The Smith-Mora Gambit is named after the French International Master Pierre Morra and the American FIDE master Ken Smith. Not much is known about Pierre, other than the fact that he was from Nice, and that his International masters title was from correspondence chess. Pierre published numerous articles and a booklet in 1950 about white's D4 pawn push on move two. Pierre was the first to author the opening which is why it is named after him. Ken smith was an American FIDE Master who also wrote about the D4 pawn push, however he did so at least a decade after Pierre. Often times in Europe the gambit is simply known as the Mora-gambit and Smith is left off. Ken Smith was a member of the Dallas chess club and founder of the Chess digest in 1962, he was a major proponent of the Gambit in America and wrote Nine books and forty-nine articles on it. Ken's contribution is why he is honoured in America with the gambit. The Smith-Mora gambit, like the king's gambit is a true gambit, it accepts a material deficit for a positional advantage, namely a lead in development. Many Chess players consider the gambit amateurish and most likely should only be played against weaker opponents.
