After losing a game recently to the Petroff, I decided to forgo the sideline that had only ever brought me spotty success for the whacky Cochrane Gambit. For those of you aren’t familiar, it occurs after the moves: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nxf7 Kxf7 5.d4…
White gives up a knight for two pawns and to draw black’s king out into the open. Current theory frowns on the variation, but there are a few GM’s who have bagged some beautiful victories with it, such as Vitolins, who played it regularly, and Sulskis more recently.
In any case, below find some instructive games, along with some theoretical material for the brave among you who want to give this a shot.
2 Responses to “The Cocksure Cochrane Gambit”
Great post !
More and more, I am beginning to realise the truism of learning chess by playing older lines through to modern ones, with the older ones very useful at club level ( & blitz !) and also providing the base for understanding modern play.
The Petroff was the first opening I became obsessed by, to the extent that it became the first one I bought a book about, namely Caffrey and Hooper’s ‘Complete Defence to 1.P-K4′.
Referring back to it now, I see that it gives three choices after 4…Kxf7. The Cochrane reply, Bc4+, is typical Cochrane “seeking direct attack”, but is supposedly the weakest.
3.Nc3 is recommended. Black has “favourable ways to return the piece”, but White ” hopes to keep his pawn mass intact, and gradually advance it”.
3.d4 ( apparently first played by Thorold in 1876 !) is the only other line given, and from your post, I guess this is the more modern way to play, and indeed Caffrey mentions that this is the ” only line quoted by Bronstein in support of his comment that the Cochrane is worth a try” ( This was 1979, and a quick search does not reveal a game where Bronstein did this. After d6 he seems to have played the standard Nf3 !)
It should be noted that the GM we love to hate – Topalov – played the Cochrane against Kramnik once (Linares 1999) and drew. Here’s a link with some interesting comments ( http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1255554).
Its worth checking out the Gambit’s inventor, as John Cochrane seems to have been one of those natural players who just loved to take a risk and play fun chess, but has also given his name to a significant drawing method in the endgame : the Cochrane Defence.
Reading about his life can make one wonder how those Victorians found the time to do what they did . Must have been a lack of the internet !
Thanks for the link! and awesome comment. I agree with your sentiment- in fact I myself am trying to play more and more like a Victorian.