SteelPokemonFan]

There's a book called Mayhem in the Morra which is a great read for anyone, not just fans of gambit play, so I whole-heartedly recommend it. The author can't seem to stop sacrificing pieces, and in the Smith-Morra Gambit they often seem to be the best move! That book alone might even improve your play because of how many tactics there are in it.

[@brain5531]

VectorGambiteer then where’s the book?

[@ching4minechongcraft]

I have a question...... usually when I start up a game I open up my queen side more than my King side. Is that good or not? I was wondering because I don't watch many of these videos but in the part/episode you seemed to emphasize making the kings side open first in order to castle king side.

[@eklektikTubb]

Doesnt matter how you start up a game, what matters more is how you combine your moves and how you handle middlegame.

[@RooksandHooks]

what about after white takes pawn on f5 instead of nf6 black plays qg5 attacking pawn on g2 g3 ??? bishop comes to d5 then nf6 ... nc3.... then nxd5 nxd5 .......bd6 ...nf3...qx f5 ...... white slightly better

[@therottingfoddertrf3832]

5:26, gave up horse, many pawns, and now the bishop... Certainly not black's game

[@juandrayo]

Great job on the video! these strategies help my chess and my thinking skills overall.

[@patriciadoyle8160]

At the 17:30 mark after Black plays 1.....Nc6-b5 ( ? ) can't White counter with 2.d6 ( ! ) attacking the rook and knight?

[@AeroSyntax]

Wow. That would be a great move.

[@hal0jump3r]

black queen recaptures, defending knight. if white queen takes rook, black knight forks king/rook, white loses castle...and if he makes a mistake with kf1, qd1 mate

[@hal0jump3r]

hal0jump3r and the black attack from there gets pretty brutal

[@ZiggyZugzwang]

hal0jump3r Yep exactly. I just wonder whether u can even play Be6 on the way :D. So: d6 Qxd6 Qxg8 Be6 Qxh7 and then Nxc2+. Looks even more brutal ;).

[@evyatarge]

at 11:14 you can't move the pawn to eat the knight because it pinned by the white queen

[@tastybrain]

Great dive into this opening which I've just discovered.

[@eliericksson.8950]

Thank you so much for such amazing content! This is awesome. I was wondering something: Are there any aggressive options against the center game? If so could you make a video about it? I really love to play aggressive with openings like this but can't seem to find a aggressive responce to 2.d4.

[@patriciadoyle8160]

Nc6-b4 ( ? ) of course was meant.

[@sololinist]

How does this compare with the Khan Gambit? Why is it better for black to Gambit the f pawn instead of the d pawn?

[@grizzly-channel]

12:51 Qa5+ is a way much better move I think, instead of Nbd7

[@mrengler1]

@5:19 you said the bishop can take the pawn. what's the trick if Qxf5? I briefly thought Nd4, but the rook is hanging with check. or is the development enough compensation for being 2 pawns down?

[@chesswebsite]

Play might continue 13. Qxf5 Rxg2 14. Qh5+ Qf7 and black is equal in material but has a much better board state.

[@MrAndersonmm]

thechesswebsite I was wondering the same thing. First, with your continuation White is still up a pawn are they not (6-5)? Also, what if instead Qh5+, white did Qxd5? I've tried playing it out for 10 moves or so and can't find a variation where white isn't up 2 pawns for the lack of development. I don't know that White can fight back, but it feels like that line has something for White. Maybe I'm completely wrong (I'm a 1350-1400 player, so I likely don't see the position the way I should).

[@sololinist]

I enjoy your videos. would you like to play sometime on liches? what's your name there?

[@okibelieveyou7553]

I know this is an old video but it's just amazing! I've recently got into the Latvian Gambit as Black for fun and this opening is a nice alternative when faced with 2. Bc4!

[@dschenk952]

Hi Kevin, what's the tool you're using to demonstrate the games you show us? I'm getting ready to retire and am taking up chess again.

[@slykat8]

What the best move to make if white move pawn to G4 after 9:45 Thanks

[@seandelacruz3792]

I think this is bishop opening not Italian Game but good video....

[@HarmlessOSRS]

Came here after falling for that trap which I I knew might be there but couldn’t see..

[@TyroneDracula]

This is why you generally don't move bishops before knights.

[@SteelPokemonFan]

You don't move Bishops before Knights because Knights generally don't have a better square than c3/f3, but a Bishop can turn out to be misplaced if you move it early on, so you'd have to move it again to correct that.

[@hunterazaola]

Capablanca said develop knight first, not bishop. But this is chess some times breaking the rules to win. Sometimes its good to surprise our opponent.

[@the2014king]

what chess software did you use for the video?

[@hunter4hire]

Mmmmm.. Calabrese. I eat it daily for lunch. on top o Miracle whip toast. Add cheese, tomatoes, and onions on top.

[@denisdemonte15]

wow this is good stuff

[@shubhamkhandelwal2077]

When whites queen come to h5 to pin rook you take bishop to protect the rook but what is support to white square bishop of black

[@rafaelrojas7249]

Very good, thanks.

[@bigpapamanman1550]

This is just against the Bishop's Opening

[@randyreal5871]

I played this today because it seemed like the sharpest move at the time and it said it was the calabrese countergambit so I'm here 🙂 I think opponent was trying to play the London. It's funny because I win more with black

[@adirtyscoundral]

i watched this vid about a week ago and have since been using this system....it's effective, different and fun! I love it! Great vid man....thanks for posting! :-)

[@samuelecherubin1543]

what is the pourpose od queen on f5 at 3:53?

[@giovannispinotti]

Defend pawn on e4, block pretty much white everywere.

[@ramiahsankaranarayanan4515]

yo whens your next vid

[@justins611]

yes she can and then black is two pawns down (for a WICKED attack)

[@slagclan1]

would anyone recommend this gambit?

[@sshekou]

I use this all the time!

[@KinWong828]

I really like this opening I hope you'll go over the other one you mentioned as well.

[@sunyboy333]

5:40 is an idiotic setup, not only can queen take on f5 but the next move is also forced for black since the rook on g6 is unprotected, which if taken is also check.

[@thejuggler42]

After Qxf5 material is even. The response is ...Rf6, which saves the rook and attacks the queen. White has lost the center, is down a tempo, and has no pieces developed.

[@tommynaclerio]

Who created this? Gabriel Calabrese?

[@SomeoneChess]

@5:18 can't queen just take the bishop

[@MarcHeuer]

My thoughts. I don't See a reason why White should not just take the bishop.

[@LeoSkyro]

How much do you think would it take to get over 1500? I mean time and how many openings/defenses learned

[@SteelPokemonFan]

Getting to 1500 is just tactics and some basic positional knowledge. Openings aren't super important, know a couple in some minor detail and you're fine. When it comes to the opening, people just like learning them because they recite moves they don't understand and feel like they're making progress.

[@LeoSkyro]

are there some books on the matter or do I have to grind my way through many matches?

[@SteelPokemonFan]

leo sky While practise makes perfect, you do need to practise right, so just playing lots of games won't help. That's why I've been playing casually for most of my life (I'm 18) and am only 1500-1600, whereas there are also 12 year-olds who are National Masters. --- Firstly, read an article on the web called 400 Points in 400 Days. The title is (of course) a bit misleading, it was written by a 1600 player who had great positional knowledge but was rubbish with tactics. The article explains great ways to become better at tactics, so with his positional knowledge already that of a 2000 player, he got to 2000 very quickly. Chesstempo is also a great site for tactic training, I highly recommend it. --- Secondly, going through your games is helpful. Play games that are at least 15min length and go through them afterwards. You can use a chess engine if you like but don't pay much attention to it, if the evaluation changes by more than 1 or 2 then there was a tactic missed, that's worth looking at. Even so, the computer should be the last thing you check. Make a list of all of your mistakes in the game and put them in categories. Maybe you spent lots of time on a move that was simple, maybe you missed an X-Ray or a Skewer. Maybe you didn't castle early enough and got attacked. After (for example) 10 games, look at all of these lists and combine them into one big list, taking note of how often you made each mistake. When you do that, you will have an idea of what you need to focus on improving. If a loss is really tough to handle, then take a break before looking at it, everyone hates looking at their losses, you just have to lessen that pain or humiliation by seeing it as an opportunity to learn. --- Lastly, I'd recommend getting into the habit of taking time over strange moves in the opening. Say you're playing as Black and your opponent plays Na3, but you know that the usual move is Nc3. 90% of the time, if there's a move in the opening that you haven't seen before, you haven't seen it for a good reason. Instead of just reacting with what you would play against the normal move (Nc3 in this example), see why the normal move is played. Perhaps Nc3 controls the d5 square so you can't play d5 and get a pawn in the centre. Perhaps it's designed to defend a pawn on e4 from being attacked and won. When you get into this habit, it becomes much easier to see good moves in any part of the game, since you'll think "that move looks odd" and you'll already be good at finding out why it's so odd. I recommend looking at this in the opening because in the opening you are 100% sure of what the normal/best move is. Once you get into the middlegame you'll have to use your judgement to see whether a move is good or not, but this style of thinking is very useful to get into. It will take a long time at first, but that's just another reason to play 15min or longer games. -- There's a book for 1400+ players called 'How to Reassess your Chess' by IM Jeremy Silman. It's a pretty famous book from a famous author, and for good reason. A quick run-through of this book will give you the positional knowledge to get to 1500 if you're at 1400, and can even help you if you're lower rated, but tactics are game-changers at all levels of play, so they come first. Even positional play is just moving your pieces and creating strategies until you have a tactic that wins the game.

[@LeoSkyro]

VectorGambiteer So, just to summarize: 400 article, go through my games and list mistakes, pay attention to odd openings and How to reasses your chess. Note that I'm not even 1000 on chess.com. I dont know openings besides the q gambit and the indian defense (not so well too). When I'm some moves in I always feel like I got nothing, dont know what to do, I either get stuck in the center or I have nothing in mind. Maybe I should some stuff.

[@CLKidd01]

Also, you have to consider the time control you play on. My rating is 1800 on 30 minute time control. But absolutely horrid on Bullet and Blitz.

[@demetriusdemarcusbartholom8063]

Moonwalking in Calabrese

[@darkdancerman]

How old are you?

[@jasperhalsey8574]

Can recommend!

[@yashmishra7241]

Isin't a Queen a she?

[@jackprinciple930]

not unless you wanna bring your women to the battle field

[@yeegordon8285]

so the king is a gay？

[@HeyKevinYT]

19:15 repeated

[@Wellingtonfun]

great video

[@Woo2Seok]

can u play Qa5+ at 12:30

[@ScienceOfInduction]

Qa5+ could be met two ways. Instinctually, one might play Nc3, developing the Knight and protecting the bishop. However this is a mistake. After black follows with bishop b4, there is a renewed threat on either the bishop, knight, or rook in some variations. Better seems like after Qa5+ / c3. Blocks check, supports d4, and allows the queen to protect the bishop.

[@erykhim]

6:22 KING PLZ MOVE TO D1!

[@MrIsh23456]

If Kd1, Then White can't castle.

[@sarojsaroj3856]

No body wants bishop x knight from start

[@ramiahsankaranarayanan4515]

tyrone is right

[@TheBones926]

thanks for sharing

[@skylee9457]

Lol I will never be so good

[@robsi2]

You told alot of ways the white can respond, but alot of times you didnt show the best move..

[@SteelPokemonFan]

That's a recurring theme in thechesswebsite's videos.

[@Schutzstafell]

Anyone 1000+ would crush this club level opening.

[@SteelPokemonFan]

1000+ is less than club level and I can easily see 1300s falling victim to a quick kill. I think this opening has some merit but that this video isn't going to show it. I'm not a fan of Kevin's videos because they're just "move here, move here, move here", the moves are often incorrect anyway. He spends half of the video goign over what would happen with 3.Bxg8, and no Italian Game player with any idea of what they're doing is going to give up their great attacking Bishop for an undeveloped Knight.

[@ZiggyZugzwang]

VectorGambiteer very true. First capturing on g8 then move the queen 4 times (or something) without purpose. Nice way to show the merits of an opening, if u just play idiotic moves for the opponent.

[@SteelPokemonFan]

***** I think that 2...f5 makes some sense, it opens up a file for attack on the Kingside, it gains space and it attacks White's only central pawn. The downsides are very similar to the Latvian Gambit though, f5 is extremely committal for such an early point in the game (it's extremely committal in most middlegames anyway). As Black you're a move down, so you start off with less of an initiative, and that can really damage your chances. Additionally, with the Bishop on c4 you will never castle Kingside, and in a gambit castling quickly is key. You could argue that it isn't so important in the same manner that the King's Bishop Gambit with 3...Qh4+ is fine for White, which is a good reason to cover similar lines in the video. Speaking of the King's Gambit, in the King's Knight Gambit if Black goes 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d6, then White will always be preferable because of his slight edge in central ontrol and Black's dark-squared Bishop being blocked in by the d6 pawn. In similar lines here with Nc3 and d3, White's Bishop is outside of the pawn chain. Nc3 is undoubtedly the sensible move for anyone who faces this in an over-the-board game, you tone things down which will frustrate your opponent slightly, and it's always best to try to get a small edge against a surprise weapon. If you try to refute it with tactics, you'll miss something and that'll be that. If you have a small edge, then the opening has been successful for you and your opponent just handed you a good game for free. Personally, I'm all for stepping up to the challenge and accepting gambits, but in a tournament situation where I really need to win, then no way. If I have no chance of winning anything in the tournament, then sure, let's have a battle of opposing philosophies, greedy materialism vs artistic romanticism.

[@aravindbharathi7801]

Feel this video was biased against white :/

[@zepo8891]

It is

[@AydennDbD]

U only show good plays for black but what for white

[@jayhunt6855]

you should find somebody else from the chess website to do the instructional videos, even though they are very informative, you take waaay too long to say what you want to say. Too many "umms" and "ahs". Either find somebody else to do them, or just practice :)

[@seandurham8066]

He calls the queen a 'he' =')

[@hunter4hire]

Calabrese is not pronounces Calabris! Such a butchering. It's Cala- Breh- Zeh.

[@urosrakic6900]

Very bad and stinky opening. This gambit is disgusting.

[@DGA2000]

"Kah lah BRAY see" you non Italian. 🤣🤣🤣 (At least you pronounce Fianchetto correctly)