King's Gambit
The King's Gambit is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
White offers a pawn to divert the black e-pawn. If Black accepts the gambit, White may play d4 and Bxf4, regaining the gambit pawn with domination, or direct their forces against the weak square f7 with moves such as Nf3, Bc4, 0-0, and g3. A downside to the King's Gambit is that it weakens White's king's position, exposing it to the latent threat of...Qh4+, which may force White to give up castling rights.
The King's Gambit is one of the oldest documented openings, appearing in the earliest of chess books, Luis Ramírez de Lucena's Repetición de Amores y Arte de Ajedrez. It was examined by the 17th-century Italian chess player Giulio Cesare Polerio. It is considered an opening characteristic of Romantic chess, known for giving rise to extremely and unusual positions. The King's Gambit was one of the most popular openings until the late 19th century, when improvements in defensive technique led to its decline in popularity. It retains significant play, however, especially at the amateur level.
History
The King's Gambit is a very old chess opening—one early is so old it features a move no longer possible under the modern rules of chess. The opening is recorded in a work credited to the medieval writer Luis Ramírez de Lucena, the earliest game in the ChessBase MegaDatabase to feature it dates from 1560, and the Spanish priest Ruy López de Segura was the first to publish analysis of it. The opening's reputation was enhanced by Gioachino Greco, who used it excellently on several occasions in the early 17th century.The King's Gambit was most popular during the era of romantic chess, when bold attacking tactics were more important to chess-playing gentlemen than positional strategy. Romantic players enjoyed the opening's heroic and fearless spirit, the core of its appeal—White not only gambits a pawn, but also opens two key diagonals which normally protect his king, in search of and. It was the opening used in the famous 1851 called the Immortal Game. Howard Staunton's Chess-Player's Handbook devoted 109 pages out of a total 343 on openings to the King's Gambit, while as late as 1883 George H. D. Gossip's Chess-Player's Manual discussed the opening for some 238 pages.
By the time of Gossip, however, the King's Gambit was already in decline, as leading players became aware that it and other popular gambits were likely. In the first six world chess championship matches, only one King's Gambit was played. The first world champion Wilhelm Steinitz argued that attacks should only be started when the opposing player made a mistake and was therefore disadvantaged. As 1...e5 was not a mistake, Steinitz believed the King's Gambit was thus logically flawed. The advances in and understanding in the early 20th century, led by players such as José Raúl Capablanca, saw the gambit decline in standing still further; it was similarly disdained by the hypermodernists such as Aron Nimzowitsch and Richard Réti, who knew that it could not achieve their goal of controlling the center from afar. In the 1960s, Bobby Fischer argued in a famous article, "A Bust to the King's Gambit", that the opening loses by force, including to his own Fischer Defense.
After Rudolf Spielmann, known as the "Last Knight of the King's Gambit", ceased playing it regularly, the opening is now very rare at the highest levels. Nevertheless, it did not die out entirely and remained an occasional weapon of adventurous players including Alexander Alekhine, Paul Keres, Mikhail Tal, Boris Spassky, and notwithstanding his article, even Fischer. More modern players include the Englishmen Mark Hebden and Joseph Gallagher, whose Winning with the King's Gambit was very popular, and the sisters Sofia and Judit Polgár. The opening has never lost its popularity among chess club-level players. Paul van der Sterren, a modern grandmaster, calls the gambit:
King's Gambit Declined
Black can decline the offered pawn, or offer a.Falkbeer Countergambit: 2...d5
The [|Falkbeer Countergambit] is named after the 19th-century Austrian master Ernst Falkbeer. It begins 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5. White usually plays 3.exd5 in response, as 3.fxe5 Qh4+ 4.g3 Qxe4+ wins White's rook. In the traditional line, Black plays 3...e4, sacrificing a pawn in return for quick and easy development. It was once considered good for Black and scored well, but White obtains some advantage with the response 4.d3!, and the line fell out of favor after the 1930s. If Black plays 3...exf4 instead, this transposes to the Modern Variation of. White can also play 3.Nf3 instead of 3.exd5, known as the Blackburne Attack, whose typical continuation is 3...dxe4 4.Nxe5.A more modern alternative move in the Falkbeer is 3...c6, the Nimzowitsch-Marshall Countergambit. Black aims for early piece activity instead of holding on to pawns. However, in addition being returned the gambited pawn, White has a better pawn structure and prospects of a better endgame. The main line continues 4.Nc3 exf4 5.Nf3 Bd6 6.d4 Ne7 7.dxc6 Nbxc6, giving positions analogous to the Modern Variation. Another common move for White is 4.Qe2, dealing with the latent threat of Qh4+ and preventing 4...exf4 due to the pin on Black's king.
Classical Defense: 2...Bc5
A common way to decline the gambit is with 2...Bc5, the "classical". The bishop prevents White from castling and is such a nuisance that White often expends two tempi to eliminate it by means of Nc3–a4, to exchange on c5 or b6, after which White may castle without worry. The line usually continues with 3.Nf3 d6. After this, White commonly plays 4.c3, 4.Bc4, or 4.Nc3.The line also contains an opening trap for novices: if White continues with 3.fxe5 Black continues 3...Qh4+, in which either the rook is lost or White is checkmated. This line often comes about by transposition from lines of the Vienna Game or Bishop's Opening, when White plays f2–f4 before Nf3.
One rarely seen line is the Rotlewi Countergambit: 3.Nf3 d6 4.b4. The idea of the gambit is similar to that seen in the Evans Gambit of the Italian Game. White sacrifices a pawn to try to build a strong center with 4...Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.fxe5 dxe5 7.d4. This line is considered slightly dubious, however.
Other 2nd moves for Black
Other options in the KGD are possible, though unusual, such as the Adelaide Countergambit, 2...Nc6 3.Nf3 f5, advocated by Tony Miles and also referred as the Miles Defense; 2...d6, which is the way the King’s Gambit was declined the first known time it was played, when after 3.Nf3, best is 3...exf4 transposing to the Fischer Defense ; 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 played in the 1968 game between Bobby Fischer and Bob Wade in Vinkovci. The greedy 2...Qf6, intending 3...Qxf4, is considered dubious. Also dubious are the Keene Defense: 2...Qh4+ 3.g3 Qe7 and the Mafia Defense: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 c5.2...f5 is among the oldest countergambits in KGD, known from a game published in 1625 by Gioachino Greco. Vincenz Hruby also played it against Mikhail Chigorin in 1882. It is nonetheless considered dubious because 3.exf5 with the threat of Qh5+ gives White a good game. The variation is sometimes named the Pantelidakis Countergambit because GM Larry Evans answered a question from Peter Pantelidakis of Chicago about it in one of his columns in Chess Life and Review.
King's Gambit Accepted: 2...exf4
After Black accepts the gambit, 3.Nf3 is the most popular move, the main alternative being 3.Bc4, the [|Bishop's Gambit]. It develops the knight and prevents 3...Qh4+. Black's two main approaches are to attempt to hold on to the pawn with...g5, sometimes after preparing the move with...h6, or to return the pawn with an early...d5 in order to facilitate. These two strategies can also be combined.Although Black usually accepts the gambit pawn, two methods of declining the gambit, the [|Classical Defense] and the Falkbeer Countergambit, are also popular.
Classical Variation: 3.Nf3 g5
The Classical Variation arises after 3.Nf3 g5. Black defends the f4-pawn, and threatens to kick the f3-knight with...g4, or else to consolidate with...Bg7 and...h6. The main continuations traditionally have been 4.h4 and 4.Bc4. 4.h4 immediately undermines Black's attempts to set up a pawn chain, defends against the potential threat of...Qh4+ and practically forces 4...g4, usually leading to the Kieseritzky Gambit. 4.Bc4 is usually played with intention of playing a Muzio Gambit after 4...g4 5.0-0!, however Black has the option of consolidating the pawn chain with 4...Bg7, intending...h6 and...d6. More recently, 4.Nc3 has been recommended by Scottish grandmaster John Shaw as a less explored alternative to 4.h4 and superior to 4.Bc4.4.h4: Kieseritzky Gambit and Allgaier Gambit
With 4.h4 White practically forces 4...g4, thereby undermining any attempt by Black to set up a stable pawn chain with...h6 and...Bg7.The Kieseritzky Gambit, 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5, is considered by modern writers such as Shaw and Gallagher to be the main line after 3...g5. It was popularized by Lionel Kieseritzky in the 1840s and used successfully by Wilhelm Steinitz. Boris Spassky used it to beat Bobby Fischer in a famous game at Mar del Plata in 1960. The main line of the Kieseritzky Gambit is considered to be 5...Nf6 6.Bc4 d5 7.exd5 Bd6 8.d4 Nh5 9.0-0 Qxh4 10.Qe1 Qxe1 11.Rxe1 0-0 12.Bb3 Bf5. The Long Whip Variation, 5...h5?! 6.Bc4 Rh7 is considered old-fashioned and risky, as Black loses a lot of time attempting to hold on to the pawn.
4.h4 g4 5.Ng5 is the Allgaier Gambit, intending 5...h6 6.Nxf7. This knight sacrifice is considered unsound.