I am in the same boat; I have little experience against the King's Gambit. On the few occasions I've seen it, I have been trying the Bonsch-Osmolovsky Variation, 3...Ne7. It has a good record in Game Explorer, but that's not based on many games. Below are the first 10 moves in a recent game. Whenever I am playing against someone else's pet opening, I just want to make it to the middle game.
Fischer defense is the best move against King's Gambit IMO. It forces white to give up his knight or go back in development.
One of the biggest issues that players have when they first encounter the King's Gambit is that they often know just enough theory to put themselves in grave danger!
For example, many players know that 3...g5 is blacks best response but what they don't consider is that 3...g5 leads to completely irrational positions that are unlike anything else they're used to playing. They play a few moves based on conversations they've overheard or articles they've read and after a dozen moves it dawns on them that they haven't the slightest clue what they're supposed to do. To make matters worse, white keeps making moves that all seem to be part of some grand plan, a plan that feels vaguely dangerous even though they can't pinpoint why they feel that way. A few moves later the game is over and they're hoping that someone was kind enough to write down the license plate number of the truck that just ran them over.
It's very difficult to navigate 3...g5 based on chess intuition alone -- to survive you need concrete knowledge of variations and a solid understanding of the themes and strategies that are unique to the King's Gambit. Most players would have a much easier time if they stayed away from 3...g5 and instead played the Modern Defense (3...d5). Black isn't going to win very many games in the Modern but he (or she) probably isn't going to get steamrolled in under 25 moves very much either. The positions that arise are much closer to "normal" chess positions so you don't have to be well versed in King's Gambit theory to play them well.
You have a really good way of explaining things.....
As people have said, 2... exf4 can be very theory intensive, and a lot of people don't like that sort of thing. But, if you DO want to try out these routes, one of my blog articles may be of use to you:
http://blog.chess.com/Nytik/kings-gambit-accepted--3-g5
It looks at 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5, admittedly from white's perspective, but I expect you can pick something up from it nonetheless.
Oh, and another good try might be the modern variation - 2...exf4 3.Nf3 d5 where black gives back the pawn for some healthy development and a share of the center.
I think that this is the best way of countering the KG. I've never had any problems with Black in that line.
pretty good
taking the pawn on f4 is likely the best move, but requires a lot of theory to memorize. If you don't want to memorize much theory, I suggest you play the Falkbeer Countergambit or the KGD
As Black I always accept the gambit, and when White I love it when people play the Falkbeer because of a couple TN's in my secret little book that haven't made it into ECO yet.
Rich--want to play white vs. Falkbeer next game? My variation might morph into the Czechbeer defense. ;)
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Pardon the revision:
One of the biggest issues [that people] I have when [they] I encounter [the King's Gambit] anything is that [they] I often know just enough theory to put [themselves] myself in grave danger!
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thanks again everybody.
Trying KGA again. lol should be fun!
Killa, what is a TN?
Theoretical Novelty
There is another way to deal with King's gambit - to not play 1...e5 at all with black pieces. There are so many other openings in answer to e4 - you may pick anything you like, even just one (more often sicilian, french, caro-cann, scandinavian) and study this one only. If you don't sure you really like 1.e4 e5 as black it is a good way to fix everything at once. Of course if you like other 1.e4 e5 openings with black pieces then you have no choice but to learn defences agains KG and other dangerous attacks.
Cheers!
There was almost a blog devoted to my contribution to the King's Gambit knowledge base, but I got beat out by the letter "L". :(
Fischer said the correct move for black is 3...d6
What does Fischer know? :)
Thanks. Check out post #22. Pretty cool, eh.
Want to share those with me? I promise I won't tell anyone or play them against you.
Sorry, but I have to disagree with Gonnosuke. I got so tired of getting lousy positions after 3... d5 that I finally switched to 3... g5 (and have been much happier since).
One thing about your game, LisaV, is that you probably should play ... g4 right away, or not at all (unless it's provoked by White playing h4, for example).
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