Bill Wall
Center Game (1.e4 e5 2.d4)
This opening is one of the oldest openings in chess. White tries to break up Black’s central strongpoint at the expense of bringing out the Queen early or giving up a pawn. 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 [the Danish Gambit] dxc3 4.Nxc3 Nf6 5.Bc4 Nxe4 6.Bf4 Nxe4 7.Nd5 Qd8 8.Nxc7+ Ke7 9.Qd5 leads to mate (Wall - Duke, Internet 1997) 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 d6 6.Nf3 Nf6 7.O-O Nbd7 8.e5 Nxe5 9.Nxe5 dxe5?? [9…Be6 is a little better] 10.Bxf7+ Ke7 [10…Kxf7 11.Qxd8 wins the Queen] 11.Ba3+, now White wins the Queen after 11… Kxf7 12.Qxd8 (Gibbs - Davie, England 1916) 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 dxc3 4.Bc4 cxb2 5.Bxb2 Qg5 6.Nf3 Qxg2 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Rg1 Qh3 9.Ng5+ forking King and Queen (Wall - Van Guilder, Guam 1974) 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 d5 4.Qxd4 Nf6 5.Bg5 Be6 6.e5 h6 [better is 6…Nc6] 7.exf6 hxg5 8.fxg7 wins a piece (Kirby - Smith, Sunnyvale, CA 1985) 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 d5 4.exd5 Qxd5 5.Nf3 Nc6 6.Nxd4 Nxd4 7.cxd4 Nf6 8.Nc3 Bb4?? [the Queen must move] 9.Qa4+, winning the Bishop (Smith Cohn, Hanover 1902) Page 32