CHESS: THE ELEPHANT GAMBIT

The Elephant Gambit was played against me in one of my blitz games on chess.com. I can't recall how I fared but I remember being surprised and it's certainly a good choice by Black when playing blitz chess. The essential position is shown below:

Here is an interesting video of a game involving this gambit that was played in the middle of the nineteenth century:

There is an interesting collection of games involving the elephant gambit on chessgames.com, all involving wins for Black. Here is the most recent game shown on that site:

[Event "Russian Team Championships"] [Site "Sochi RUS"] [Date "2012.04.10"] [EventDate "2012.04.09"] [Round "2"] [Result "0-1"] [White "Alexej Gorbatov"] [Black "Pavel Skatchkov"] [ECO "C40"] [WhiteElo "2363"] [BlackElo "2486"] [PlyCount "110"] 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. d4 dxe4 4. Nxe5 Bd6 5. Bf4 Nf6 6. Bc4 O-O 7. Nc3 Nc6 8. Nxc6 bxc6 9. Bg5 Bf5 10. O-O h6 11. Bh4 Re8 12. Re1 Rb8 13. a3 Bf4 14. b3 e3 15. f3 Qd6 16. g3 e2 17. Nxe2 Be3+ 18. Kg2 g5 19. g4 Nxg4 20. Bg3 Nf2 21. Bxf2 Bxf2 22. Rf1 Be3 23. Ng3 Bg6 24. c3 c5 25. dxc5 Qxc5 26. Qd5 Rbd8 27. Qxc5 Rd2+ 28. Kh3 Bxc5 29. b4 Bd6 30. Ra2 Rxa2 31. Bxa2 Re3 32. Kg4 Rxc3 33. Bb1 Rxa3 34. Bxg6 fxg6 35. Ne4 Bf4 36. Kh3 Rb3 37. Rf2 Rxb4 38. Nf6+ Kf7 39. Nd5 Rd4 40. Nxf4 Rxf4 41. Kg3 Rb4 42. Rc2 Rb7 43. Rc6 a5 44. Ra6 c5 45. Rxa5 Rc7 46. Kf2 c4 47. Ke2 c3 48. Kd1 c2+ 49. Kc1 Rc3 50. Ra2 h5 51. Rxc2 Rxf3 52. Kd1 Re3 53. Rf2+ Kg7 54. Kd2 Ra3 55. Kc1 g4 0-1

Certainly an interesting game as well. 365chess.com has a useful analysis of the main variants of this opening:

As the chart shows, 3.exd5 or 3.Nxe5 offer the best chances for White and by clicking on the possibilities in the left-hand column, the common moves in these sub-variants can be explored. For example, 3.exd5 leads to these main variations:

Clearly, Black must proceed with either 3...e4 or 3...Bd6 or else the future looks grim. I like the layout of the 365chess.com website, it's very easy to navigate.