Gambit

The general name for openings in which one side (in most cases White), in the interest of speeding up development or gaining an advantage in the center, sacrifices material (usually a pawn). The name "gambit" comes from the Italian "dare il gambetto" (to trip someone up) and arose during the flourishing of the Italian chess school.

If the sacrifice is accepted, an accepted gambit results (in the names of openings the word "accepted" is usually omitted); if it is declined, a declined gambit results; and if, instead of accepting the sacrifice, the opposing side offers a sacrifice of its own, a countergambit results.

Gambits became especially widespread in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Nowadays gambits (except for the Queen's Gambit, which is not a true gambit) are used rarely, since reliable methods of defense have been found against them. Whereas gambit play used to aim at organizing a rapid attack on the king, modern grandmasters and masters often treat gambits in a purely positional spirit.