Budapest

The Budapest Gambit is the courageous attempt by Black to seize the initiative right from the second move and to achieve active play for his pieces. Instead of patiently preparing ...e5, as e.g. in the Old Indian or in the King’s Indian, Black simply plays that move as a pawn sacrifice, which in the event of 3.dxe5 causes disruption to White’s pawn structure. The gambit became better known and more popular when Milan Vidmar defeated Akiba Rubinstein with it in the Berlin Tournament of 1918 and when as a result other grandmasters such as Tartakower and Spielmann took up Black’s idea. The main line of the gambit arises after 3.dxe5 Ng4, but 3...Ne4 – the Fajarowicz Gambit – deserves a mention too.