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This gambit is named after Carl Ferdinand von Jaenisch, a Finnish chess player from the 19th century who helped develop the theory around this opening, among others. This is now my go to response to the Ruy Lopez Opening and today, I finally had a game of the Jaenisch Gambit where it went really well! Previously, my Jaenisch Gambit games have been a little messy as I couldn’t quite remember the opening lines or the overall strategy. This was a beautiful game that was “almost perfect”- an accuracy of 96% according to the chess.com engine!

In this game, my opponent declined the Jaenisch Gambit with d3 (4. d3), which is one of the best responses for White. Remembering my theory, the best response here is to exchange pawns, which opens up the f-file (4… fxe4).

From this point onwards, there are some striking similarities between the Jaenisch Gambit for Black and the Vienna Gambit (Falkbeer) with White. One of the strategic themes is to take advantage of the semi-open f-file by developing the king-side pieces, and then castling that side. This places the rook in a commanding position controlling the f-file. Then, place more pressure down that file, especially against the weak f2 pawn. The dark squared bishop, the knight on g6, and the queen are all potentially well placed to make an attack.

My opponent played well but was perhaps a little unfamiliar with the Jaenisch Gambit. He was another Australian player, and we discussed the game using the chat function on chess.com after the match. He lost some tempo moving his rook out of the defence of the f2 pawn, and then having to move it back as the formation and intent of my attack became clear. Things get a bit tricky when there are multiple pieces attacking the king’s position and my opponent made a critical error capturing one of my pieces with their g-pawn, opening their king’s defences. They resigned two moves later with an impending mate in 1. GG!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/52448980527

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.07.25"]
[Round "-"]
[White "ReubenJFraser"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[CurrentPosition "r4r1k/ppp3pp/3p4/2bNp1q1/2B1P1b1/3Q4/PPP2P1P/R4RK1 b - -"]
[Timezone "UTC"]
[ECO "C63"]
[ECOUrl "https://www.chess.com/openings/Ruy-Lopez-Opening-Jaenisch-Gambit-4.d3-fxe4-5.dxe4-Nf6-6.O-O"]
[UTCDate "2022.07.25"]
[UTCTime "00:44:02"]
[WhiteElo "1286"]
[BlackElo "1265"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]
[StartTime "00:44:02"]
[EndDate "2022.07.25"]
[EndTime "00:57:26"]
[Link "https://www.chess.com/game/live/52448980527"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 f5 {(Beginning of the Jaenisch Gambit in the Ruy Lopez Opening)} 4. d3 fxe4 5. dxe4 Nf6 6. O-O Bc5 7. Nc3 O-O 8. Bc4+ Kh8 9. Re1!? {(Black is going to place pressure down the semi-open f-file and weak f2 pawn.  Removing a defender of the f-pawn is a mistake.)} 9... d6 10. Nd5 Ng4 (10... Nxd5 11. exd5 Nd4 12. Nxd4 Bxd4 {[%c_arrow
d4f2;keyPressed;none;from;d4;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false,f8f2;keyPressed;none;from;f8;opacity;0.8;to;f2;persistent;false][%c_highlight
f2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;f2;persistent;false] (Black is in a great position at the end of the trades with a nice attack}) 11. Rf1 Nd4 12. Bg5? {(This is a mistake as Nxf3 comes with check)} 12... Nxf3+ 13. gxf3?? {(This was a critical blunder, opening up the hole in the king's defence)} (13. Qxf3 {(White should have captured with their queen)} 13... Rxf3 14. Bxd8 Rxf2 15. Rxf2 Bxf2+ {(At the end of this alternate sequence of trades, black is slightly better [-1.15]}) 13... Qxg5 14. fxg4 Bxg4 15. Qd3?? {[%c_effect
h8;square;h8;type;Winner,g1;square;g1;type;ResignWhite] (A blunder with [-M1]
next turn)} (15. Qd3 Bf3# {[%c_arrow
g5g1;keyPressed;none;from;g5;opacity;0.8;to;g1;persistent;false,f3h1;keyPressed;none;from;f3;opacity;0.8;to;h1;persistent;false][%c_highlight
g1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g1;persistent;false,h1;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;h1;persistent;false,g2;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g2;persistent;false,g3;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g3;persistent;false,g4;keyPressed;none;opacity;0.8;square;g4;persistent;false]}) 0-1