KING'S GAMBIT

The 'King's Gambit' is a chess opening that begins:
:1.
:2.
White offers a pawn to divert the Black e-pawn and build a stronger center with d2-d4. Theory has shown that in order for Black to maintain the one pawn advantage, moves must be made that seriously weaken the position of the Black pieces. King's Gambit is one of the oldest documented openings as it was examined by the 17th century Italian chess player Giulio Polerio.^[1] It is in an older book by Luis Ramirez de Lucena ^[2] The King's Gambit is now rarely seen at the master level. Black can obtain a reasonable position by relinquishing the extra pawn at a later time and consolidating defensively.

Contents

Variations

King's Gambit Declined

King's Gambit Accepted

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings

References

External links

Variations

Black must decide whether or not to accept the gambit. Since White cannot easily regain the pawn if Black accepts, the King's Gambit Accepted is more common than the King's Gambit Declined. There are several variations of each.

King's Gambit Declined

A common way to decline the gambit is with 2. ..Bc5, the "classical" ''KGD'' (King's Gambit Declined). The bishop prevents white from castling and is such a nuisance that white often expends two tempi to get rid of it, moving the queen's knight to c3 and then to a4 only to exchange it on c5, whereupon he may castle without worry. It also contains an opening trap; if White continues with 3.fxe5?? Black continues as such: 3...Qh4+, in which either the rook is lost (4.g3 Qxe4+, forking the rook and king) or White is mated (4.Ke2 Qxe4#). The opening is generally considered to give white too much space in the center after continuations like 1.e4 e5 2.f4 Bc5 3.Nf3 d6 4.c3 Nf6 5.d4 or 5.fxe5, and so is no longer played frequently despite being very popular in the 19th century.
Other declined options are possible though unusual, such as the sharp countergambit 2...Nc6 3.Nf3 f5, advocated by the late Tony Miles; 2...d6, when after 3.Nf3, best is 3...exf4 transposing to the 'Fischer Defense' (though 2...d6 invites white to play 3.d4 instead); and 2...Nf6 3.fxe5 Nxe4 4.Nf3 Ng5! 5.d4 Nxf3+ 6.Qxf3 Qh4+ 7.Qf2 Qxf2+ 8.Kxf2 with a small endgame advantage, as in a game between Bobby Fischer and Robert Wade. The greedy 2...Qf6, intending 3...Qxf4, is known but very dubious.
Black can go further and play 2...d5 (intending 3.exd5 e4!?, cramping White's position), the aggressive 'Falkbeer Countergambit', where Black disdains the pawn and instead makes an all-out attempt to take advantage of white's kingside weakness. A more modern interpretation of the Falkbeer is 2...d5 3 exd5 c6!?, as advocated by Aron Nimzowitsch. The Falkbeer is generally considered to slightly favor White, however, and only if white plays 3. fxe5? would it be a mistake. However, on this line, black can now play 3...Qh4+, followed by 4. Ke2 Qxe4+ 5. Kf2 Bc5+, securing a heavy positional advantage.

King's Gambit Accepted

As stated above, Black best accepts with 2... exf4. White then has two main continuations: 3.Nf3, the 'King's Knight Gambit' is the most common as it develops the knight and blocks 3... Qh4+, and 3.Bc4, the 'Bishop's Gambit', where White's development will rapidly increase after 3... Qh4+!? 4. Kf1 followed by 5. Nf3, driving the queen away and gaining a tempo, however, most modern players will not bring out the queen. Other third moves such as the provocative 3.Nc3 (the 'Mason Gambit', inviting 3...Qh4+ 4.Ke2), 3.Qf3 (the 'Breyer Gambit', with the idea of ..Qh4+ 4.g3 fxg3 5.hxg3), and even 3.Qe2 and 3.Ne2, are rarely seen. Perhaps rarest of all is the queer-looking 'Tumbleweed Gambit', 3.Kf2?!. This invites 3...Qh4+ 4.g3 fxg3+ 5.Kg2, etc. After, for instance, 5....gxh2 6.Rxh2 Qxe4+, White has given up 3 pawns, with seemingly nothing to show for it, but Black must play carefully, or White will be able to exploit his open lines with surprising effectiveness.
The Classical Variation arises after 3.Nf3 g5, when there are two main continuations, 4.h4 and 4.Bc4. After 4.h4 g4 White can choose between 5.Ng5 or 5.Ne5. 5.Ng5 is the 'Allgaier Gambit', intending 5...h6 6.Nxf7, but is considered dubious by modern theory. Stronger is 5.Ne5, , the 'Kieseritzky Gambit', which is relatively positional in nature. It was used very successfully by Wilhelm Steinitz, and was used by Boris Spassky to beat Bobby Fischer in a famous game at Mar del Plata 1960. This motivated Fischer into developing his own defence to the King's Gambit - see "Fischer Defense" below. Instead of 4.h4, the extremely sharp 'Muzio Gambit' arises after 4.Bc4 g4 5.0-0!? gxf3 6.Qxf3, where White has gambitted a knight but has three pieces all bearing down on black's pawn on f7, his greatest weakness. Such wild play is rare in modern chess. Black can avoid the Muzio by meeting 4.Bc4 with 4...Bg7.
The 'Becker Defense' 3...h6 has the idea of creating a pawn chain on h6, g5, f4 to defend the f4 pawn while avoiding the Kieseritzky Gambit.
The 'Cunningham Defense' 3...Be7 is black's most aggressive option; it can permanently prevent white from castling after 4.Bc4 Bh4+ 5.Kf1 (else the wild 'Bertin Gambit', or 'Three Pawns' Gambit' 5.g3 fxg3 6.0-0 gxh2+ 7.Kh1.) However, nowadays it is more common for black to simply play 4. ..Nf6 5.e5 Ng4, the 'Modern Cunningham'.
The 'Schallopp Defense' 3...Nf6 (intending 4.e5 Nh5, holding onto the pawn) is considered somewhat inferior and is rarely played today.
The odd 3...Qe7 (intending 4.Nc3 d5!) is an interesting surprise weapon, but doubtful if White knows what he's doing.
The 'Abbazia Defense' (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d5) has much the same idea as the Falkbeer Counter-Gambit, and can in fact be reached by transposition from it, e.g. 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 exf4. Black's forward pawn is less well placed on f4 than on e4, but material is even.
The extremely popular 'Fischer Defense' (1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d6 planning h6 and g5 but only rarely Bg4, a natural-looking but often weak move that beginners play too early) is complicated and subtle. After Bobby Fischer lost a game defending the King's Gambit to Boris Spassky at Mar del Plata 1960, he promptly went to work at devising a new King's Gambit defense. In a 1962 article titled "A Bust to the King's Gambit"^[3] he put forth this idea and claimed that it refuted the King's Gambit, which was clearly not the case. The article concluded with the famously arrogant line, "Of course white can always play differently in which case he merely loses differently." Nonetheless, the article was possibly the most influential ever written about an opening, and ever since the King's Gambit has been rare in Grandmaster play, although it is still used by players such as Joseph Gallagher, Alexander Morozevich and Alexei Fedorov.

Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings

The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has ten codes for the King's Gambit, C30 through C39.

★ C30: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 (King's Gambit)

★ C31: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 (Falkbeer Countergambit)

★ C32: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4 4.d3 Nf6 (Morphy, Charousek, etc.)

★ C33: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 (King's Gambit Accepted)

★ C34: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 (King's knight's gambit)

★ C35: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7 (Cunningham Defense)

★ C36: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d5 (Abbazia Defense)

★ C37: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Nc3 /4.Bc4 g4 5.O-O (Muzio gambit)

★ C38: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.Bc4 Bg7 (Philidor, Hanstein, etc.)

★ C39: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 (Allgaier, Kieseritzky, etc.)

References

1. Perusteet, , Thomas, Ristoja, WSOY, 1995,
2.
3. Bobby Fischer (1962), A Bust to the King's Gambit, American
Chess Quarterly.


★ King's Gambit Declined (C30)

External links

★ Not quite winning with the Allgaier Gambit