Italian Game: Evans Gambit

also known as: Evans

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4

Named after

Captain William Davies Evans (1790–1872), a Welsh sea captain who also invented colored signal lights for shipping.

Origin

Conceived around 1827, reputedly while Evans commanded a mail steamer between Milford Haven and Waterford; he beat Alexander McDonnell with it in London, 1829.

The story

A sailor with time to think at sea produced the most romantic pawn sacrifice in chess: 4.b4!? offers a wing pawn to drag the bishop off course and build a monster center with tempo. It became the darling of the 19th century — the Evergreen Game, Anderssen's immortal attacking masterpiece of 1852, is an Evans — until Lasker's defensive method cooled it. Then in 1995 Garry Kasparov played it against Anand and Piket, won brilliantly, and proved the old captain's idea still bites even in the computer age.

Why it matters

The purest lesson in time-versus-material in the open games: White invests a pawn for two tempi and a broad center. Its rise, refutation and rebirth trace the entire history of attacking theory.

Notable games

• Anderssen–Dufresne, Berlin 1852 (the Evergreen Game)
• Kasparov–Anand, Riga 1995