The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit

The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit offers a complete repertoire for Black after 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5!?, based on 3.exd5 Bd6 or 3.Nxe5 Bd6 4.d4 dxe4. Perhaps the boldest opening in all of chess theory, the Elephant sees Black sacrifice a pawn to obtain quick and active development, with most of his pieces pointing menacingly towards the enemy kingside. Attacking and other tactical resources abound, with a future ...e4-e3 advance often mauling White’s position like an Elephant’s tusk. With original analysis of all variations and improvements against all published “refutations”, this book contains everything you need to shock, surprise and stampede your opponents.

About the Author :
Jakob Aabling-Thomsen is a Danish international master and Elephant Gambit expert who is known for his attacking and uncompromising chess style. Michael Agermose Jensen is an experienced chess tournament competitor who has been playing and studying the Elephant Gambit since 1997.

Review :
"An extremely well-researched and enthusiastically-written book… the authors do a great job of squeezing out the maximum from Black's position and manage to make a convincing case for counterplay in most of the lines… A brief read of the book gave me an additional fun and high-scoring weapon in blitz (it is a particularly useful weapon against pre-moving Italian Game practitioners: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.Bc4!) and, since that's the only chess most of us are getting right now, this is probably as useful a book for the Internet age as any! Good fun, good weapon for blitz, 4 stars!" -- GM Matthew Sadler, New in Chess "An entertaining book with lots of analysis… Definitely the ultimate book on the Elephant Gambit… Is the Elephant Gambit correct? Probably not, but it's fun to play and difficult to handle as White." -- GM Sune Berg Hansen, Politiken "There are many videos and articles about the Elephant Gambit. However, nothing comes close to the quality of the content of the aforementioned book "The Exhilarating Elephant Gambit." … The authors Jakob Aabling-Thomsen and Michael Agermose Jensen have done a very good job! … If you're a big fan of the Elephant Gambit and nothing will stop you from playing your favorite gambit, you should check out the book." -- GM Avetik Grigoryan, ChessMood.com "***** (5/5) Best Chess Book Ever Written! Okay, that headline might be a bit of an exaggeration. But seriously, it is so enjoyable to read. The authors' prose is very comedic at times, which is necessary for such an uncompromising opening. The authors are honest in their evaluations, especially in some of the more critical lines. They admit that white can claim a slight advantage in a few lines. But they always recommend lines for black where white may be objectively better, but any misstep can spell disaster. So overall, incredibly well-researched and enjoyable to read! I am excited to try this out in a tournament as a surprise weapon." -- IM John Ludwig "We tend to associate the Glasgow powerhouse with cutting-edge repertoire and detailed training works, but even Quality Chess are happy to be a little experimental on occasion, so long as it brings plenty of fun to their readers. It would be hard to claim that 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 d5 equalises, but that isn't really its aim: Black wants an unbalanced position and attacking chances. The Danish authors show just how to realise those aims, while producing a most detailed study of an oft-neglected gambit." -- CHESS magazine "The general layout of the book is simply excellent!! Ten out of ten. Regarding content, again, excellent and full marks. All critical lines appear to be covered, and covered really well!" -- Dr Philip Corbin