 | The player who uses the Sicilian, as I do, as his main defense to 1.e4
must of necessity confront the Smith-Morra Gambit. It is important to
take this gambit seriously: consider the well known case of Grandmaster
and world Champion ship Candidate Svetozar Gligoric, who gave up a
Gambit Accepted draw to the virtually unknow Pokojowczyk in 1971 (see
the notes Game 2). |
Not wishing to share Gligoric's grief, I have seriously studied the
black counters to the Gambit for twenty years. I believe my results
speak for themselves: six wins, no draws, no losses. I defeated such
opponents as current US Champion Patrick Wolff (though the game was
played long before he won that title), IM Jim Rizzitano, and various
amateur gambit specialist. Also, in a game specially played for this
book, I defeated my Zarkov chess computer. If I learned one thing from
these games, it is that black must attack. Passive play may allow White
to work up adequate pressure for the pawn. Black must strive to take
over the initiative at the earliest point. ~ Tim Taylor.
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