Dubov’s dynamite

When Daniil Dubov advanced his queen’s pawn in Batumi last month, he might as well have chewed the head off a bat and set fire to the board. For diehard chess fans, it was a true rock’n’roll moment, still more transgressive for being done in a team event on behalf of Mother Russia. The 23-year-old had just come from a grotty performance at his previous event. ‘They asked me to calm down and not play some ridiculous lines,’ he said with a grin.
 
His brazen sacrifice is steeped in history. In 1918, Frank Marshall unleashed the related gambit with 8… d5 against José Raúl Capablanca. Never mind that he was not the first to try it, and that Capablanca won the game: Marshall’s concept was vindicated in the long run. In 2019, that gambit bears his name and is universally respected. Indeed, experts playing White often prevent their opponents from using it. For example, Kasparov deployed the ‘Anti-Marshall’ move with 8 a4 three times against Short in their 1993 World Championship match.
 
Dubov, as Black, was faced with the same Anti-Marshall. The move 8 a4 threatens to dismantle the queenside, so advancing the queen’s pawn à la Marshall is out of the question. Well, that’s what they want you to think. So there were whoops and cheers when Dubov stuck it to the man and did it anyway.
 
The gambit was dynamite, but no doubt Dubov had tested it extensively and knew perfectly well what he was playing with. His research was perhaps inspired by another innovation from 2007, when a young Polish player Grzegorz Gajewski concocted his own similar gambit. That spectacular game is worth giving in full:
 
Viktor Kuznetsov–Grzegorz Gajewski
Pardubice 2007
 
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 d6 8 c3 O-O 9 h3 Na5 10 Bc2 d5 11 exd5 e4 12 Ng5 Nxd5 13 Nxe4 f5 14 Ng3 f4 15 Ne4 f3 16 d4 fxg2 17 Ng3 Qd6 18 Be4 Bb7 19 Nf5 Rxf5 20 Bxf5 Rf8 21 Re6 Rxf5 22 Rxd6 Bxd6 23 a4 Bg3 24 f3 Bf4 25 axb5 Bxc1 26 Rxa5 Nf4 27 Qe1 Bxf3 28 bxa6 Nxh3+ 29 Kh2 Bf4+ 30 Kxh3 g1=N+ 31 Qxg1 Rxa5 White resigns
 
Jonas Buhl Bjerre–Daniil Dubov
European Team Championship, October 2019
 
1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 a6 4 Ba4 Nf6 5 O-O Be7 6 Re1 b5 7 Bb3 O-O 8 a4 Instead 8 c3 d5 is the Marshall Attack 8…d5 Dubov’s gambit.