Play the Latvian Gambit like BetterCollSoul (Crushing Gambits Series)

Introducing the Crushing Gambits Series

There is not a single true chess-player in the world whose heart does not beat faster at the mere sound of such long beloved and familiar words as 'gambit games' (David Bronstein)

This is the first installment of my Crushing Gambits Series where we will be covering fun, off-beat gambits especially those we can get on the board early in the game. As we explore the gambits I urge you to keep an open mind about "unsound" gambits which can be quite enjoyable to play in a smashing manner and may very well produce better results in speed chess than some stodgy theory line. After all, most of us play online blitz for fun and entertainment.

Crushing Gambiteer - BetterCollSoul

BetterCollSoul is a very strong gambiteer with a near-top 100 ranking in online blitz. The Latvian Gambit might not be played often in top-level grandmaster play. Yet, BetterCollSoul proudly carries the Standard of the Latvian Gambit with smashing results online. Let us heed the call to arms and follow his lead!

The Study - Play the Latvian Gambit like BetterCollSoul

The below study is the latest installment of my "Play like..." Interactive Lesson series which can be best enjoyed with the Lichess Tools browser extension installed. The idea of the study is to learn BetterCollSoul's treatment of the Latvian Gambit with a spaced-repetition philosophy.

The study includes many of the 450+ blitz games that BetterCollSoul has played in these lines up to move 20, which were downloaded, merged, and then I separated out the lines. In each chapter, I present a BetterCollSoul main line up to a certain point (typically when there's 10 or so games left in a particular line). After that, you are playing through his games in that line up to move 20. As you play through the games, you should be naturally internalizing the middle game plans.

Here is the study:

LichessTools

To get the most out of this study you should add the LichessTools browser extension. LichessTools allows you to play through all the games/variations in an interactive lesson chapter (rather than just the single main line). So if you decline to add LiChess Tools then you are only playing 10% of the study.

Available here:

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/langlhlcknngldkeliapahbhbcmlcbcj

Cheers,

Dsoul20