King's Gambit (C30)

The 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 infrequently seen at master level, as Black can obtain a reasonable position by returning the extra pawn to consolidate. There are two main branches, depending on whether or not Black plays 2... exf4: the King's Gambit Accepted (KGA) and the King's Gambit Declined (KGD).

The diagram below show the basic opening for the King's Gambit. White offers the King's Bishop's Pawn to divert Blacks attention from the center of the board. The Gambit can be accepted by Black taking the King's Bishop's Pawn or Black can choose to decline the gambit and pursue a different tactic.

Before we begin looking into the variations of the King's Gambit it is important to grasp this initial opening.