The Busch-Gass Gambit- Best gambit in chess?

I challenge you to find a gambit more versatile than this one! Never deal with a Ruy Lopez, Scotch, Fried Liver, or Evans Gambit ever again! This gambit has an answer for any opening you can throw at it- I cover more than 27 traps in this video alone, and there's dozens more the deeper you look. This video is more of an overview of what you can hope to learn from the Busch Gass Gambit, and if you want to learn deeper I would check out FM William Graif's Channel.
‪@GambitMan‬
‪@LightSquares‬
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[@GambitMan]

Great stuff man!! Gambit on :)

[@TheChessChef]

Great video! Well done.

[@roryharvey2727]

Very very good - well done - you have another subscriber!

[@chrislevy42069]

Thank you very much! Love to see people enjoying the content 😁 my Vienna video is the best thing to compliment the Busch Gass gambit

[@uos1400]

Great content. I hope your channel will get the attention it deserves one day

[@LightSquares]

I was roasted! This was quite funny. Although you gotta show yourself if you making jokes about others looks.

[@chrislevy42069]

You're right about that! To be fair, in a beauty contest between the two of us, you are winning for sure. Thanks for checking out my video, you are one of the few channels I hit that bell for! All respect from here on out (you look nothing like that orc btw hahaha, I just really took that Busch gass video to heart and couldn't that slide) 🤙🤙

[@babstra55]

what a nice compact summary of the lines.

[@chrislevy42069]

Thanks! That's what I was going for here, just to show how exciting it can be for people who haven't seen it before. And because, of course, William Graif has already gone deep into just about every one of them.

[@RayT70]

Realistically, after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bc5 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nf3 d5 5. exd5 Qxd5 6. c3 Nf6 7. d4 Bd6 8. Be2 Bf5 9. O-O O-O-O 10. Nbd2 black is ahead in development, but the strong center and extra pawn probably give white a winning position.

[@chrislevy42069]

@RayT70 I actually have only ran into that line once, usually after Qxd5 people play Nc3 attacking the queen, and then Qh5 with Bg4 and castles long gives a great game to black. There's a couple lines that give white a better position, but from personal experience, after accepting the Gambit 90% of the time black is getting a better position out of the opening. Or, it becomes an Italian game and then it's equal, but still very fun for black (just made a video on that). I should have included Nxe5 and then back to f3 lines.

[@darrylgaston7009]

e4 e5 2. nf3 bc5 3. Nxe5 Nc6 4. Nxc6 dxc6 5.c3 Nf6 6. d4 - B-d3 - f3 - Be3 - 0-0 - Qc2 but I may be playing this myself as black! keep them videos coming Levy!!!

[@benjaminwimmer949]

Hey man, really nice video! I just wanted to ask one thing: If White goes for an Italian with 3. Bc4 and then either 4. d3 or 4. Nc3, what do you think of simply going 4...Ng4 in response? I used to play the way you (and FM Graif) recommend against this as well with say 4...d6 or 4...Nc6, but I never really managed to get a lot of exciting games (did not get the queen sac line a single time). So, a while ago, I started looking at the immediate Ng4 and only then stuff like d6 and Nc6, which I find really interesting. Almost everybody castles, and then one or two moves later you very often get h3 with an opportunity to sacrifice with h5; you can still invite White to take on f7 as well, when Nxf7 is almost always a blunder. It's often dubious or just outright lost, but much more in the spirit of the BGG, I find.

[@chrislevy42069]

Hi, sorry about the late reply! KZbin hasn't been telling me when I get comments lately! I really like your question, and when I checked out the lines, especially after d3 and Ng5, h3 is the most common move, and after h5, the lines actually score really well for black! It is back in the +2 or 3 range for white, but again, the engine lines are ridiculous to find. I definitely think it is a viable alternative, especially in blitz and bullet, and I think you are onto something! The only thing I have to say is that stronger players will just ignore your knight completely, and if they do that- well, there isn't much of an attack left, and you will be competing to develop and castle before it's YOU that's under attack. As long as they have a knight on f3, it's going to be difficult to break through with pieces. I have found that implementing the ideas that I lay out in this video give a much more consistent attack, where you attack the kingside with pawns instead of pieces, and this generally forces at least one or two files to open up in front of the king, which is when your pieces come in to do the dirty work. However, I haven't tried your idea practically yet, so I think I will definitely give it a few goes and let you know what I think! Thanks for taking the time to comment on my video, and hope you enjoy the other content! Just dropped a vid on how to Gambit against the Scandinavian yesterday, gambit on!

[@benjaminwimmer949]

​@@chrislevy42069 Thanks for your detailed reply! Yeah, if White just ignores the knight completely (which they do in most cases), it's not as direct, but that's not the only trick. It's also about enticing them to go Ng5 and then Nxf7 either leads to a winning position for Black or complete chaos depending on the variation, or Bg5 and then you push your kingside pawns forward with f3/h3, g5 and so on. So instead of just one attacking plan, you have several. But I see what you mean of course, and your strategy seems like the better one all around. Would be great if you could give "my" version a try and tell me how it went! In the meantime, maybe I'll try the variations you give and go for the queen sac line one more time :D

[@chrislevy42069]

@@benjaminwimmer949 absolutely, I will give your variation a go! I want to let you know that the queen sac line is particularly rare, but you should have a lot of success with the h6, g5, g4 ideas. Especially when they play bishop g5, pinning the knight, that is almost always a mistake for white. That leaves your dark square bishop unopposed and the pin on the f2 pawn is often very powerful and hard to see. I will release a video soon on some fun games I've had in the Italian game, hopefully will include some of your lines too!

[@wabbajocky8235]

seems nice. very convenient that it can also transpose into a stafford

[@chrislevy42069]

Agreed, I quit playing the original Stafford because I didn't like the positions I got out of the Petrov- this solves all of that!

[@chrislevy42069]

If you haven't yet, check out my Vienna gambit videos, I show you a way you can get a Stafford even out of a Vienna!

[@marcusminifee3978]

The ideas at the end of how to play the BGG when it develops into a normal italian game is great...I always forget to protect my bishop with A6 and leaving it where it is when attacked by the dark squared bishop on E3!!!

[@chrislevy42069]

I particularly like the idea of leaving the bishop there on c5! You will find that the majority of people will take, and it is nearly always a very large positional mistake. For more ideas on how to play those Italian games, check out the "Busch Gass Gambit Deniers!" video by FM William graif. Also, if you're looking for a good way to deal with the Vienna, check out my most recent vids, I really think I found some of the best lines against it. Hope you enjoy the channel 🤙

[@marcusminifee3978]

@@chrislevy42069 Thanks again, I’ve struggled against deniers in the Italian games. There were a couple of tips here I definitely can incorporate. Like not moving the H7 pawn until the H2 pawn moves…another positional mistake I’ve been making!!!

[@SG-iz8qu]

Have to disappoint - this gambit simply lost for black if 8:01 white queen goes to Qf1 depriving tempo move for black with their knight (no time to jump to Nd4 - white's queen would not be attacked anymore by it - as white's rook is hanging) and after black goes with their rook to Rf8 (to save its rook and to pin white knight on f7 against white's queen on f1) white moves pawn to d3 and suddenly black has no timely means to dislodge white's bishop on d4 (in video bishop is kicked away with pawn to b5 but in this scenario knight still on c6 - not only out of attack but also blocks Bb2 sacrifice which is used in one of the lines in video to lure away white's bishop from defending pinned Nf7) thus black completely lost.

[@benjaminwimmer949]

That is of course one of the better lines, but it doesn't make much sense to have White play two good moves and then say "completely lost" when a) the engine evaluation is only something like +1.5, so nothing outrageous, and b) the position is still very messy, with lots of opportunities for White to slip up. For example, after 9. d3 Nc5, the few times this has been played, the White players most often continued inaccurately with 10. Qe2+ or 10. Bg5, when the position is almost approaching equality again. And even after 10. Be3, which seems to be best, and then 10...Nd6 11. Nc3 Rxf7 12. Qe1 Qf6, this is still anybody's game.

[@chrislevy42069]

I agree with that other guy's comment- take that line, play the best moves for black, which is Rf1 and then Nc5 after d3, and the most popular ways of continuing completely lose for black. You play Nc5 so that you can go to e6, cutting off the support of the bishop on the knight, and it is difficult to find a way to survive with white. However, there are better lines than that for white- say we have the same line up until Qh4, white needs to play g3 instead of Qf1, then Qf6 for black, and then queen f1 NOW. This has been the main line that I have difficulty finding any way to continue with Black. It basically forces the queen trades, because it jumps to like +5 if you try to keep them on the board. BGG is not perfect, I mean it's literally sitting at like +3 for the entire video. Not for classical play, but for online rapid or blitz, even up until the master level where FM Graif plays it, it's extremely difficult to find the engine moves for white. Probably one of the highest scoring gambits for black if you know all the lines, avoids SO much theory it's actually unreal, yeah your opponents will find the strong lines like 2% of the time, and then you take an L, but for 98% of opponents its completely unknown and absolutely one of the most dangerous gambits out there.

[@chrislevy42069]

​@@benjaminwimmer949thanks for backing me up here man, glad to know people take their study seriously! Especially with this ol gambit. In my response to the other guy, I laid out another line that I actually have had trouble with, and would like to know your opinion on it, and if there is any tricks you have found from there on out. Cheers!

[@benjaminwimmer949]

​@@chrislevy42069 Always glad to support another BGG fanatic! Yeah, 8. g3 Qf6 9. Qf1 is tricky for sure. If you want to avoid the queen trade at all cost, then 9...Qd4+ 10. Kg2 b5 could be interesting, with the idea of fianchettoing the lsb (White's king already being on the long diagonal). The problem with this line, though, is that White has quite a few sensible options. Which is why I like to allow the queen trade with 9...d5 (the 1/100 games I actually get a chance to play this), because after 10. Qxf6 Nxf6 11. Nxh8 dxc4, h3 seems to be White's only try for a big advantage. Everything else sort of lets Black back into the game. But from White's perspective, I would definitely worry about my development here and play something like d3 or Nc3, both of which are mistakes. So Black's play is really fluid in this position, just go for some combination of Bh3, Nd4, Ng4 and O-O-O and White needs to very careful.

[@benjaminwimmer949]

@@chrislevy42069 I responded to your question about the troublesome line yesterday, but now my reply sometimes isn't showing, so let me just post it again just in case: Always glad to support another BGG fanatic! Yeah, 8. g3 Qf6 9. Qf1 is tricky for sure. If you want to avoid the queen trade at all cost, then 9...Qd4+ 10. Kg2 b5 could be interesting, with the idea of fianchettoing the lsb (White's king already being on the long diagonal). The problem with this line, though, is that White has quite a few sensible options. Which is why I like to allow the queen trade with 9...d5 (the 1/100 games I actually get a chance to play this), because after 10. Qxf6 Nxf6 11. Nxh8 dxc4, h3 seems to be White's only try for a big advantage. Everything else sort of lets Black back into the game. But from White's perspective, I would definitely worry about my development here and play something like d3 or Nc3, both of which are mistakes. So Black's play is really fluid in this position, just go for some combination of Bh3, Nd4, Ng4 and O-O-O and White needs to be very careful.

[@rgille2]

What's an intermediate master?

[@chrislevy42069]

It's a joke hahaha

[@shadeburst]

Although your presentation needs some work, AND although higher-rated players rubbish Busch-Gass, I've had a lot of fun games since (from watching your video) I started playing 2...bc5. I hate being sucked into a Ruy Lopez which is either an orgy of trading and one side or the other ends up +1, or cramped constipated trench warfare.

[@chrislevy42069]

What's the point of playing if you aren't having fun right? Of course GM's would crush me in a slow game, but honestly FM William Graif plays this stuff at a 2400+ level (online of course) and has good success with it up there. Oh, and my presentation is actually perfect btw ;) hahaha

[@Mr.Drew_]

Sick video man, i really enjoy your videos super underrated, keep it up love it! 💙 (Do you have discord?)

[@chrislevy42069]

New vid out now!