Chess Opening Theory/1. d4/1...Nf6/2. e4

An unconventional move, White offers Black their e4 pawn.

After 2...Nxe4, taking the free pawn, White has two continuations.

• 3. Bd3 kicks the knight back while developing a piece. White hopes a developmental edge and a half-open e-file is compensation for the pawn
• 3. Nc3, offering a trade of knights and recapturing with the b pawn. The gambit's pioneer, Clyde Nakamura, characterised the chief compensation of this line being that Black's kingside was without the knight to defend it.

This gambit is considered unsound, as neither of these continuations offers sufficient compensation for the loss of White's central pawn. If Black is feeling generous however, they can decline the gambit with 2...d6 and transpose into a Pirc.

The earliest appearance of the gambit was in a 1906 game between George Hutton and Alfred Axtell.^[1]

Clyde Nakamura, who pioneered the gambit in 1985, said he christened it Omega after The Omega Man, a Charlton Heston movie. Nakamura refers to the 3. Nc3 continuation as the "mainline" Omega gambit, and the 3. Bd3 variation as the Arafat gambit after Abdel Arafat who played it a few times in the 80s.^[2]

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation.

1. d4 Nf6 2. e4

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