The Deferred Schliemann Gambit + PGN Sep 04, 2025

Set the Board on Fire
with a Gambit Even GMs Can’t Refute

Not everyone has the patience for a Berlin endgame. Some players just want to watch the board burn — and against the Ruy Lopez, the Deferred Schliemann Gambit is the perfect accelerant.

While the regular Schliemann Gambit is already uncommon, its deferred version is rarer still, but perhaps also deadlier. It gives White countless ways to go wrong, punishes inaccuracies mercilessly, and leads to sharp, fiery positions where Black calls the shots.

Praggnanandhaa pulled out this surprise weapon in the 2024 Candidates Tournament. And even though Vidit knew the best continuation, a couple of small inaccuracies were enough for Black’s initiative to take over completely.

Let’s see the beginning of the game that inspired this course:

One advantage over the normal Schliemann:
White has to play extremely precisely and open
the position just to get anything out of the opening.
But that gives the b7-bishop maximum firepower.

If even a world-class player can’t fight off this gambit in the most critical line, you can imagine the kind of problems waiting for unprepared or weaker opponents.

Some of your opponents will fall back on the moves they know from the regular Schliemann Gambit, only to realize too late that in the deferred version, those moves don’t do them any favors:

If White plays Nc3, a typical move against the
regular Schliemann, you’ll claim the entire center.

White’s path to a good position is surprisingly narrow. Often there’s only a single option to claim even a small advantage, and the best moves are anything but obvious.

White even has to be ready to sacrifice a piece just to get the best counterplay — a risky decision not everyone will dare to make. If White doesn’t know the details by heart, they’ll quickly lose the thread in the chaos that follows. And in these sharp positions, mistakes are especially costly:

One recurring motif is the bishop getting trapped on b3.
Another common danger for White is grabbing material on the kingside.
A temptation that often proves fatal.

An Opening That Feels Like Puzzle Rush!

Opposite-side castling, attacks, sacrifices, poisoned pawns and other traps: You’ll get everything you want from a sharp opening, making your real games feel like a round of Puzzle Rush.

Let’s see two examples:

The e-pawn was poisoned! If White is unaware
of these kinds of tactics, they will collapse quickly.

The d4-pawn is often immune to capture as well due to a motif called
“Noah’s Ark Trap”, leaving the bishop with nowhere to go.

You’ll be playing a system you’re almost certain to know better than your opponent.

The only reasonable way for White to avoid the Deferred Schliemann is with the Exchange Variation (4.Bxc6), which is not particularly ambitious. Still, it is fully covered in the course, and you can be sure to learn equally challenging lines against it, often spicing things up with queenside castling.

Here’s a summary of what you’ll get:

🔥 A complete repertoire against the Ruy Lopez, including the Exchange Variation
🔥 A rare version of an already rare weapon
🔥 Fully annotated variations, chapter introductions, and model games
🔥 Puzzle chapter with common tactics

You won’t be left alone with your preparation: FM Christoph von Puttkamer, author of the popular Tournament Ready Taimanov and Hybrid Grunfeld-Slav, will guide you through this turbulent opening with over 5 hours of clear and practical video instruction, and he’ll also be available to answer your questions in the course forum.

As a seasoned Chessable author, he is renowned for uncovering hidden possibilities in familiar openings and turning them into weapons your opponents won’t be ready for. Now he brings you this dangerous, little-explored approach to take on one of White’s most popular openings.