Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...d5/2. g4

Zürich gambit D00 Closed game 2. g4? · Zürich gambit Called the Zürich gambit, this very unsound and dubious move gambits the g4 pawn. Moving the g-pawn so early weakens White's kingside and is generally not advised. Black should take with 2...Bxg4 as it is simply a free pawn. Black simply wins a pawn and White doesn't have much compensation except the hope that the semi-open g-file will one day be useful for attacking Black's kingside. White may continue with 3. Bg2, then Nf3 or h3. Declining the gambit, e.g. 2...Nc6?!, gives White the chance to defend the pawn with 3. h3 (not 3. f3?? allowing 3...Qh4+!) or they could play 3. Bg2 to insist on gambitting the pawn. 2...c5, as if playing a Queen's gambit with colours reversed, is a natural move. White doesn't want to take 3. dxc5? and give up their space in the centre, but their d- and g-pawns are now both under attack. History This move is vanishingly rare in master-level chess and it's unclear to what we owe the name "Zürich gambit", which appears in several online opening books. This resembles the Grob gambit, 1. g4 d5 where White leaves the g-pawn undefended with 2. Bg2. In 2018, the Free Internet Chess and Go Server (FICGS) held a thematic tournament where all games began from this position.Thematic Tournament 000225, FICGS.com References See also