Rogue Chess: Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit

I Played Black

This is the "Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit" position:

What made it properly rogue:

1. I sacrificed material twice. The f-pawn gambit itself (well... err...), then the bishop (15...Bxh2+).
2. I castled queenside into an open position while launching a kingside attack.
3. White's queen walked into 14. Qxc6+. Well, back to number 1.

Honestly, White had a reasonable position until they got greedy with that queen. I was baiting for it actually. That innocent looking 13...e4? — Greetings, gentlemen. Please do capture me. These are my hands. Ah.

Let's watch.

You can use your left and right arrows on your keyboard or use the mouse scroll to see the moves back and forth on the chessboard. But first, click the board.

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Calabrese

So "Calabrese" refers to a place — specifically Calabria, the region at the very toe of the boot of Italy.

The countergambit is named after Michele Calabrese, an Italian chess player from the 19th century who analysed and popularised it.

So it's actually both in a roundabout way — it's a person's name, but that person's name itself comes from the region, meaning he was likely either from Calabria or had family roots there. "Calabrese" in Italian simply means "person from Calabria", much like you'd say "Mancunian" for someone from Manchester.

Mancunian

Mancunian? — Aye. — That sounds like... Machu Picchu... ian. — What?

Well you see, Manchester's old Roman name was:

• Mamucium: older variant, possibly derived from a Brittonic word meaning something like "breast-shaped hill".
• Mancunium: came later and is arguably more of a Latinised evolution or variation of the same name. It's the form that eventually gave us "Mancunian".

So it comes straight from the Latin, not from "Manchester" itself at all. Thus, it is not Manchesterian and certainly NOT Manchurian.

Manchurian = people from northeastern China (Manchuria) with a genuinely epic imperial history.

The name "Manchuria" itself is actually more of a historical/Western term — the Chinese don't really use it officially. They just call it the Northeast, Dongbei (东北). Even the Chinese don't call themselves "Chinese". But it's in school books! But hey. Master Po once said:

(Sepia flashback.)

Master Po: Who sails first... names first. And so it is taught.

Grasshopper: But Master, we now have internet! Shouldn't we correct those?

Master Po: Futile is a word, Grasshopper.

Grasshopper: You are correct, Master.

We have "Manchu people", "Manchuria", and "Manchurian". So "Manchu" is the ethnic identifier, while "Manchurian" is the regional one. Similar distinction to, say, "Scottish" the ethnicity versus "Highlander" the regional descriptor.

So same principle — Mancunian is the regional descriptor for anyone from Manchester, while Manc is the more ethnic/cultural identifier — what the people call themselves! Proudly said over a pint. 🍺

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Calabrese Countergambit

As for the opening's history, 2...f5 against the Bishop's Opening is a fairly cheeky and aggressive response, and it never quite became mainstream precisely because it's so committal and a bit daft-looking on the surface.