Sacrificing early pawns for development speed or open attacking lines.
Why it matters
A gambit gives up a pawn to get something faster: development, open lines or the centre. It is a bet that a lead in development will produce more than a pawn before the opponent catches up.
Playing them well means knowing the bet has a deadline. The initiative from a gambit lasts a limited number of moves, and if nothing has been won by then, you are simply a pawn down.
See it on a board
The King's Gambit. Black is a pawn up; White has two centre pawns, an open f-file and a lead in development, and about ten moves to use them.
Checked: the position really has the feature described.
How to play it
- Give the pawn for something you can name: two tempi, an open file, or the centre.
- Play forcing moves while the lead lasts, and aim at the opponent's king or their inability to develop.
- As the defender, take the pawn, give it back at the right moment, and finish developing.
At each level
The same idea, said the way it is taught at each age.
Bishop · ages 5–7
A gambit trades a pawn for speed. If you take a gambit pawn, give it back later to finish developing rather than clinging to it.
Rook · ages 6–9
Decide the deadline before you play it. If your attack has not produced material or a permanent weakness in ten moves, the endgame is going to be a pawn down.
What goes wrong
- Grabbing a second pawn as the defender, and losing the game to the development gap.
- Playing a gambit and then making quiet moves, which hands the pawn back for nothing.
Questions people ask
- Are gambits sound?
- Some are and some are not, and at club level it matters less than whether you know the resulting positions. The player who has seen them before usually wins regardless of the engine's opinion.