Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. Nf3/2...Nc6/3. Nxe5

Chicago gambit C44 Open game → 2...Nc6 Irish gambit 3. Nxe5?? · Chicago gambit A blunder: White trades their knight for a pawn. Black can recapture with 3...Nxe5. White can continue 4. d4 Ng6, but a piece is too high a price to pay for taking the centre. History 8/pb3Q2/8/4q3/1B2nP2/PP4P1/2R4P/5k1K "O'Flaherty v NN." White to move. White missed Qc4#, and played instead fxe5+?? Nf2#. 1 right The earliest game published in this line comes from 1899, and was played against leading American chess master Harry Nelson Pillsbury in an simultaneous exhibition. The game was reported in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle which gave the line the name Chicago gambit (after where the simul was played) as well as the Irish and Razzle Dazzle gambit.Brooklyn Daily Eagle, 26 January 1899. p. 12. As reproduced in Unusual Chess Openings https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/unusualchessopenings.html Winter Edward 2026-01-10 2026-08-23 Chess NotesPhillips v Pillsbury, 1899. Chessgames.com Some online opening books give 3. Nxe5?? (or the continuation 3...Nxe5 4. d4) the name "Schulze-Müller gambit", which is also used for the similar line 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5?.A BREEZE IN THE SLEEPY 4-KNIGHT'S GAME https://timkr.home.xs4all.nl/tour/breeze.htm Krabbe Tim 2000 2026-08-23 The name Irish gambit comes from a piece of 19th century ethnic humour. A joke article in the Columbia Chess Chronicle, 1887, relates the misadventures of "Dennis O'Flaherty". O'Flaherty, inspired by Irish chess masters Alexander MacDonnell and "La Borden Naigh" (La Bourdonnais, in fact French of course), takes up chess and plays 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nxe5?? admitting "I did not see the pawn was protected." A full scoresheet is not included, but the game ends when he misses mate in one and plays a check, to which Black's only legal move is to checkmate their opponent (see diagram).Unusual Chess Openings https://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/unusualchessopenings.html Winter Edward 2026-01-10 2026-08-23 Chess NotesThe Irish Gambit Columbia Chess Chronicle 1887-07-16 https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=O5URwISX9HIC&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&pg=PP39&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false 1 3 17-18 The other "Irish gambit", 1. d4 d5 2. Nc3 c5, where Black plays a Chigorin defence with colours reversed, is much more reputable and unrelated to this one. References See also Irish Gambit