MARK RUBERY CHESS

Looking for an aggressive opening when facing 1 d4, or perhaps wanting to spice up the Queen’s Gambit from Black’s point of view? Then the Hennig-Schara Gambit might be the ideal choice. It was named after Heinrich Von Hennig, who used it successfully in a tournament in Duisburg, Germany in 1929.

After 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 Black does not continue into the well charted if tranquil waters of the Tarrasch Variation with 4...exd5 but instead plays the more volatile 4...cxd4 which leads to very sharp play.

The games below give a good idea of the tactical richness of this line that also has the advantage of not being too well known. Esserman,M (2391) - Gareev,T (2590) [D32] Copper State Int Mesa USA (7), 2009 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4 5.Qxd4 Nc6 6.Qd1 exd5 7.Qxd5 Bd7 8.Bd2 Nf6 9.Qg5 Be7 10.Qxg7 Rg8 11.Qh6 Qb6 12.0–0–0 0–0–0 13.f3 Be6 14.e4 Ne5 15.Nh3 Rxg2 16.Kb1 Nxe4 17.Bxg2 Nxc3+ 18.Bxc3 Bf5+ 19.Ka1 Rxd1+ 20.Rxd1 0–1 And now a feisty encounter between two of our elder statesmen… De Villiers,C (2252) - Bhawoodien,S (2135) [D32] RSA Closed 2014 Cape Town RSA (8.2) 2014 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4.cxd5 cxd4!? 5.Qa4+ Bd7 6.Qxd4 exd5 7.Qxd5 Nc6 8.Nf3 Nf6 9.Qd1 Bc5 10.e3 Qe7 11.Be2 0–0–0 12.0–0 g5 13.b4 g4 (A less played alternative to

the usual 13…Bxb4) 14.bxc5 gxf3 15.Bxf3 Ne5 16.Bd5!? Rhg8 17.e4 Bh3 18.g3 Bg4?! (After 18…Bxf1 White has two pawns and reasonable play for the exchange, thus Black chooses to enter murkier channels) 19.Qa4 Nxd5 20.Nxd5?!

(20 exd5! Qxc5 21 Be3 and White’s attack is irresistible)…Nf3+ 21.Kh1 Rxd5! 22.exd5 Qe2 Alexandre, Aaron (1766-1850) was the author of Encyclopedie des Echecs, the first book containing the collection of all opening variations then known. Published in 1837, he introduced the algebraic notation and the castling symbols O-O and O-O-O. He also wrote The Beauties of Chess in 1846, the first large compilation of chess problems and endgames. He was a Jewish rabbi who worked inside the automaton, the Turk.