Does anyone here play the Albin Countergambit? In my quest to learn how to attack by playing open, tactical games, I've been thinking of trying it against the QGD.

At the tournament I'm playing in this weekend, the book vendor has two books that spend about 50-60 pages each on this gambit - "Gambiteer II" by Nigel Davies and "Unusual Queen's Gambit Declined" by Chris Ward. I'm considering getting one of them, but I'm not sure which one. Does anyone know either of these books or have any recommendations?

--Fromper

I used to play the Albin Counter gambit but have since switched to the QGD Orthodox defense. The Orthodox is better than the Albin Counter in my opionion but definately more passive.

Back to the Albin; I have never read either of thoes books and can't say, they are both probably fine. May be I would pick Unusuall Queens Gambit Declined because you won't find many variations on 1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5 (Keres Defense) anywhere else. However If you are in to gambits than may be the Gambiteer is the best choice (maby you will look at the rest of the book some day?!).

"The complete Guide to Chess Stradegy" by Jeremy Silman has a great section on the Albin Counter. This section is only two-three pages however so it does not go into a great deal of depth. There is a great way to study openings in my opionion which is to get a book like Silmans and read about the ideas behind the openings and then trying them out and after the game looking in somthing like Basic Chess Openings; in this way you should learn enough about your opening. Unfortunately the rest of Silmans book isn't very good, its worth it though just for the opening part.

I hope that helped. I think you used to play the Enguland gambit right? Well here is a game with a Engulnd/Budapest Gambit opening between two masters (I think in the Netherlands), this might be the shortest master game of all time. Unfortunately I can't remember their names. 1. d4 Nf6 2. Nd2 e5 3. de5 Ng4 4. h3 Ne3 0-1

Yes, I play a variation of the Englund Gambit now. That's why I'm looking for something a little sounder, while still giving an open, tactical game, which is why I'm looking at the Albin.

I ended up buying the Unusual QGD book by Ward. I was looking at the books at the tournament yesterday, then posted last night and didn't have time to wait for responses before picking which one to buy at the tourney today.

I just looked at both of them for 10 minutes between games today and decided to give the book by Ward a try. I'm not really interested in the other gambits in the Gambiteer book, but the other stuff in the Unusual QGD book looked like stuff I might try. And I'm just playing lots of gambits right now to learn how to attack, but I think I'm more of a quiet, positional player by nature, so there's a decent chance that I'll end up playing the Queen's Gambit as white eventually, in which case knowing something about these lines might be good for me at that point.

Besides, the Ward book was cheaper and printed on better paper.

--Fromper

Here's a couple links at the Kenilworthian that got me started with it:

Albin Counter Gambit Bibliography

The Albin Counter Gambit: Morozevich-Mengarini Variation

The first one has some books and a number of web resources including several annotated game links.

Now that I bought that book and started looking through it, it's gotten me curious about the Baltic Defense (1. d4 d5 2. c4 Bf5), which is also covered there. I may actually end up trying that before the Albin.

--Fromper

I like the QGD Chigorin Defense (1.d4 d5 2.c4 Nc6). It is much better than its reputation: it’s solid, develops with a direct effect on the center and offers a lot of piece play. The following is an example. White messed up with 7.c5 but the game is a good example of the kind of play available to Black.

http://chess.maribelajar.com/chesspu...?id=1183593534

The Chigorin is actually the third opening covered in the book I bought on unusual QGD lines (along with the Albin and Baltic). I've looked at the Chigorin before, and I might again. This book seems like a good investment for $17, since it covers all these openings I might try to get open, tactical games against the QGD.

--Fromper

What's the book's verdict on the Chigorin?

I don't know. I haven't read it yet. And I probably won't read the whole thing - just skim it for some main lines to try for myself. Besides, I think any of these openings are playable - I consider my opponent's verdict more important than the book theory on any opening.

--Fromper

The chigorin has something in it that appeals to me but I think you have to be a little bit to strong to play this defense.