The Turkish Gambit Gets a Brother! (The Crazy Turkish Gambit)

FM Selim Gürcan shows how to play aggressively as Black when the opponent avoids the Turkish Gambit and heads for the Vienna Game with moves like 2.Nc3. He names this variation, which he proposes for the first time, the “Crazy Turkish Gambit”.

The main idea: 2...d5

Black answers the opponent’s fight for the centre immediately with ...d5 (01:29). If White captures with exd5, Black plays ...Bd6 and gets a dynamic, pawn-sacrificing position; White’s doubled pawns are a long-term advantage for Black (01:37). If Nxd5 is played, 2...Nf6 follows; after 3.Nxf6 Qxf6 the queen enters with a tempo.

The aggressive follow-up: ...Qg6

After 4.Nf3, 4...Qg6 is one of the video’s most aggressive ideas; it pressures the e4 pawn and restricts White’s development (02:54). Against White trying to win a pawn with 5.Nxe5, fork ideas such as ...Qe4+ (08:52) followed by ...Qxc2 are explained. See the video for the rest.

This article is adapted from the video on the Satranç Okulu YouTube channel.

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FM Selim Gürcan
He played for the Turkish national team in 1994, 1998 and 2000. Besides producing many instructional videos, he is the author of best-selling books such as "Satrançta Ustalık Kursu" (Mastery Course in Chess) and "Satrançta Açılış Kursu" (Opening Course in Chess).