What is "gambit"

Gambit \Gam"bit\, n. [F. gambit, cf. It. gambitto gambit, a tripping up. See Gambol, n.] (Chess Playing) A mode of opening the game, in which a pawn is sacrificed to gain an attacking position.

"chess opening in which a pawn or piece is risked for advantage later," 1650s, gambett, from Italian gambetto, literally "a tripping up" (as a trick in wrestling), from gamba "leg," from Late Latin gamba (see gambol (n.)). Applied to chess openings in Spanish in 1561 by Ruy Lopez, who traced it to the Italian word, but the form in Spanish generally was gambito, which led to French gambit, which has influenced the English spelling of the word. Broader sense of "opening move meant to gain advantage" in English is recorded from 1855.

n. 1 An opening in chess, in which a minor piece (often a pawn) is sacrificed to gain an advantage. 2 Any ploy or stratagem. 3 A remark intended to open a conversation.

1. n. an opening remark intended to secure an advantage for the speaker [syn: ploy]

2. a maneuver in a game or conversation [syn: ploy, stratagem]

3. a chess move early in the game in which the player sacrifices minor pieces in order to obtain an advantageous position

A gambit (from ancient Italian gambetto, meaning "to trip") is a chess opening in which a player, more often White, sacrifices material, usually a pawn, with the hope of achieving a resulting advantageous position. Some well-known examples are the King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4), Queen's Gambit (1.d4 d5 2.c4), and Evans Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4). A gambit used by Black may also be called a gambit (e.g. the Latvian Gambit—1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5 or Englund Gambit—1.d4 e5), but is sometimes called a "countergambit" (e.g. the Albin Countergambit—1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 and Greco Counter-Gambit, an old-fashioned name for the Latvian Gambit).

The word "gambit" was originally applied to chess openings in 1561 by Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura, from an Italian expression dare il gambetto (to put a leg forward in order to trip someone). Lopez studied this maneuver, and so the Italian word gained the Spanish form gambito that led to French gambit, which has influenced the English spelling of the word. The broader sense of "opening move meant to gain advantage" was first recorded in English in 1855.

Gambit is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics, commonly in association with the X-Men. The character was created by writer Chris Claremont and artist Jim Lee. Drawn by artist Mike Collins, Gambit makes his full first appearance in Uncanny X-Men #266 (August 1990).

Gambit belongs to a subspecies of humans called mutants, who are born with superhuman abilities. Gambit has the ability to mentally create, control, and manipulate pure kinetic energy to his desire. He is also incredibly knowledgeable and skilled in card-throwing, hand-to-hand combat, and the use of a staff. Gambit is known to charge playing cards and other objects with kinetic energy, using them as explosive projectiles.

He was part of a thieves' guild before becoming a member of the X-Men. Given his history, few X-Men trusted Gambit when he joined the group. There was consistently a source of stress between him and his on-again, off-again love interest Rogue. This was exacerbated when Gambit's connections to villain Mister Sinister were revealed, although some of his team members accept that Gambit honestly seeks redemption. Often portrayed as a "ladies' man," Gambit has shown a more vulnerable side of himself over the years, especially when it comes to Rogue. Gambit remains fiercely proud of his Louisiana heritage and speaks in a thick Cajun accent.

Since his debut, Gambit has appeared in several solo series. As of 2013, there have been three attempts at an ongoing title starring the character. Gambit has also had two miniseries and starred prominently in Gambit & the X-Ternals, the X-Force replacement title during the Age of Apocalypse. Gambit was ranked 65th on IGN's "Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time" stating that "Gambit is just the sort of tortured soul that X-readers love, and his continued presence in the TV and movie spinoffs cements his status as one of the greats," and in 2013, ComicsAlliance ranked Gambit as #4 on their list of the "50 Sexiest Male Characters in Comics". He has been featured in several animated series and video games based on the X-Men. Although he did not appear in the first three X-Men films, Gambit appeared on screen in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine, portrayed by Taylor Kitsch. Channing Tatum will portray Gambit in an upcoming solo film.

A gambit is a chess opening in which material is sacrificed in order to achieve a better position.

Gambit may also refer to:

"Gambit" is the 156th and 157th episodes of the science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, which are the fourth and fifth episodes of the seventh season.

After hearing a rumor that Captain Picard has been murdered while on an archeological dig, the Enterprise crew sets out to find the smugglers who may have been responsible.

Gambit is an American television game show based on the card game blackjack, created by Heatter-Quigley Productions. The show originally ran on CBS from September 4, 1972 to December 10, 1976 and was recorded at CBS Television City in Studios 31, 33, 41, and 43. On October 27, 1980, NBC revived the show as Las Vegas Gambit, as a replacement for The David Letterman Show, and kept it on its schedule until November 27, 1981. As the title implied, this edition of Gambit was recorded in Las Vegas with the Tropicana Las Vegas, which had previously hosted Dealer's Choice and later hosted Let's Make a Deal, serving as the show's base. Both versions were hosted by Wink Martindale and announced by Kenny Williams. Elaine Stewart was the card dealer for the CBS version, while Beverly Mauldin filled this role for the first half of Las Vegas Gambit, and was later replaced by Lee Menning.

Another Merrill Heatter-produced, blackjack-based quiz show, Catch 21, began airing on GSN in 2008. This show shares some similarities with Gambit, but with several noticeable differences.

Gambit is a 1966 comedy heist film starring Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine as two criminals involved in an elaborate plot centered on a priceless antiquity from millionaire Mr. Shahbandar, played by Herbert Lom. It was nominated for three Academy Awards.

The film was advertised with the tagline, "Go Ahead: Tell the End (It's Too Hilarious to Keep Secret) But Please Don't Tell the Beginning!"

Gambit was directed by Ronald Neame from a screenplay by Jack Davies and Alvin Sargent from the original story of Sidney Carroll.

A remake, with only basic ideas in common, was released in 2012, with a script by Joel and Ethan Coen.

Gambit is a Nero Wolfe detective novel by Rex Stout, first published by the Viking Press in 1962.

Gambit, also called Gambit-C, is a free software Scheme implementation, consisting of a Scheme interpreter, and a compiler which compiles Scheme to C. Its documentation claims conformance to the RRS, RRS, and IEEE standards, as well as several SRFIs. Gambit was first released 1988, and Gambit-C (that is, Gambit with the C backend) was first released 1994.

Gambit is a New Orleans, Louisiana-based free alternative weekly newspaper that was established in 1981. Gambit features reporting about local politics, news, food and drink, arts, music, film, events, environmental issues and other topics, as well as listings. Gambit publishes 40,000 papers each Tuesday, which are distributed to 400 locations in the New Orleans metro area beginning Sunday afternoon.

The paper's columnists include political editor Clancy DuBos, who is also a political analyst and commentator on WWL-TV. Past columnists have included Chris Rose, Andrei Codrescu and Ronnie Virgets. Jeremy Alford is a contributing writer based in Baton Rouge, who writes on statewide issues and has won several Louisiana Press Association awards for his coverage. Regular features include "Scuttlebutt" (political news briefs), and "Bouquets & Brickbats," weekly awards for the city's "heroes and zeroes." Gambit also publishes a weekly editorial and issues endorsements in many political races, with two notable exceptions; it does not endorse in national elections, nor does it endorse in judicial elections (on a longstanding political belief that judges should be appointed, not elected).

The paper has won many local and national honors, and former Gambit writer Katy Reckdahl was awarded both Hunter College's James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism in 2002 for her series on the mistreatment of the homeless, as well as a 2002 Casey Journalism Center Medal for Distinguished Coverage of Children and Family Issues for her report titled "Louisiana Juvenile Justice" on the Tallulah Correctional Center for Youth . Other former writers and editors include Michael Tisserand, author of the books The Kingdom of Zydeco and Sugarcane Academy, Scott Jordan, former spokesman for the Louisiana Democratic Party, and Rich Collins, a member of the children's music group Imagination Movers.

The paper also sponsors the annual Big Easy Theater Awards and Big Easy Music Awards, honoring New Orleans' best performing artists.

On October 1, 2007, Gambit launched Blog of New Orleans to supplement its Web site Best of New Orleans with daily updates on New Orleans news, politics, arts, music, sports, cuisine and local culture. Its other publications include CUE, a monthly home and fashion magazine; H+W, a monthly health supplement; and WED, a twice-annual bridal guide.

In January 2009, the paper changed its name from Gambit Weekly, to which it had been renamed in 1996, back to Gambit, the name under which it was originally founded in 1981.

Gambit is a strategy card game created by GB Company. It consists of character cards that are assigned " hit points" and a variety of equipment, attack and defense cards. The object of the game is to be the lone survivor by eliminating the hit points of your fellow opponents.

The game originally debuted at the ORIGINS convention held in Columbus, Ohio in 2005. It was noted for allowing up to ten players per game.

Gambit was a special interest group for those in the gambling and gaming (used here as a synonym for gambling) industries.

The Steering Committee was led by Dr. Stefan Szymanski, Associate Dean, MBA Programs, Cass Business School and a Cass Executive MBA alumnus, Gareth Wong and included senior executives, regulators and editors.

Gambit is a 2012 film directed by Michael Hoffman, starring Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, Alan Rickman and Stanley Tucci. It is a remake of the 1966 film of the same name starring Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine. This version is scripted by Joel and Ethan Coen. It was set to be released in the United States on 12 October 2012, but never came out theatrically and went straight-to-DVD on 25 April 2014. The film premiered in Great Britain on 21 November 2012.