Blackburne Shilling Gambit
C50 · Played as black · Beginner · Traps & Tricks
Offer a free pawn and mate on move seven when White takes it
The main line
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nd4 4.Nxe5 Qg5 5.Nxf7 Qxg2 6.Rf1 Qxe4+ 7.Be2 Nf3#
Strategic ideas
- Play the objectively bad …Nd4 purely to invite Nxe5
- Answer Nxe5 with …Qg5, forking the knight and the g2-pawn
- Let White grab the rook on h8 while Black grabs the whole kingside
- Finish with …Nf3 mate, delivered by a knight that never left the queenside diagonal
- Know that a good White player just plays 4.Nxd4 or 4.c3 and is simply better
Key themes
- Tactics — The entire opening is one trap — there's no positional idea behind it at all
- Counterattack — Black gives up material and every follow-up move is a threat White has to answer
- King Safety — White's king is still on e1 when the mate arrives on f3
Typical plans
Blackburne supposedly used this to win shillings from amateurs in Victorian pubs, which tells you exactly what it's for. Black plays …Nd4, which is a genuinely bad move, and offers the e5-pawn. If White grabs it, …Qg5 forks the knight on e5 and the g2-pawn, and the whole thing crashes through to a knight mate on f3. Against 4.Nxd4 or 4.c3 White is simply better and Black has nothing. It's a pure gamble on White being greedy — and at club level, White usually is.
Move by move
- e4 — White claims the centre.
- e5 — Black meets it symmetrically.
- Nf3 — White develops, attacking e5.
- Nc6 — Black defends the pawn.
- Bc4 — White develops toward f7, a normal Italian Game.
- Nd4 — Black plays the Shilling. The knight moves twice to a square where it's attacked, and e5 is now hanging. It's a bad move — and it's bait.
- Nxe5 — White takes the free pawn. This is the greedy, natural move, and it loses. 4.Nxd4 or 4.c3 leaves White simply better.
- Qg5 — Black forks the e5-knight and the g2-pawn. Suddenly White has no good move at all.
- Nxf7 — White grabs f7 with a fork on the queen and rook — the natural try, and the second mistake.
- Qxg2 — Black ignores it and takes on g2, hitting the rook and opening lines at White's king.
- Rf1 — White must move the rook.
- Qxe4+ — Black takes the pawn with check, and now the queen rakes the whole board.
- Be2 — White blocks with the bishop — the only way to meet the check.
- Nf3# — Black mates on f3. The knight that started this whole mess on move three delivers the finish, and White's king never left e1.