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In my last video, I introduced the lovely Jaenisch Gambit, which is the aggressive f5 immediately against the Ruy Lopez. As mentioned, in the realm of beginner-intermediate online chess, this is the only response where Black has a clear win advantage over White.

In that video, I explored what to do for two common responses by White:

• If they decline the gambit (e.g., d3), then capture the e-pawn with your f-pawn, fxe4. This opens the f-file, so then develop the king’s knight and bishop, castle, and your rook stares down the f-file.
• If they accept the gambit (exf5), then push the e-pawn to e4 with an immediate attack on the knight. This knight will have no good squares (just like a reverse Vienna Gambit Accepted) and you’ll either win tempo or material.

Today, I played another game of the Jaenisch Gambit where my opponent seemingly ignored the gambit by capturing my knight on c6 with their bishop (Bxc6). This is the “exchange variation” of the Jaenisch Gambit and I basically couldn’t remember what to do! Well, the next couple of moves are kind of obvious – take the bishop with the d-pawn – dxc6. And White will now probably capture the undefended e5 pawn in typical Ruy Lopez fashion.

Importantly, these three responses by White – d3 & exf5 & Bxc6 – are the top three and the majority of all responses.

So, what should we do in the exchange variation? In the actual game, I didn’t find the correct move, which is by far and away, Qd4. According to the Lichess community database, Black wins 65% of games from this position and Black pretty much has to just play logical looking moves against what White throws its way as you can see in the video. Brilliant!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/50114362629

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.06.27"]
[Round "?"]
[White "drjnv"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C63"]
[WhiteElo "1146"]
[BlackElo "1186"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "17:33:23 PDT"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. Nxe5 fxe4 6. O-O Nf6 7. d3 exd3 8. Bg5 dxc2 9. Qxc2 Be7 10. Bxf6 Bxf6 11. Qe4 O-O 12. Qc4+ Qd5 13. Qxd5+ cxd5 14. Nd3 Bf5 15. Rd1 Bxd3 16. Rxd3 Bxb2 0-1