Thanks, I've been wanting to ask a few questions about the Smith-Morra as it's a favorite line of mine, but you've covered most of my questions here.

One quick thing though, I recently have been trying out 1.d4; one opponent responds with:
1... e6
2. Nf3 C5
Not knowing the d4 lines well yet, I've just transposed to the Smith-Morra with 3.e4 cxd4 4.c3... So my question is, if I'm happy playing Smith-Morra, is there any reason not to do this? (Is there anything black can do to punish me with this move order that isn't available with 1. e4 c5?)

Esserman rules with the Morra. I heard rumor that he is coming out with a book on it, do you know if that is true or not?

Good coverage of the Smith-Morra.

I once played in an 8 round theme tournament where I won all four with Black and drew all four with White - go figure!

@ BlueSun: I don't think there's any added drawback to the SMG arising via the move order 1.d4 e6 2.Nf3 c5 3.e4 cxd4 4.c3. Black can either accept or play 4...Nf6, with what's overwhelmingly likely to be a simple transposition. A note for others, though: while one could play a delayed SMG through the move order 1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 e6 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3, the delayed idea does not work after 2...d6, as 3.d4 cxd4 4.c3 is well met by 4...Nf6.

@ sfarmer29: I hadn't heard about that, but he has had a lot of good results with the gambit, so it's sure to be an interesting book. I haven't played the gambit in a serious game in almost a quarter of a century, but I might just have a look!

Thanks a lot for doing these videos. I've been watching them on and off for years and I'm really glad you still make them.

A very nice Video! Thanks, Dennis...