Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit
Opening course for Black · ECO A40
The Danish spirit against 1.d4.
1.d4 players sign up for slow, structured games. 1...e5 tears the form up on move one: no London System (2.Bf4 is impossible), no Queen's Gambit setup, and after 2.dxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 Black has the Danish trade in reverse, a pawn for a development lead and open lines. The course follows the published treatments of the gambit, FM Stefan Bücker's Englund work and GM Igor Smirnov's Hartlaub-Charlick analysis, with every line re-checked by Stockfish. The honest bill is under a pawn in the accepted lines; the practical bill for White is a sharp game they never wanted.
- Chapters
- 4
- Lines
- 8
- Traps
- 1
- Sources
- 2
Nothing to review. Learn the next line.
Next: The gambit in one breath, against White takes everything.
Part of your daily work.
- Learn
- Walk the line with the coach, a note on the moves that need one.
- Recall
- Play it from memory. Learned lines come back on a schedule.
- Tempo
- The same line against the clock, for a score to beat.
- Off book
- The opponent leaves the book with a real move; Stockfish prices your answers.
Before the moves: the big ideas
The Danish, mirrored
Same currency as your White repertoire: material for time. One pawn buys the d6-bishop's diagonal toward h2, fast castling, and open central files while White's queenside still sleeps.
It cancels White's whole repertoire
After 1...e5 there is no London (2.Bf4 no longer exists as a plan), no Catalan, no slow Queen's Gambit. Whatever White studied this morning, it is not happening today.
The honest ledger
Stockfish says roughly minus 0.8 for Black in the accepted main line and about a pawn and a half if White declines precisely with 3.Nf3. That is the price tag; this is a practical weapon, not a claim of equality. Play it when you want the fight, with numbers you know in advance.
The battery and the storm
The system: knights to f6 and c6, bishop to g4, queen to e7, castle long. Your d8-rook then stands behind the d6-bishop, aimed at White's queen, and the bishop leaves the file with check on h2. When White defends correctly, the h-pawn storms the short-castled king instead. Both plans live in the accepted chapter.
The lines, chapter by chapter
In learning order. The coach serves review one line a day; open any line yourself when you want it now.
Start Here: The Offer
1 line
Three moves each and the whole idea is on the board: e5 offered, d6 offered, and the bishop recaptures with a diagonal pointed at White's future king.
Accepted: The Attack System
3 lines
The system this gambit exists for: knights to c6 and f6, bishop to g4, queen to e7, and the king castles long. The d8-rook then stands behind your d6-bishop, staring at White's queen, and the bishop leaves that file with check. The pieces can arrive in more than one order; what matters is the destination. Three tracks: the trap when White castles into it, the storm when White defends precisely, and the solid track against an early knight raid.
Declined: 3.Nf3, the Engine's Choice
1 line
The strongest reply per Stockfish is not taking twice but holding the extra pawn with 3.Nf3, at around a pawn and a half for White. Know the price, then make the position as awkward as possible: that is what a practical gambit means.
Quiet Declines
3 lines
Some White players refuse the whole conversation: 2.e3, 2.d5 or 2.Nf3. Each hands back the initiative or the structure; none should cost you a second of worry.
Puzzles from this opening
The Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit in brief
The Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6, and it is filed under ECO A40. This course teaches it from Black's side in 8 drills across 4 chapters, with a coach note on the moves that need one, every position checked with Stockfish at depth 20, and every plan credited to the author who wrote it down.
Lines you will drill
- The gambit in one breath against White takes everything
- The h2 thunderbolt against 8.O-O??, castling into it
- The storm against the precise 9.Nd4
- The solid track against 5.Nc3 and 6.Nb5, before you castle
- The pawn keeper against 3.Nf3, holding e5
- The symmetrist against 2.e3, keeping it closed
- The space grab against 2.d5, pushing past
- The transposer against 2.Nf3, defending d4
Questions
- What is the Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit?
- The Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit is the chess opening that begins 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6, filed under ECO A40. The Danish spirit against 1.d4. 1...e5 tears the form up on move one: no London System (2.Bf4 is impossible), no Queen's Gambit setup, and after 2.dxe5 d6 3.exd6 Bxd6 Black has the Danish trade in reverse, a pawn for a development lead and open lines.
- How do you learn the Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit?
- This course splits it into 8 drills across 4 chapters. You play each line from Black's side against a coach note that explains the move, then the same lines come back on a spaced-repetition schedule until you can play them without prompting. Every position is verified with Stockfish at depth 20 before it ships.