I first encountered the Smith-Morra gambit, as the Morra was then called, through the efforts of its main and perhaps only supporter, the Texan entrepreneur Ken Smith, a chess and poker player who had earned the nickname “The Capablanca of the cattle country.’’ Smith had founded the publishing house Chess Digest, from which he put out a monthly magazine and published numerous pamphlets supporting a wide range of gambit openings.

Smith was a low-rated master but he was invited to play in the 1972 grandmaster tournament in San Antonio. The event was sponsored by Church’s Fried Chicken, whose founder, Bill Church, was a chess fan. Smith finished last, but one of his games provided the funniest annotation that I have ever encountered. The famous Danish grandmaster Bent Larsen, being very dismissive of the gambit, commented on Smith’s game versus Mario Campos Lopez of Mexico that after 1.e4 Campos Lopez’s 1…e6(?) (the venerable French) was a mistake as 1…c5 wins a pawn! The Smith-Morra got little respect at a high level, but it has been and remains a scourge at the weekend Swiss and club level.

Today’s game comes from the last round of the recent US Amateur Team East Championship in Parsippany, N.J. In this game, the author of this column tries the Smith-Morra against a young player from New York. With a fatigued last round, damm the torpedoes, attitude, White, hardly an expert in the opening, throws caution to the wind and just hopes he can find enough compensation for the pawn.

2016 US Amateur Team Championship East, Parsippany, N.J.

Chris Chase (2374) – Arjun Rai (1940)

1.e4 c5 2.d4 Here we go, the Smith-Morra gambit 2...cxd4 3.c3 dxc3!? Perhaps suspect these days. Former world champion Vishy Anand recently declined the pawn with 3…Nf6 in his game versus noted Morra player and author Marc Esserman at the Gibraltar tournament and was happy with a draw! Perhaps our young “A’’ player knows something that Anand didn’t? 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Bc4 e6 6.Nf3 a6 7.0–0 Qc7 8.Qe2!? Perhaps not the best. In Esserman’s fine book “Mayhem in the Morra’’ (Quality Chess Press, 2012), he suggests that 8.Re1 is better here with the not-so-subtle idea of 9.Nd5. 8...b5 9.Bb3 Maybe 9.Bd3 is better. 9...Nf6 Just inviting e5. 9...Bd6 is better and then putting his king’s knight on e7. 10.e5 Ng4 11.Bf4 d6? 11...f5 is necessary when after 12.h3 Nh6 13.Nh4!? is interesting. 12.Nd5! One of the few ideas I know in the Morra. 12...Qb8 13.exd6 Bxd6 14.Bxd6 Qxd6 15.Rfd1! Another idea I know is to gain tempos at Black’s expense and to avoid the Nd4 after say 15.Nb6 Nd4! winning. 15...Qb8 16.Rac1 Another free tempo. 16...Bd7 17.h3 To the dim, grim rim! 17...Nh6 18.Nf6+! A little trick that puts Black in a critical position. 18...gxf6 19.Qd2 Qc7? Almost any other square that protects the bishop is better. 20.Qxh6 The computer thinks this is winning position for White. It is hard to argue this as the extra pawn means nothing with his king stuck in the center. 20...Ke7 21.Nd4 Picking on the pin. 21...Rag8 22.Qe3 22.Bd5 also wins. 22...Rg5 Stopping the threatened 23.NxN BxN 24.Qc5+. 23.f4 Rh5 24.Bxe6! I could probably trap the rook with 24.g4 Rg8 25.Kf1 but this seemed much more interesting. 24...fxe625.Rxc6! Bxc6 26.Qxe6+ Kf8 27.Qxf6+ Kg8 28.Nxc6 Qb6+ 29.Kh2 h6 These days opponents are allowing you to mate them. When I started playing, when faced with an unstoppable mate, we would just resign. Not sure why this has changed. 30.Ne7+ Kh7 31.Qf7 mate; 1-0