Squelch the Smith-Morra - Snatch the Pawn with the Taylor System!

[@davidc5191]

The best line regarding the Smith -Morra was by Larsen when playing at the San Antonio tournament here Ken Smith played the Smith-Morra gambit at every opportunity. Then in one game his opponent responded, I think, with the French Defense, to which Larsen gave the annotation something like "1. e4, e6? Black's move is a mistake since he should have played c5 which is winning since his opponent plays the gambit against it."

[@yayuuuhhhH]

Larsen's defense was with Nc6 e6 a6 Qc7 which loses to Nd5!!

[@Martiny-t5s]

Larsen would have lost in 10 moves to nd5, which is laughable. Imagine his shock after the gambiteer sacks a pawn and a full knight in under 10 moves, and is winning

[@murattuna3524]

I appreciate this video, as a Morra player, and I think every Morra player should too. We evolve or perish. Thank you Tony.

[@ChessCoachAndras]

Great vid Tony, well done!

[@TonyRotella]

Thank you sir, much appreciated! ;)

[@Neojimmy6]

Didn't know about the Taylor system, thanks for sharing Tony. I feel a surge of confidence. I will now accept the Smith-Morra gambit with open arms. If I lose, that's on you.

[@TonyRotella]

I will draw up a very limited liability contract and send it over to your personal assistant for review.

[@Mixail-w6g]

29:00.And here, can't White go queen b3, instead of h3?

[@Martiny-t5s]

34:53 if that is the absolute best black can get with optimal play for both sides, i don't think the taylor is a threat to the morra at all. White is down a full pawn, yet the position is equal and black is going to be passive for the next 20 moves.

[@TonyRotella]

At around 2 minutes in I talk about how I think white has reasonable compensation and shouldn't be worse. I'm not sure there's anything that shuts down the Morra completely (and why should there be?) and so Black players should just find lines that score well for them IN PRACTICE.

[@Martiny-t5s]

@@TonyRotella sorry i'm a morra player haha. It's a good video, i always have high praise for your opening knowledge.

[@TonyRotella]

@@Martiny-t5s No worries, and thanks for the kind words. Rest assured the Morra is safe in my book! 😁

[@grantc.7838]

The thumbnails have been beautiful

[@TonyRotella]

GRANT YOU'RE THE BEST! THANKS!

[@dank_meme23]

great video! You should cover 8.b4 and 8.Be3 as well, they are both recommended alternatives in esserman's book. b4 as a slightly unsound, additional gambit line and be3 as a way to avoid Bg4 and avoid memorizing theory. esserman seems to play mostly b4 on lichess against the taylor

[@TonyRotella]

Thanks! Yeah Esserman's book is hard to navigate - I made a mental note when I was working to check 8.b4!? because it was even in the Palliser book long ago. I'll add both tonight in the study!

[@dank_meme23]

@@TonyRotella ty

[@tiagomoraes1510]

i didnt knew it had a name but this is exactly what i play

[@Antituarec]

Thanks man. Do you offer coaching?

[@TonyRotella]

I have in the past, but don't generally do it a ton because I don't have much in the way of spare time, and I want to make sure my students get their money's worth. If you want you can shoot me a message on lichess and we can chat about it there.

[@bwgolem]

So Johnny B moved out and Tony Ro moved in? Did you move to Minnesota? I swear your room looks exactly the same as Bartholomew’s old room.

[@TonyRotella]

My plan chess improvement has always been to show up at strong players' houses and knock furiously until they break under the psychological pressure.

[@Schnebbler]

What do you think of 8. Nd5 e6 9. Re1. Seems interesting and kind of cruel >:) Good video, painful to watch as a Morra player.

[@TonyRotella]

Very interesting idea, I've never seen that before! I can guarantee you first of that I'd never find the computer recommendation of 9...Nd7! OTB, that's for sure. :)

[@tnan123]

Would you consider making this type of content into a chessable course? The videos and lichess studies are great but its still just clicking through the moves instead of actively recalling positions.

[@TonyRotella]

That's a great idea - I'll look into how much work it actually is to do that and share the links. My dream is that lichess will make some sort of feature that allows for similar repetitive drilling of studies, but for now I'm not holding my breath.

[@marknieuweboer8099]

A few additional remarks from a former (more than 30 years ago) Morra enthousiast. The reason 7.Bg5 doesn't hold up anymore is that Nf6 8.Bxf6 gxf6 is a bad Richter Rauser for White. Even after Qe2 don't play ...Bxf3 (idea simplification with ...Ne5) too soon. It often stresses White's lead in development as I learned from experience (when I played it as Black). In the 9.h3 Bxf3 10.Qxf3 e6 11.Rfd1 Qa5 line White might try 12.b4 (it's a long time since I looked at it). Still 9.Qb3 looks most interesting to me from White's point of view. Note that 8.Bf4 e6 9.Qe2 allows White to get back into "system" mode. The idea ...Nh5 is known in slightly different positions, but nicely avoids transpositions. Let me repeat what I've written at chesspub several times: the big problem with the Morra Gambit is not that it's bad, it's that Black has such a wide choice of good replies, while White typically only has one road towards reasonable compensation. So the subjective factor definitely benefits Black. Just don't make GM Van Wely's mistake but take it seriously.

[@cobeferraro3464]

The Taylor, really? The taylor is busted by the Morra Gambit. Taylors Temple of Doom!

[@TonyRotella]

Can you be a doll and link me to a lichess study with your bust? Thanks.