In this lesson, I’m excited to share with you an aggressive chess opening gambit for White against the Sicilian Defense. It is called the Mengarini Variation which happens after the following moves: 1.e4 c5 2.a3. The gambit occurs when White sacrifices their pawn after 2…Nc6 3.b4 cxb4 4.axb4 Nxb4.

The Mengarini Variation is a tricky gambit that will confuse a lot of your opponents. It gives a great attacking initiative for White. Even the 16th world champion Magnus Carlsen has played this opening in the World Blitz Chess Championship and won that game.

Most importantly, the most played moves of Black gives White a winning advantage; yes, White has more than 70% win rates in all those variations!

Carlsen’s Mengarini Variation Video Lesson

Watch the video analysis and learn how Magnus Carlsen used this seemingly trivial opening to punish the Sicilian Defense. Further, you can use the ideas from this opening when you face the Sicilian Defense in your own games.

You can find the PGN of this opening variation below:

Explore the Chess Openings Lesson Guide to find lessons organized by opening strategies. Improve your play from the first moves with a clear, topic-based approach.

Chess opening with tricks and traps are great to learn as they can give you quick and easy wins. However, many players will not fall for the same trap twice. Hence, you cannot rely on the traps alone. In order to improve in chess, you need more than tricks, you need a strong foundation.

If you want to learn all the fundamental things about chess, then you need to check out Level Up Your Chess. This course has six sections covering, not just the opening, middlegame and endgame. It also covers how to avoid blunders and how to study and train effectively.

And my big promise in this course is that studying just one section is enough to boost your chess rating. So, go ahead and check it out.