Opening Gambits Rated

Dojo Talks Gambits

The following Gambits are rated by GM Jesse Kraai, IM David Pruess, & IM Kostya Kavutskiy

Real Opening: Benko, Evans, Marshall Defense (Ruy), Marshall Attack (Slav)

Playable: Albin, Alekhine-Chatard, Budapest, Cochrane, Falkbeer, From's, Smith-Morra, Scotch, Schliemann, Milner-Barry

Surprise Weapon: Blackmar-Diemar, Blumenfeld, Danish, Elephant, Vienna, Wing, Portuguese

Meme: Belgrade, Blackburne-Shilling, Englund, Latvian, Halloween, Jerome, Nakhmanson, Stafford

Compare and contrast this with the opinions of IM Rozman and GM Nakamura.

Beginner level ratings (up to 1500):

Unstoppable: Vienna, Danish, Blackmar-Diemar, Nakhmanson, Evans, Urusov, Staunton 
Very Powerful: Scotch, Belgrade, Lisitsin, From
Tons Of Tactics: Smith-Morra, Ortho-Schnapp, Milner-Barry, Albin, Stafford
Easy To Equalize: Budapest, Icelandic, Queens, Portuguese, Jaenisch, Koosterboer, Tennison
One Trick: Englund, Blackburne-Shilling, Alekhine, Wing
Total Trash: King's, Latvian, Elephant, Benko

Just the Gambits from this Opening Tier list for Intermediate (1200-1800) players:

Legendary: Queen's, Evans
Solid: Smith-Morra
Legit: Danish, Marshall Attack
Maybe Not: Budapest
Tricks Only: Englund, Nakhmanson, Jerome, Portuguese, Blackburne-Shilling, Benko
Garbage: Latvian, Elephant

Just the Gambits from this Opening Tier list for GMs

Unbreakable: Queen's
Really, bro?: King's
Tricks only: Smith-Morra, Portuguese, Danish
Garbage: Budapest, Latvian, Jerome

...Discuss

Interesting. I have heard that the Queen's Gambit isn't a "true gambit."

Barring a mistake by white, it's not a true gambit. There are some lines of the QGA where black tries very hard to hold onto the extra pawn, but still has to give it back around move 9-10. 

I see.

Great: Queens, Benko, reti gambit

solid: smith-morra, evan, scotch, from, albin

hyperagressive-kings, falkbeer, muzio, danish

hyperaggresive as in too aggresive-latvian, elephant, blackmar-diemer

TOTAL TRASH-englund

Good : Urusov , Zilbermints , ZDC , Gama , Khan , Cormorant

Solid : Wing , Jaenisch , Blackmar-Diemer , Herrstrom , Ross , Busch-Gass , Busch-Gass infused with Khan 

Hyper aggressive : 3.d5 in the Italian , Khan , Herrstrom , Busch-Gass infused with Khan , Gama , St George and Zilbermints infused with Scotch , Scotch , Carr and Zilbermints infused with Scotch , Zilbermints , ZDC , Ross , Jaenisch

Trash : Englund , KGA:Bishop's , Queens , Kings , Danish , Smith Morra

low-mild aggression : Gama 

I think Matulovic would disagree with Dojo's placement of the Smith-Morra...

Also, what makes the Cochrane the same level as the  Budapest in that framework.

95% of gambits are poor or worse.[this is just an estimate]

The dojo's list is well informed although I disagree with a third of them. When I rate gambits I would consider:

1 - How does it stand in the most critical lines?

2 - How dangerous is it for unprepared opponents and how often will opponents be unprepared?

in my over the board experince:

good: Queens gambit, Vienna gambit

decent-ish: Budapest, Tennison, Muzio

ok: everything else

trash: Englund(i only play the englund to force london players(theyre everywhere) out of the comfort)

Why is the Vienna a surprise weapon? It is way better.

I would also disagree that the Belgrade is only a meme. The lines that Black NEEDS to play to equalize are very obscure and unnatural.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that the utility of gambits against sidelines is pretty low--unless you also play that sideline. I dropped the Staunton because every Dutch player I faced had far more experience on their side of the gambit than I did on mine. Even if it was okay-ish in the critical lines, I felt like I was only making life harder for myself playing it. Same could be said for From's.

Have you ever tried the ZDC or the Zilbermints Gambit against the Scandinavian ?

What is the Zilbermints Gambit?

what is Zibermints gambit vs Sandinavian?