Beat The ... Englund Gambit

IN this series I am looking at the statistically best way to play against popular opening lines.

The numbers are drawn from the 2021 edition of ChessBase's Mega database, ignoring, where possible, those results that include very few games and so are statistically insignificant.

The Englund Gambit: 1.d4 e5?! might be regarded as something of a joke, but there are nearly 4,000 examples of it in Mega21.

What is more, Black scores 42%, including 1,337 wins, so it is not without bite.

After 2.dxe5,Black overwhelmingly plays 2...Nc6, but there are 192 examples of making the pawn sacrifice immediately permanent by offering a second pawn with 2...d6!?

Position after 2.dxe5

A) 2...Nc6 (2,520 games)

After 3.Nf3 the line splits.

A1 3...Qe7 4.Qd5!?, after which the line splits again.

A1.1 4...f6 5.exf6 Nxf6 6.Qb3 d5 7.Bg5 Bd7 reaches a position in Mega21 in which White scores 100% with 8.c3, 8.Nc3 and 8.e3.

A1.2 4...Nb4?! 5.Qb3, when A1.2a 5...Qc5?! 6.c3 Nc6 7.Bf4 scores 70% for White, albeit from a small sample, and A1.2b 5...Nc6!? 6.Bf4 scores 88% for White, albeit from a small sample.

A1.3 4...b6!? 5.Nc3 Bb7 6.Bg5 scores 89% for White, albeit from a small sample.

A2 3...f6 4.Bf4!? scores 85% for White, albeit from a small sample.

A3 3...d6 4.exd6 Bxd6 reaches a position in Mega21 in which White scores 79% with both 5.g3 and 5.Bg5, albeit from small samples.

A4 3...Nge7 4.b3!? Ng6 5.Bb2 Bb4+ 6.Nbd2 scores 75% for White, albeit from a small sample.

A5 3...Bc5 4.Bf4 scores 89% for White, albeit from a small sample.

A6 3...d5 4.exd6 is a transposition to A3.

B) 2...d6!?

After 3.Nf3!? the line splits.

B1 3...Nc6 is a transposition to A3.

B2 3...Bg4 4.Bf4!? Nc6 5.exd6 Qf6!? 6.d7+!? scores 88% for White, albeit from a small sample.