von Hennig Gambit | BRILLIANT vs Caro-Kann Defense! 🤩

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One of the best approaches against the Caro-Kann Defense (which is one of the best responses by Black against 1. e4, and @GothamChess IM Levy Rozman’s signature opening) is the von Hennig Gambit (1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Bc4!?). If the line progress as hoped to the critical position (4… Nf6 5. f3 exf3 6. Nxf3 Bg4??), historically, I’ve played the romantic “oh no, my queen!” trap with (7. Ne5!?). The logic here is if Black is unwilling to resist the hanging queen (7… Bxd1), then we have a beautiful checkmate (8. Ne5#) – the classic von Hennig Gambit 8-move checkmate trap line which I first described on this blog and channel 2 years ago!

However, in this game, I decided to not play the trap line, but rather the “grown up” line beginning with the bishop sacrifice (7. Bxf7+!!). The problem with the trap line is that if Black sees it and plays the optimal move (7. Ne5!? Be6), White is still completely good, but the position ends up being “clunky” to play for White. The middlegame is complicated and Black has the opportunity to consolidate, equalise, and even gain an advantage.

Brief historical note:
I’ve previously covered some of the fascinating historical information about Konteradmiral Heinrich (Heinz) von Hennig (1883-1947), a German U-boat commander and chess master a couple of months ago. The very first game of this “grown up” line in competitive games in the massive LumbrasGigabase with (7. Bxf7+!!) is quite contemporary with (Zickelbein — Vaut, 1989, Hamburg Germany) though the position had been transposed to from other openings earlier, especially from (1. d4 d5) openings.

Although you don’t get the opportunity for the instant quick win with (7. Bxf7+!!), the transformation after the capture sequence with the knight advance with an absolute fork (7… Kxf7! 8. Ke8 9. Nxg4 Nxg4 10. Qxg4) is that White has a very very nice position at the end of the opening! White is well developed, while Black has no development, no immediate counterplay, had lost the right to castle, and their king is exposed from the hole on f7! Although material is technically equal, Stockfish evaluates the position at [+3]!

The middlegame is also easy for White to play, with the good/best moves being sensible and intuitive to find. I managed to overwhelm Black by launching an attack, winning a pawn, then a bishop, and then a knight, each time without having to give away a concession. On move 19, we moved practically into an endgame where it was 3 vs 1 pieces. Black valiantly attempted to play on, but on move 22, it became obvious that all hope was lost and resigned. Black had no forward movement possible and were on the verge of losing more pawns. Emotional damage, good game, GG!

The big takeaway from this game is to try the von Hennig Gambit against the Caro-Kann Defense. Whether you play the “oh no, my queen!” trap or the “grown up” Bxf7+, you’re likely to have a good time and a fun game!

Game: https://www.chess.com/game/live/11622...