Play the Stafford Gambit Accepted like IM Eric Rosen (Opening Champion Series)

Introducing the Opening Champion Series

This is the first installment of my Opening Champion Series where we will be covering notable online blitz players who are champions of fun openings. IM Eric Rosen single-handedly developed the modern theory for the trap-rich Stafford Gambit. Is there any better place to learn this tricky gambit than from Rosen's blitz games?

The Study - Play the Stafford Gambit Accepted like IM Eric Rosen

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 Eric Rosen's treatment of the Stafford Gambit Accepted with a spaced-repetition philosophy. A forthcoming post will cover Rosen's treament of the declined variations which are also must-know if one wishes to play the gambit.

The study includes many of the 860+ blitz games that Rosen 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 Rosen main line up to a certain point (typically when there's 5-10 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