Evans Gambit | Lesson 34


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Lesson 34 will help you learn the Evans Gambit chess opening, and this is the Main Page for the Evans Gambit on this website. Find the data and description, important links how to play main variations of the Evans Gambit chess opening, 4 chess videos (Video 1 on this page; Videos 2-4 on others, the link here), and the PGN file at the bottom. Welcome to the Evans Gambit!

Latest Chess Opening Information and New Links

Evans Gambit: Data and Description


Opening Name: Evans Gambit
Type: Open Game Opening [starts with 1.e4 e5]
Moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 [Evans Gambit]
Compare with: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 [Italian Game]
ECO Codes: C51-C52 (C52 is 4... Bxb4 5. c3 Ba5, other C51)

Evans Gambit chess opening

Evans Gambit General Description

The Evans Gambit is a separate chess opening, but many chess experts consider it as a line of the Italian Game because of the first 3 moves... It was invented in 1827 by a British sea captain. The inventor's name was William Davies Evans, and his name gave the name to the opening.

The Evans Gambit was very popular for a long time. Today, it is relatively popular at the chess master level and top level chess. The opening was played by Adolf Anderssen, Paul Morphy, Mikhail Chigorin, Emanuel Lasker, Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov, Viswanathan Anand, Peter Svidler...

White's 4.b4 is a smart tool to get the center control and attack initiative. Black can accept the Gambit by moving 4... Bxb4, or decline by some other moves. Usually, it is recommended to accept the Gambit. The Evans Gambit has 40 variations, but it is not so difficult to learn this chess opening...

Evans Gambit

To answer, Black uses the next moves: [4... Bxb4 ~ 80%], [4... Bb6 ~ 15%], [Other moves ~ 5%: 4... d5 (Counter-Gambit variation), 4.... b5, 4... Bd6, 4... Be7, 4... Bd4, and 4... Nxb4]. The 5-7 variations are the most common. The variation line [4... Bxb4 5.c3 Be7] is quite popular today.

Ewans Gambit Answering Moves and How to Respond

Main and Most Popular Variations of the Evans Gambit

Evans Gambit: Learn How to Play Main Variations and Proven Lines


The below links on the Evans Gambit will help you learn how to correctly play the proven lines and variations of the the Evans Gambit chess opening:

How to Play the Normal Variation of Evans Gambit

How to Play the Stone-Ware Variation of Evans Gambit

How to Play the 7... Be7 Variation of Evans Gambit Accepted

Note: More playing links on the Evans Gambit will be added soon.

Evans Gambit: See 4 Videos


To see a general picture of the Evans Gambit, its line popularity, the designated moves for its 5 variations, you are recommended to replay the below Video 1: Evans Gambit General Information (the links to the next 3 videos are below). To start the video and learn this opening in a visible way, just click the Play button below:



• If the opening video hasn't shown up, please wait a little.
• If the video stops, drag a little right the player's handle.
• If the video displays an error, try to start and play it later.

To see Video 2 on another page, click the following link:
Video 2: Evans Gambit - Accepted, Play Normal Var. and Tartakower Attack

To see Video 3 on another page, click the following link:
Video 3: Evans Gambit - Declined, How to Play Variation 5.a4

To see Video 4 on another page, click the following link:
Video 4: Evans Gambit - Accepted, How to Play 5.c3 Be7

Evans Gambit: Download PGN Files


Important. The 2nd Evans Gambit games PGN file will be added here soon via a special link which will open on a separate page. The 2nd PGN files will include the Evans Gambit games played by the today's chess titans only (like Carlsen, Anand, Grischuk, Mamedyarov, Ding Liren, Aronian).

Here You Can Download PGN File Evans Games by Chess Titans

Notes. The above PGN file includes 75 games played on the Evans Gambit by world chess champions, top rated players, and famous grandmasters (Magnus Carlsen, Bobby Fischer, Gary Kasparov, Liren Ding,...). The games are sorted by the playing lines, and the opening positions are calculated by a chess engine.

Just below, find the link to download the PGN File "Bobby Fischer, Garry Kasparov: The Evans Gambit Games." The file will help you learn more... You will see how the opening was played by the two chess titans. The file is 17 games: 14 games played by Bobby Fischer, 3 by Garry Kasparov.

The games were played in the years 1963-1964 by Bobby Fischer and in the years 1993, 1995 by Garry Kasparov... To read the PGN File, you will need a PGN Viewer Program. See Lesson 16, which explains you how to download a decent freeware PGN Viewer Program.

To download the Evans Gambit PGN File, click the following link:

Download Fischer-Kasparov-Evans Gambit PGN File (9 KB)

Note 1. The above file is to be downloaded from Google Drive. First click the above link to open, then click the download icon to download.
Note 2. To read the above PGN File and see the chess games inside, you will need a PGN Viewer software. See Lesson 16, which explains how to download a decent freeware PGN Viewer.

Links to All Chess Opening Lessons

This is the main page for chess beginners and intemediate chess players to learn the Evans Gambit chess opening on this website ...

Evans Gambit Accepted, How to Play Normal Variation and Tartakower Attack


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[•: To the Main Page of Evans Gambit]

On this page, you can study how to correctly play 2 variations of the Evans Gambit Accepted (and this chess video on the Evans Gambit will help you). The first variation is called the Normal variation; the move order is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O d6 8.cxd4 Bb6.

Evans Gambit

The second displayed variation of the Evans Gambit is called the Tartakower Attack variation, the move order 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3. The both variations belong to the 4... Bxb4 line which covers appr. 75 percent of all games played on the Evans Gambit...

Normal Variation and Tartakower Attack Video


This chess opening video will show you how to correctly play 2 variations of the Evans Gambit Accepted. Use this video to see the proven lines for Black and White within the Normal variation and the Tartakower Attack. To see a video on the Evans Gambit, just click the Play button below:




• If the opening video hasn't shown up, please wait a little.
• If the video stops, drag a little right the player's handle.
• If the video displays an error, try to start and play it later.

To replay on the chess board and learn 2 variations of the Evans Gambit which were shown in the video, find the variation in writing below:

Variation 1: Evans Gambit, Normal variation:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 [Evans Gambit] ...
4... Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.d4 exd4 7.0-0 d6 8.cxd4 Bb6 [Normal variation] ...
9.Nc3 Bg4 10.Bb5 Kf8 11.Be3 Nge7 12.a4 a5 13.Bc4 Bh5 [White is better.]

Variation 2: Evans Gambit, Tartakower Attack variation:
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 [Evans Gambit] ...
4... Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 d6 7.Qb3 [Tartakower Attack variation] ...
7... Qd7 8.dxe5 dxe5 9.0-0 Bb6 10.Rd1 Qe7 11.a4 a6 12.a5 Bc5 [Equal position.]