C21: Danish gambit

The Danish gambit is in the Netherlands actually called the “Norwegian gambit”. It is quite a risky opening, because in the accepted line black is immediately two pawns ahead. Could white take this risk? The starting position is reached after making the following moves:
1. e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 bxc3 4.Bc4 (when accepting: 4…cxb2 5.Bxb2)

 Plus / Minus:

• + White has immediately got two pieces developed, black instead hasn’t got any.
• + White has got a strong bishop pair, attacking the unprotected black king.
• + White can castle quite quickly, without having any trouble (e.g. being attacked by black). Thereby it is quite a safe opening.
• + White has got a trap to checkmate black very quickly.

But you should always keep this in mind:

• - As said before, black is after five moves immediately two pawns ahead, If he/she keeps that advantage, winning will be a lot easier.
• - Black could quietly develop all his pieces, and still attack white’s kingside, who will have to move 0-0 at some stage…
• - White has got a lot of influence at the center, but black has almost got as much influence, while being 2 pawns ahead!
• - Black doesn’t need to follow the trap-variation (this will be explained later). After the main line, positions are pretty much equal.

Hm, so, after 4-4, will you play it or not? Let’s have a view at some interesting games, which started with the Danish gambit.

 Resulting games

The Fritz 12 database, with more than 1.55 million games, gives me only 75 games for the Danish gambit. White won in 49% of the games, after two pawn sacrifices!. 8% of the games was drawn, and the other 43% resulted in a win for black. Although it is quite a safe opening for white, people get scared. However, we have got a surprise for black!

Trap variation
For the ultimate trap, you could view the annotated game, started after accepted the pawn offered:

You’ll probably say: after 0-0 white has got a mate, but what if he doesn’t? Well, that has been proved in 1863 by Linden and Maczuski. At a tourney in Paris, black went for 10…Qg5. This is how the game went after that move:

Main variation
Luckily black doesn’t need to lose. The main line is very different. You should remember black hasn’t developed anything, and it will take a lot of time to do that. He should do this with tempo, and his/her position will be better after sacrifing the d-pawn. For advanced players: black even sacrifices the queen! Below you can see the rather interesting result, with winning chances for both players:

Other variations?

Well, black can also play d6, but this is a lot more dangerous. There is an article written about the Danish gambit, with at the end the variation with 5…d6.
Also, for very stragetical players, you might think of 5…Qe7?! After the quite forced opening, black has a little advantage, the game would be something like this:

Questions may be asked, I like to answer them!

Good luck with exploring the gambit,
Bert Dekker

News about the opening:
*If you want to explore some more games, there are at the moment two thematic tournament with ECO C21:

Name	Players	Time Control	Format	Rating Range	% Done
Click at the names to go to them,	then	click right @	games!	Good luck!!
Danish Gambit Accecpted Tournament	100	3 days	5(1)->2	Open	94%
Danish Gambit Accepted	4	3 days	4(1)->1	Open	50%

 * There had been written quite a good article about the Danish gambit, exploring the chances for white. Follow http://blog.chess.com/flying2828/the-danish-gambit for more information.