Chess Openings: Latvian Gambit

The Latvian Gambit is one of the most aggressive gambits in chess and many top players find it quite dubious. For the rest of us though, it has great results for black and can really catch a white player off guard.
www.thechesswebsite.com
Chess Software used in the video can be found at www.chesscentral.com and www.chessok.com

[@cyin974]

4:48 This opening is so aggressive that when you try to take your opponent's knight, you kill their king accidentally.

[@blubbfisch98]

That's amazing! :D

[@UjjwalKumar-ok5ko]

Haha I saw too White got check mated

[@iamthemailman0867]

Bro I came to the comments just to see if I was missing something lmao glad theres no secret rules I don’t know about that would have saved the king. XD

[@sanddeerr]

Ye I was like is this guy not gonna talk about it ?

[@blessedisyou]

@@sanddeerr most player don't play that.so it's useless

[@SatireNewsNetwork]

He does not take the knight after check... That check happens to be check mate...

[@matttennis]

Everyone makes mistakes.

[@jbclaudibalmdayag9601]

true

[@yourprince2433]

Thats why i am so confused Thanks fir commenting

[@YoXeV]

Exactly thought the same lul

[@aaronfrank541]

YoXeV omegalul

[@MrBradymoss]

The queen move at 4:50 is checkmate sir.

[@vitalydmtrysvidler8023]

He is a low rated teacher.

[@MartinDogoCanario]

MrBradymoss yeah, I was like, what am I missing here :)

[@julestube3799]

MrBradymoss you can take the knight after the mate, can't you ?

[@MartinDogoCanario]

yes, you kan take the knight and put it into the box, as you clean the table after the game

[@realouttasight]

Martin Grønsdal Lmao gG OMFG LOL HAHAHA 🤔😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@thor9695]

4:48 is a mate..

[@joelevans3860]

Matthew Uxellodunon Scrolled to the comments just to see if I was crazy when I saw the same thing.

[@LuigiMessi10]

+Joel Evans so true haha

[@Shadow-qd3ty]

+Matthew Uxellodunon if you watch it on computer it says that its mate

[@andrelundin3353]

Did the same as Joel Evans:)

[@somapaul9924]

Yes you are correct

[@perchix5252]

The coolest thing about this is that I'm native Latvian. I didn't even know we have our own gambit! :O

[@ceoraddieapid4272]

Ew

[@casachrome1239]

Minute 5:15 check on h5 and takes hes queen why not??

[@grantkins240]

BRO same

[@Alvah707]

Casa Chrome123 there is the knight on E5 that would take the queen if the queen played g4+

[@hellfireofdooom8876]

@@ceoraddieapid4272 the fuck?

[@DickTracyFanboy]

Knight takes E5 responses: 1:31 Qf6 1:59 Knight C6 3:43 Bc5 7:30 Bishop to c4 response 8:27 Knight to c6 response 9:12 Pawn takes f5 response

[@alexfresh8951]

Best comment

[@xiaowu3320]

8:27 You meant Knight to C3??

[@xiaowu3320]

8:27 Nc3

[@JohnCena-gl2hv]

1:26 Knight takes pawn (Queen's variation) 3:42 Knight takes pawn (bishop variation) 4:22 Both pawns taken 7:30 Opp. Bishop threatens knight 8:26 Opp. Knight backup 9:13 Pawn takes pawn

[@noamaneslaitane]

thx a lot

[@nurayhuseynli1784]

ty)

[@TexasSizzle]

At 4:50 u erroneously mention taking the knight "after" checking King on 1st rank. Actually you delivered mate and didn't know it!

[@murtjaali9181]

On chess board he could have continued the game without claiming victory. Hi everyone this is kevin from...

[@Sharpmint]

This is one of the best chess channels I've seen in a while. Clear explanations and little vocal stumbling.

[@patricka6596]

Go to 1:00 to hear a snake

[@ethan3986]

Patrick A I’m laughing 😂

[@georgemissailidis1504]

ssssssssssssssssssssssssssucccessss

[@frenzzyleggs]

I read this while 1:00 was playing

[@sindrel4105]

Sssucccsssssssseeesssss

[@siddharthabajpai7575]

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@chesswebsite]

@drpepper2raw at 4:36 we could come to d4 and take the knight. at 8:19 the only move he has is f3 to stop it, we can capture with our pawn and it's check, then we can get our knight involved if we want. White runs out of options.

[@werepig]

Love your videos,man. Thanks for taking the time.

[@robertmcdaid7460]

I just watched this, played a game....forgot everything!

[@gazebo9730]

Haha that's chess for you

[@orbsandtea]

So, now my standard repertoire: Danish gambit, Smith Morra gambit, Latvian gambit, Blackmar Diemar gambit, Fried liver attack, Fegatello attack, evans gambit, albin counter gambit, king's gambit, falkbeer gambit, etc. As gambiteers, we never play silently! One must have a wild gambit line against everything your opponent throws at you! Oh, btw... I'm planning to use the Latvian if 1. e4 in an two hour official tournament game today! :P

[@chesswebsite]

@thechessgeek ur exactly right, thanks for the observation. I have made a note in the video.

[@chesswebsite]

@Thymonico I love it. Looks similar to mine. Let me know how the tournament goes. Good luck.

[@hunterazaola]

But i see instead of pawn to b5 i think its better pawn to b6 so that the white bishop has a dual option of a6 & b7. What do you think?

[@Iceman12481632]

I just realised that I'm very aggresive player and gambits are easy to understand for me. In this video I nearly always see the next move before you tell it :D I'm gonna watch all your videos about aggressive openings!

[@ms21209]

Nice one,keep em coming dude.

[@Lucas-oc4cr]

Decade old video and still great content. I love this game

[@stevepelkey55]

If at 504 the king doesnt move to f3 and the pawn moves to g3 then what do you do with the queen?

[@lahirund]

The Queen can go to D4 and check the king and attack the knight

[@mikewilliamshq]

lahirund white is still way ahead even after the knight take & pawn take. This move potentially blows up the gambit with the right bishop move & getting the rook to the middle of the board. 👍

[@aramisstavridis6449]

5:13 what if you brought your queen back to h5 putting the king in check forcing him to block with kh4 and then you take with your queen putting him in check again and then he has to move again because you’re guarded by your knight on f6 and you can now take his queen Edit: nvm he can also block with his pawn

[@romhoor]

best move, saw it too.

[@rikidas5705]

Well how is it happening?? Let's say 1...,Qh5+ 2.g4, and then it's just not working cuz' knight on e5 is actually guarding the pawn.

[@aramisstavridis6449]

@@rikidas5705 look at my edit

[@BenGarman]

nice video Kevin, good to see another chess website vid. keep em coming. seems like a bit of a risky gambit though tbh, hinges on quite a lot of hopeful play. i'm sure i'll give it a shot at some point though.

[@Nickeltony]

Check the comments to make sure everyone else saw the accidental checkmate

[@ChocolateMilk..]

I felt very free to give up material to the point I only had the king left, now what?

[@limitlessfantasy6735]

Feel free to give it up as well

[@himamshuravi2626]

4:43 why does the pawn not come forward pushing the queen? When king is on check?

[@Malagator300]

I believe If the pawn does come forward you just move your queen to d4 for check again and then take knight

[@maestrosock9360]

Even then, you check the king and he loses the Knight here.

[@robinhoodmoney4916]

U could move ur queen to check the king and take the knight still and then eventually try and get the white bishop out July moving the pawn and then u have an attack on his rook that they might miss being to focused on the queen

[@DickTracyFanboy]

4:05, what do you play after queen takes pawn at F5?

[@bigmookie27]

So, if you let them complete the fried liver and they do move bishop to e2, how do you continue the attack?

[@blakereevesguitar]

I got checkmated in 6 moves against this...

[@YHLGguitargeek]

Two years too late, but git gud, skrub

[@valentine3325]

@FURY nothing personal, kid

[@valentine3325]

Pathetic

[@shanelawson5072]

You must be a total rubbish player...❗

[@DDKKAY]

@Gwyn Chapdelaine 2 weeks after your comment. ..I am commenting here with no necessity to comment, but I've done it anyway..😂don't be nervous man 😱👍

[@alexandrumanea1779]

at 4:49 isn t that check mate ?

[@00darkurza00]

That is the same thing I saw. I dont see any way that white can block the check eat the queen or move away.

[@danyork1665]

It is.

[@mylesmackey6412]

alexandru manea yes

[@m.rishit]

Yessir

[@Fanggle]

I'm latvian and im sooo gonna use this opening :D Ohhh and i've got a question, what if in the last variation u covered after black moves e4 the white moves Qe2 pinning the pawn to the king?

[@pwnageinthemaking]

@Nik Veresch Yes you could, but since whites kings side is already weak and he can no longer castle, he can simply put his g pawn to g4, to block it, and you can't take because of the knight on e5

[@ZorbaAlarga]

04:45 - I've played that position several times. Every time white only plays RG2 to G3. It's the most logical move and you don't even address it. Does it get white out of trouble or not?

[@SeanMetzger1987]

I've had the same problem. Once they do that white actually has nice position because black has exposed their king bad and has opened up major white pieces.

[@1nf3ct3dTT]

Sean Metzger After g3 Qd4+ wins the knight

[@GowliPlays]

4:49 is checkmate

[@TheBabyModels]

Gowli Plays that's where I closed the video and had no doubt of this useless commentary

[@donktopro9798]

yup... also noticed....

[@DoclightmegamanX]

Chhabilata Mohapatra yeah I hate it when the line ends in checkmate mistakenly... lmao take the stick out of your ass

[@TheBabyModels]

who gives a s**t .... 4:49 is checkmate and the author is saying take the knight.. that's Dumb...... but my comment is hard to understand if you have your brain in your ass .

[@DoclightmegamanX]

Chhabilata Mohapatra he has a lot of great videos. Kevin's style isn't pinpoint accuracy; he plays hot and dirty chess. If you can forgive the occasional blunder he has great tactics that can confound confound your opponent.

[@BrianCollinsastrology]

Hi Kevin, thanks for the video, I have played the Latvian and I would agree the key is playing aggressively. I normally play the Kings Gambit and the same philosophy applies. Also agree the element of surprise is key and it is not the strongest open.

[@thegambitking]

@cleverman4 It is descriptive notation--K is King, Kt is Knight, and the squares are numbered from the view of Black or White, so K1 is the square the White king starts on (on White's turn) and KB3 is the square two away where the King's Bishop starts on, and where the knight can move on the first turn, etc. Ha ha, right now I'm typing this from an empty office at a University in Belgium where I'm visiting. Anyways, though, if you want more information just send me a message.

[@dogfirestack1]

"White just has an epic fail."

[@shivamshah431]

If the king moves back to g1 in the second line, we are not taking the knight... It's a mate actually

[@BrandonConrady]

I was about to comment the same thing lol.

[@Falcon4224]

Thank god, I'm not crazy. I thought I was missing a piece to block or something.

[@Pakikiller2701]

Same here

[@thannguyenthanhdong1315]

what do we do if the white bishop goes back to e2? we just gonna lose a complete rook no?

[@groundedgaming]

The first 15 seconds of the video was what happen when you premove Queen's Gambit thinking you were white.

[@hishammohamed6079]

9:20 what if he plays queen e2

[@xKiLLzZx1]

Then you basically lost lol. JK, get creative ;)

[@dubravkomisic869]

Then you play kf6 and if the white attacks the pawn on e4 you support it by playing the pd7 to d5 and by that move you're also attacking the pawn on f5 with your bishop on c8

[@randrebwar5939]

Dubravko Misic just a lil thing i want to tell u The Knight is N not K the reason for this is because this can be confused with the King which is K so just for further explanation u might to refer knight has N and king as K

[@blessedisyou]

@@randrebwar5939 most time is kh

[@PopsicleIncorporated]

but does it have potato?

[@Spongy656]

That's what it was missing!!!

[@isaact9171]

+jose salas what do you mean

[@Spongy656]

The Card Wizard​ IT NEEDS POTATO

[@isaact9171]

+jose salas what needs potatoe

[@Spongy656]

The Card Wizard EVERYTHING NEEDS POTATO

[@polkmana]

This seems like a really fun opening to play. I'm going to have to try it out sometime. Thanks for the video.

[@PainTensei551]

Did it go well?

[@L34FA]

6:40 Can't the light-squared bishop take the pawn? Then it can eye down the d7 rook. Then the white queen will have a chance to develop for a potential quick checkmate. And yes.... I am here 10 years later....

[@vishnubhattacharyya8885]

Me too lol

[@domenickpalmieri3230]

knights back ear looks like a horn... they arent knights theyre unicorns... try to unsee that

[@lolmanlol43]

Domenick Palmieri wtf cant unsee :(

[@synthesiageek4667]

Why...

[@randrebwar5939]

Domenick Palmieri fuck u

[@anishnehete]

Why wtf

[@yahomeboy5803]

I like it but its way to hard to remember

[@georgemissailidis1504]

7:34 in this position, I would just move my pawn to d5, attacking the bishop. Once the bishop moves out the way, like to b3 for example, then I could bring my queen g5. Notice that the knight can't move to g4 after that because of my light square bishop.

[@kundanmergu9559]

5:48 What about the forced move of queen after pawn g3 after moving knight to e6??

[@mapatay3641]

5:01 why can't white just move the pawn down to g3?

[@vertillon8845]

then comes queen d4 and check again with he thread on the knight not a good move

[@Robin-wm9wy]

@@vertillon8845 after you take the knight i go queen e2 and white has an advantage

[@legendkilla9x9]

"white has an epic fail" lmao nice great video, i would like to see a video on the Colle Opening

[@linsk78]

this was an amazing video....thank you so much!

[@MrChrisdube]

What prevents the B from taking at b5, thereby putting double pressure on d7?

[@stefanf922]

at 4:59 if the queen moves to d4 he doesn't need to capture the knight, it's mate with the king on f1

[@kennethlauer4735]

/\ |

[@ergotuve]

Can you explain?

[@stefanf922]

+Ergo tuve if you look at the board at 4:50 on the video, the black queen is on d4 that's check mate.The king can't go anywhere, and there's no pieces that can block the queen's attack.

[@stefanf922]

+Ergo tuve I made the mistake in my first statement, the king is on g1, not f1

[@ergotuve]

+Stefan F. Ok, you are right, tks!

[@JamalMunshi]

Hi Kevin, thank you for your really excellent videos. I did a study of ten gambits and the Latvian was among the ones that didn't do so well. The result is consistent with your observation that its value lies in the opponent's ignorance of the lines. Here is the link to my gambit report. Hope to get some comments. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2598867

[@nileshpednekar1756]

Jamal Munshi interesting report. thanks for sharing

[@wiredog771]

Link is dead. :(

[@dangon8713]

@@wiredog771 Yup. Someone took it and shot it in cold blood. =(

[@illusivelord]

I’d like to see more discussion on how the sac of the rook unfolds as a benefit to Black because that is a trap that would be very easy to draw White into and would be appealing to me to play. As white I frequently utilize that sort of flank attack against black and I have little doubt my opponents will fall into that line without thought

[@nikobrown1990]

another great vid, thnkx m8! - could u make more vids defending against a white pawn to d4 move? i see this move far more than i see e4 (when playing black)

[@hunterazaola]

Wow i like this gambit i can't wait to use this fighting style. Mato Jellic and you Kevin is the best chess teacher in KZbin. How about you play together and post here in KZbin. It would be exiting game for sure.

[@Meganaronminombre]

I also follow Mato Jelic, he is great too.

[@ineta3035]

omg I`m latvian and I play chess so I can play this now YES I LIKE THIS

[@2happyknight]

I am Latvian as well

[@pureredwhiteblu]

now play like Tal - My Chess Hero! We need another Latvian World Champion!

[@Bergyn]

Sveiciens no Latvijas!

[@guinsoo5459]

pureredwhiteblu sameee i love tal the pirate of latvia/the magician of the board!

[@johnspulick7472]

at 435 you move the queen to h4 to check, if i was white i would move my pawn on the white side to g3... Then what would your move be with the queen?

[@siddarjun8606]

Qd4 is mate isn't it?? How come the question of capturing the knight arise?? Please explain.

[@Tank8484]

there is a damn checkmate in the video while not recognized @ 04:47 wtf

[@TheNiBee]

Tank8484 how do you not see the white Knight?

[@_inpeymus3603]

Tank8484 it is a checkmate

[@_inpeymus3603]

niyati rambhia its a checkmate dude.

[@pob-4810]

niyati rambhia are you blind ???

[@ChesscomGames]

I've seen a good amount of top players using a gambit similar to the Latvian to combat the Ruy Lopez ( 1. e4 e5 2. nf3 nc6 3. bb5 f5 ) specifically at the 5th Kings Tournament in Bazna 2011 (i believe Karjakin and Radjabov employed this, among others). Do you know is this is still called the Latvian or does it go by another name?

[@jasperhalsey8574]

Thats the Rousseau gambit

[@ShowMe7.]

I think that is known as the Schliemann or Jaenisch gambit.

[@matteocavalli5918]

Its similar to the vienna if white takes f4 e4 is deadly with the engin reccomending qe2

[@arno_grnfld455]

@@jasperhalsey8574 Rousseau gambit is 1.e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 f5

[@lowegrasanger6128]

Jänisch gambit 100%

[@kadircinbat9526]

after exf5, would it be a bad move to play g6 in order to bait him to take another pawn so our rook s front and the bishop's activity would have been improved or can that be hardly countered ?

[@thomasrogers3008]

At 7:00 wouldn't white's white square bishop just take the pawn on b5 and so pin the d7 pawn? Or would we have castled by that point?

[@lightingwillstrike]

ok... but on 4:43, why cant white just block with the g pawn? am i missing something?

[@lightingwillstrike]

oh wait Qd4 forks sry i didnt see it

[@himuyashiro8218]

lightingwillstrike yea but i think it should have been shown too lol

[@JoseL786]

for the love of god normalize the volume of your videos.

[@Greyn9999]

Wait what if the pawn just takes instead of knight?

[@carlos0259774]

Thank you so much for this video !! very instructive

[@jawidader8374]

Missed mate 4:48 big. Blunder

[@robbierotten2215]

He would have played it to take the knight, different reasons but same move.

[@cptsopiens]

Notice how many times he said "hope" people. this is called Hope Chess, unsound. There is a reason you have never seen this at top level play.

[@ChuckNorris-kk7st]

Yup everyone has to be so logical about stuff

[@ChessdumyTV]

Chuck Norris Yeah. If you play with a 'chance' style, if it gets exploited, then you're screwed.

[@calebsergent2538]

cptsopiens notice how it's called the Latvian "gambit"... That's kind of the point of a gambit.. if it worked perfectly every time it everyone would use it every game. That's what you do in a gambit. You hope a player plays a certain way or a certain move. It's just like a trap. Players makes mistakes. I don't know about you, but I don't play people like magus Carlson very often. Players make mistakes

[@drakeofalltrades9201]

Another variation could be Stafford gambit, and when the queen is on h4 and the king moves to F3, you can move queen to h5 and it pins the king to queen, if king moves you get whites queen, and pretty much win the game.

[@circiut]

What is when white playes d3 in the beginning ... e4 - e5 , Nf3 - f5 , d3 - ? What should I play

[@onecarry1532]

What happens if the bishop comes back to e2 at 7:58 , do I just loose all my material as black? How does balance out the game from there?

[@Yahya-tj9hk]

What do you do if this happens: e4 e5 nf3 f5 nxe5 nc6 nxc6??? (dxc6 is winning for white.)

[@brazythedon1059]

what should I do if pawn E4 takes my pawn on F5

[@coolfiretire12]

At 7:37 what if the bishop goes to f7 instead, checking the king?

[@panofduluth]

what if white moves g2 to g3 after you put white in check with queen?

[@TheAdrenalineLife]

Besides, after the combination on 7:54 in this video (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Bc4 fxe4 4.Nxe5 Nf6 5.Nf7 Qe7 6.Nxh8 d5) white bishop can just take black attacking pawn on d5, and then, after it's recaptured by the black knight Nxd5, then black can get a check Qh5, and then after black king moves, or a move like g6, then black knight is simply taken by white Qxd5. so black in fact loses his kingside rook.

[@MadAnthonyToronado]

I don't get the pawn to b5 variation. It's unprotected and light squared bishop takes. I think he might have meant pawn to b4 for normal fianchetto.

[@user-ws1sw4qd9o]

Variation 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Bc5 4.exf5 Bxf2+ 5.Kxf2 Qh4+ 6.Kg1 Qd4# is not check but checkmate.

[@Cubaoness]

@thegambitking,hey i wanna hear more,do you have a chesscube account?

[@jazonandes]

If Kg1, is Qd4+ not mate? Am I completely missing something? Cause he said we could win back that knight, as if white had a move to get the king out of check, so just wondering

[@RavensSixNine]

Anyone can answer if this open is viable if opponent isnt opening the pawn to f4?

[@madhurmaheshwari194]

What if after 1st check from queen to h4, white plays pawn to g3

[@Tysurgemeh]

If king to F6 why not queen to H4 so he moves and you get queen behind the pin?

[@craik62]

Can you please do a video how to decline this. Also how the game develops if the queen goes down to A5 and the knight takes at B6

[@mr_peanutbutter]

I was wondering do you recommend taking the knight if the king goes to e2 at 4:57? I ask because this pins the black queen if white chooses to move their queen over to e1 next move. Does this still give black the advantage?

[@mohammadmehdiwahid4892]

Hi there kevin what if the white tries to move the light bishop to c4? A little help here please!

[@ZorbaAlarga]

06.47: What if white counters with KF1 to B5 capturing the pawn and setting up for pressure at the king?

[@TheLuckyTitan]

I have a chess tournament tomorrow I saw this as I was looking for strategies. I hope this works if I use it

[@qwizdom3873]

After black goes queen to h4, and white instead of retreating the king, goes pawn g3, attacking the queen and blocking. What’s the best black follow up? You only covered assuming white retreats.

[@TheAdrenalineLife]

Also, i Have a question what moves will be the best after variation on minute 4:33 (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 3.Nxe5 Bc5 4.exf5 Bxf2+ 5.Kxf2 Qh4+) when white plays g3 at this position. I have seen g3 very often and then I simply give another check by Qd4+ and then taking knight on e5. After that move white often tries to exchange queens by Qe1 or Qe2. what moves do you recommend actually after g3 ?

[@joeltopgun]

Love the video, love the explanations, love the 'epic fail' comment :) Your video's are bloody good! Any chance you could do the robatsch somewhere down the line?

[@nikveresch5387]

Vilian ring, if they do that, move your queen to d4, nothing realy changes you can still take the knight after wards

[@cordos2362]

4.49: it’s checkmate (not getting the knight back). Great video. Thanks!

[@s3majx_x966]

At 6:40 wouldn't it be a better move for the queen to move down to h5 to check so if the king move you take the queen

[@MAndrews976]

@tubetentort Once black takes pawn on f3, it's a discovered check and white must move his king to either f1 or f2. f2 is better because when black takes pawn on g2, white moves his queen to safety. Then black can bring his queen down and chase the king until he gets mated, but white didn't lose the queen :)

[@vishaljavakhedkar4384]

Do we have simillar opening against d4, i played latvian with reasonable success

[@thegambitking]

@mastermagicman In the position after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5 3. Nxe5, if Black plays ...Nc6 it is known as the Fraser Defence. This is definitely one of my favourite variations in the Latvian Gambit, especially recently as I've done quite a bit of analysis in it! If you'd like, I could send you a monograph (word document) that's pretty long and covers nearly all of the variations... just give me your e-mail if you want! And remember, I'd like to play a practice correspondence game as well!

[@dragonizzlenite]

I play the Latvian at every opportunity and thought I'd shed light on the main line. After 4. ...d6 5. nc4 exd4 6. nc3, play 6...qf7 instead of the common qg6. Stockfish 5 prefers this move at high depth. I don't think the move has been analyzed at all, but after many, many games, I agree that it's the strongest move and highly recommend it. It's sharp, but if you play the Latvian you already know what you're getting into. Tl;dr play 6...qf7 instead of 6...qg6