Sunday, December 26, 2010

Budapest Fajarowicz (A51) Webliography





It seemed about time to do a Budapest Fajarowicz (A51) Webliography and Bibliography, if only because there has been such a proliferation of good material on this opening in recent years.  And the Fajarowicz deserves the attention it is getting, since it is a fascinating line, especially at the amateur level.  In the regular Budapest Defense, Black generally recovers his pawn following 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ng4 since the only way for White to hang onto it is by making major positional concessions with moves like 4.f4?!  But in the Fajarowicz with 3.dxe5 Ne4!? Black generally foresakes his pawn and focuses instead on rapid development and tactical threats.  Often, after exchanges, Black will eventually be able to recover the e-pawn in normal Budapest fashion to achieve an equal game, but this is rarely the second player's prime motivation for playing 3...Ne4.  


The line was first developed by Sammi Fajarowicz (1908-1940), a Jewish chessplayer who lived in Leipzig through the beginning of WWII and died of tuberculosis under the terrible conditions of Hitler's Germany.  He played a number of games (not all successful) with the line in the late 1920s and early 1930s (see, for instance, Glig - Fajarowicz, Bautzen 1929).  


I became interested in the Fajarowicz rather indirectly from researching the "Reversed Faj" positions that can arise from 1.e4 c5 2.f4 d5 3.Nf3 dxe4 4.Ne5!? and I became intrigued enough to make this an occasional weapon and a third way (besides 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6 and 2...Nc6) of sidestepping lines of the King's Indian when White does not commit to Nf3.  I'm not sure the Faj is really sound, but it can definitely be fun and its tactical themes are worth knowing.


As always, I invite additions to this list from readers in the comments section below.


Budapest Gambit (A51) at Chessgames.com
A useful collection of games and a good place to start for players looking for ideas.


Jim West, New Jersey Open, Day 2 (2010)
Features his game against Ippolito using the Fajarowicz.


Jeremy Silman, The Blunder Gland and the Fajarowicz at Chess.com (2010)
A strong argument for White's chances, especially after 4.a3, but featuring other tries as well.


Lev Gutman, "The Real Fajarowicz-Richter Gambit, Part IV" in New in Chess Yearbook #97 (2010)


Lev Gutman, "The Real Fajarowicz-Richter Gambit, Part III" in New in Chess Yearbook #94 (2010)


Tim Taylor, The Budapest Gambit (Everyman 2009)
After several chapters giving a thorough and positive treatment of 3...Ng4, IM Taylor has a brief chapter on the Faj in which he claims that 4.Nd2 is pretty much the refutation.  Reviewed by Harding and Hansen.


Lev Gutman, "The Real Fajarowicz-Richter Gambit, Part II" in New in Chess Yearbook #92 (2009)


Lev Gutman, "The Real Fajarowicz-Richter Gambit, Part I" in New in Chess Yearbook #91 (2009)


Arthur Kogan, "The Budapest Gambit Can Still Surprise!" in SOS #8 (2008)
GM Kogan presents an ambitious (if sometimes optimistic) Fajarowicz Gambit repertoire based on his own games.


Viktor Moskalenko, The Fabulous Budapest Gambit (New in Chess 2007)
A fabulous book for Budapest fans, though it only has a relatively short section on the Fajarowicz.  Reviewed by Hansen.


AMM, Fajarowicz, 4...d6!? posted in the ChessPub forum (2007)
An interesting analysis and discussion of 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.Nf3 d6!?


Jim West, Budapest Defense, Fajarowicz Variation (2007)
NM West offers up three of his games with the line without annotations.


Jim West, Fajarowicz Analysis (2007)
Discusses how he was inspired to play the Faj by Harding's book and then analyzes several games with the line.  Also in Atlantic Chess News (September 2007): 15ff.


Gary Lane, Opening Lanes #99 (2007)
Focuses on the line 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Ne4 4.a3 Qh4!? which tends to backfire on Black despite the tricks it contains.


ECO Chess (2007)
A collection of 100 Faj games through 2007.


Knaak, Budapest-Fajarowicz Gambit A51 in ChessBase Magazine #119 
Focused on the critical 4.a3 line, recommending 4...b6.


Jyrki Heikkinen, Fajarowicz win over a GM (2006)
A short blog post with java replay game in the critical 4.a3 Nc6 line.


Dany Senechaud, Le Gambit Fajarowicz (Mjae 2005)
Simply a collection of classic Black wins, but covering all of the main lines from Black's perspective.


Steve Goldberg, Scholastic Chess #11 at ChessCafe (2005)
Features a lovely Faj attacking game vs. 4.a3.


The Budapest Fajarowicz (A51) by Susan Polgar and Paul Truong Chess Life (April 2005): 44-45.
A useful two-age introduction to the gambit, covering the most critical lines.


Dmitrij Oleinikov, Budapest Gambit CD 2nd edition (ChessBase 2005)


Lev Gutman, "A Study in Analysis - Fajarowicz Gambit" in New in Chess Yearbook #70 (2004)


Lev Gutman, Budapest Fajarowicz: The Past and the Future of the Fajarowicz - Richter Gambit (Batsford 2004)
Available from USCF Sales, reviewed by Seagaard, Elburg, and Hansen.  By far the most thorough analysis of the Faj, offering useful lines for both players.  Though this is an indispensable reference work, especially for correspondence players, it is not what I would recommend to anyone trying to learn the line for the first time.  The Faj is actually pretty simple, with just a few themes to learn and a few critical lines, and Gutman's book can be quite intimidating.


Lev Gutman, 83 Games with the Fajarowicz gambit in ChessBase Magazine #90 
Try buying through ChessCafe.


Tim Harding, Playing the Budapest in Budapest (2001)
Features a nice game in the Faj played by the author in a theme tournament in the city that gives the defense its name.


Kjell Krantz, "Fajarowic Gambit, Bonsdorff Variation with 4...b6," Kaissiber #16 (2001)


Stefan Buecker, "Fajarowicz Gambit,"  Kaissiber #16 (2001)


Gary Lane, Opening Lanes #21 at ChessCafe (2000)

Gary Lane, Opening Lanes #20 at ChessCafe (2000)
Offers to refute 4.a3 Qh4 but thinks 4...d6 an improvement.

Bogdan Lalic, The Budapest Gambit (Batsford 1998)


Tim Harding, How Stands the Faj? at ChessCafe (1997)
An encouraging account of the Fajarowicz by the author of an early book on the line.


Tim Harding, The Fighting Fajarowicz (Chess Digest 1996)
This book precipitated the renewed interest in the Faj and encouraged quite a few masters to try it.  Available from the reliable ChessCafe and from Edward Labate (who has posted images).


Niels Joergen Jensen, Fajarowicz-gambit 1.d4 Sf6 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 Se4! (Eleprint 1995)


John Donaldson articles Inside Chess (1990)


Otto Borik, The Budapest Gambit (Batsford 1986)


Tim Harding, Counter Gambits (1975), pp 123-124 -- available through Google Books.
An early analysis of the Faj in an interesting collection by Harding, where he gives both 2...e5?! and 3...Ne4?! dubious marks.


A more complete bibliography can be found on page 287 of Lev Gutman's thorough Budapest Fajarowicz, listed above.

2 comments:

katar said...

FYI, Peter Lalic has posted a video here http://www.chessvideos.tv/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7380 and also at Youtube where his username is DraganLalic.

Michael Goeller said...

Jim West posted Pete Tamburro's notes to his Faj game against Christopher Potts:

http://jimwestonchess.blogspot.com/2020/02/tamburro-anayzes-potts-west-usate-2019.html