Hi there,

I just thought I would share this with you, a nice little trap after 2... Qh4+ in the King's Gambit. Enjoy.

You kept playing bad moves for Black!

Honestly, who would walk in that line ?

2...Qh4+ ? is indeed bad, but 3.Ke2 ?? to answer it would be even worse, the only move is g3.

3...Qf6 (?) "protects the pawn" but loses even more time.

5...f5 ??????? 'attacking the pinned pawn' when White can easily defend it, when it weakens the f file along which White always attack in the KG, when it loses time for development...

6...Qf6 ? : staying in White's pieces' range to lose even more time maybe ?

8...c6 ?? : no comment. Hunting the knight is much more effectively done by 8...Nf6 even if of course Black is dead lost (one less pawn, a destroyed kingside, no developed piece).

The end is pretty, sure, but it needs 5 or at least 4 really bad moves from Black in the 12 first to come to that point. These bad moves are not even natural to play, so that's not really a trap.

EDIT : damn, two posters before me. I still think, despite pfren's comment, that the 2...Qh4+ variation is really poor.

2... Qh4+ followed by Qe2 is fine for black and annoying for white IMHO since it means you cannot attack in the traditional way KG does

I have played online against the Keene variation a couple of times. No one has played it against me OTB, yet.

Here's a short one, against uncultured opposition

Good information that led me to take a look through some databases. I found one game, in which White elects to leave the h1 Rook en prise.

Well, if that's the usual rook-sac line, I must say I am not confident about Black's chances after move 8.

Maybe 7...c6 is better ? with of course all the drawbacks, but it's this or 7...Be7 8.dxc7 Nc6 if Black doesn't want the queen to be taken immediately.