A Practical Way to Challenge the Smith-Morra Gambit
Use the Tried and True Taylor Defense to Snatch the Pawn and ScoreNote: This blog post is a companion piece to a YouTube video I just released here:
If you dig this type of content, like and subscribe. Shoot me a message in the comments, I love the community building aspect to YouTube and try to respond to literally everything, silly or not!
Intro
I have been a Sicilian player nearly my entire chess career, from my initial rating of around 1500 USCF all the way up to now, 20 or so years later. And during that time, I have played a ton of Smith-Morra Gambits. For the pawn, White gets a pretty obvious lead in development and open lines. For a long time, I was pragmatic and just simply played 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 Nf6! (also what I recommended in my book "The Killer Sicilian: Fighting 1.e4 with the Kalashnikov"), which is a very reasonable way to shrink your already thick Sicilian repertoire down a bit and stay safe versus the maniacs that want to chuck away a center pawn so early. But do a little research (for instance in the lichess opening explorer) and you'll see that Black actually scores amazingly after accepting the pawn in a few lines. Consider the Taylor Defense (6...a6) below:
Now how's 3...Nf6 looking? Now you might start to think it may be worth your time to book up a bit and snatch up that pawn on offer - if you play 6...a6, your average score against the Morra would be around 65% as Black.
The Taylor Defense in a Nutshell
The Taylor Defense is as follows: 1.e4 c5 2.d4 cxd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nc6 5.Nf3 d6 6.Bc4 and now the key move 6...a6. The basic ideas are as follows:
1. Playing 6...Nf6?! right away allows the unpleasant 7.e5! - not to be recommended.
2. By delaying the very common ...e6, Black retains the option of going ...Bg4 which is extremely useful.
One thing worth mentioning about the Smith-Morra is that many club players want to play it like a system opening, e.g. the London, KIA, and so on. They want to place their pieces on the same squares regardless. Indeed, that's even how I was taught the Smith-Morra many years ago when I asked my coach to explain the ideas. He basically said you play O-O, Qe2, Rfd1, and you look to break with e5. All well and good, but the Taylor Defense specifically cuts across the plan very effectively, since ...Bg4 completely diffuses this plan.
See the intro here, which explains the moves leading up to the critical position @ move 8:
Whites 8th Move Options
The overwhelming choice, especially at club level, will be 8.Qe2?, which as far as I'm concerned, is just a mistake. White has to be very careful to not end up just losing straight out of the opening in fact (see the analysis in the study for some beautiful attacking ideas). The main problem here is that not only does it allow 8...Bg4!, but it also loses a tempo if White feels compelled to go h3 and force ...Bxf3. Special attention should also be paid to the thematic maneuver ...Qd8-b8, when Black adds yet another attack to the critical e5-square, and removes the queen from any tricks along the d- and c-files. Later, Black can free her majesty and work up counterplay against the e4-pawn via ...b5 and ...Qb7.
That's why the savvier Morra Gambit players tend to flip the move order and start with 8.Bf4! - in this case White plays a useful and awaits ...Bg4, looking to go h3 right away and save a tempo after the immediate Qxf3 (instead of Qd1-e2xf3). I've elected to switch up the plan here and simply go 8...e6!? instead, a move that is solid and scantily covered by existing literature. It's also worth noting (not covered in the study or video) that there is a completely wild option here in 8.Bf4 e5!? 9.Ng5! exf4 10.Nxf7 and now either 10...Qd7 or 10...Qe7, followed by ...Ne5. A totally insane exchange sacrifice well worth exploring if you must push for the win!
The Verdict
I am not a player who thinks the Smith-Morra is a bad opening by the way. It's not refuted, and perhaps never will be. I do think however, that club players tend to play it rather lazily and that at least for the moment, this is very exploitable. See below for some interesting Smith-Morra games I've selected out of the database.
