The Fall of The King's Gambit
100 years ago, the King's Gambit, 1. e4 e5 2. f4, was the most topical opening. Most top games had it. Adolf Anderssen's Immortal Game happened in the King's Gambit. But good things can't last forever. With new discoveries and computers, this legendary opening soon died at the higher levels, and along with that, the lower levels. Today, the King's Gambit is considered a surprise weapon! In this blog, we will look at what caused the fall of the King's Gambit, as well as some hope for it.
What is the King's Gambit?
The King's Gambit is an aggressive opening in which we weaken our king for central control, attacking chances, and fast development. Often, white sacrifices pieces left and right to get the checkmate against the black king.
Hypermodernism:
Hypermodernism is based on ideas of controlling the center with pieces rather than pawns. Before this, the Classical School of Chess wanted the center to be controlled by pawns, thus the King's Gambit was very popular. Alexander Alekhine is considered to be the best hypermodern chess player.
Hypermodernism meant 1.e4 was not as popular. Players began switching to more positional first moves. While this did decrease the popularity of the King's Gambit, it was a small dent compared to the other ones.
World War II Increases Popularity:
After World War II, 1.e4 openings gained popularity again, which meant a boost for the King's Gambit. Players such as David Bronstein and Boris Spassky started playing the opening with good results! However, someone was going to change this forever. Meet...
Do you recognize him? It's Bobby Fischer! This man single handedly destroyed the popularity of the King's Gambit. How? Let's go all the way back to 1960, in Mar del Plata, where Fischer loses as black to Boris Spassky in the King's Gambit.
Fischer was not one to just sit around after being beat by an opening, and doing extensive research, claimed he had found a way to beat the King's Gambit by force. The article he wrote is quoted below.
A Bust to the King's Gambit
by Bobby Fischer, 1961
The King's Gambit has lost popularity, but not sympathy. Analysts treat it with kid gloves and seem reluctant to demonstrate an outright refutation. "The Chessplayers Manual" by Gossip and Lipschutz, published in 1874, devotes 237 pages to this gambit without arriving at a conclusion. To this day the opening has been analyzed romantically - not scientifically. Moderns seem to share the same unconscious attitude that caused the old-timers to curse stubborn Steinitz: "He took the beauty out of chess."
To the public, the player of the King's Gambit exhibits courage and derring-do. The gambit has been making a comeback with the younger Soviet masters, notably Spassky (who defeated Bronstein, Averbach and myself with it). His victories rarely reflected the merits of the opening since his opponents went wrong in the mid-game. It is often the case, also, as with Santasiere and Bronstein, that the King's Gambit is played with a view to a favorable endgame. Spassky told me himself the gambit doesn't give White much, but he plays it because neither does the Ruy Lopez nor the Giuocco Piano.
The refutation of any gambit begins with accepting it. In my opinion the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force.
1 P-K4 P-K4 2 P-KB4 PxP 3 N-KB3 P-Q3!
This is the key to a troublesome position, a high-class "waiting move." At Mar Del Plata, 1959, I played 3...P-KN4 against Spassky, but this is inexact because it gives White drawing chances in the ensuing ending: e.g., 4 P-KR4 P-N5 5 N-K5 N-KB3 6 P-Q4 P-Q3 7 N-Q3 NxP 8 BxP B-N2 and now 9 P-B3! (replacing Spassky's 9 N-B3) 9...Q-K2 10 Q-K2 B-B4 11 N-Q2 leads to an ending where Black's extra Pawn is neutralized by White's stranglehold on the dark squares, especially KB4.
Another good try, but also inexact, is the Berlin Defense: 3...P-KR3 4 P-Q4 P-KN4 5 P-KR4 B-N2 6 P-KN3 P-N5 (also playable is 6...P-Q3 7 PxBP P-N5) 7 N-R2 PxP 8 NxP (8 QxP loses to 8...PxN 9 QxB QxP+ 10 K-Q1 Q-B3) 8...P-Q4 9 P-K5 B-B4 10 B-KB4, where Black cannot demonstrate any advantage.
Of course 3...P-Q4 equalizes easily, but that's all.
4 B-B4
4 P-Q4 transposes, the only difference if White tries to force matters after 4...P-KN4 5 P-KR4 P-N5 6 N-N5 (White also gets no compensation after 6 BxP PxN 7 QxP N-QB3 or 6 N-N1 B-R3) 6...P-KB3! 7 N-KR3 PxN 8 Q-R5+ K-Q2 9 BxP Q-K1! 10 Q-B3 K-Q1 and with his King and Queen reversed, Black wins easily.
4...P-KR3!
This in conjunction with Black's previous move I would like to call the Berlin Defense Deferred. By this subtle transposition Black knocks out the possibility open to White in the last note (to move 3).
5 P-Q4 P-KN4 6 0-0 B-N2 7 P-B3
Necessary to protect the QP. 7 P-KN3 is always met by P-N5.
7...N-QB3
Here there is disagreement as to Black's best move. Puc and Rabar, Euwe, Keres, and most analysts give the text as the mainline and mention 7...N-K2(!) in passing. I think 7...N-K2 is best because there is no reason why Black should not strive to castle K-side: e.g., 8 P-KN3 P-Q4! 9 PxQP PxNP 10 PxP (if 10 N-K5 PxP+! 11 K-R1 0-0 12 P-Q6 QxP wins) 10...0-0 11 Q-N3 Q-Q3 12 K-N2 N-B4 wins. There is little practical experience with this sub-variation.
8 Q-N3
If 8 P-KN3 P-N5 9 N-R4 P-B6 10 N-Q2, Euwe and other analysts betray their soft-mindedness toward this opening by giving the inferior 10...B-B3(?) 11 N(2)xP PxN 12 QxP - "unclear"!! This is yet another example of sentimental evaluation - after 12...Q-K2 followed by B-R6 and 0-0-0 Black wins easily. The Pawn on KB6 is a bone in White's throat so why force him to sacrifice when he must anyway? 10...Q-K2 is the strongest move.
In this last variation (instead of 10 N-Q2) White can vary with 10 Q-N3 but then comes Nimzovitch's beautiful winning line: 10...Q-K2 11 N-B5 BxN 12 PxB (if 12 QxP R-N1 13 QxN+ Q-Q2 14 QxQ+ BxQ and Black has a winning endgame) 12...0-0-0 13 BxP Q-K7 14 Q-K6+ (if 14 R-B2 NxQP! 15 RxQ PxR wins) 14...R-Q2! 15 R-B2 Q-Q8+ 16 R-B1 Q-B7 17 N-Q2 N-B3 (threatening N-Q1) 18 B-N6(if 18 Q-N3 QxQ 19 BxQ P-Q4 with a winning endgame) 18...P-Q4 followed by N-K2 with a winning game for Black.
8...Q-K2 9 P-KR4 N-B3
Again theoretical disagreement. Perfectly good is 9...P-N5! 10 BxP (forced, not 10 KN-Q2 NxQP! 11 PxN BxP+ etc.) 10...PxN 11 RxP - given by analysts again as "unclear," but after N-B3 followed by 0-0, White has nothing for the piece.
10 PxP PxP 11 NxP NxKP
A wild position, but Black is still master.
12 BxP+
The game is rife with possibilities. If 12 NxN QxN 13 RxP Q-K8+ 14 R-B1 Q-R5 15 BxP+ K-Q1 16 Q-Q5 N-K4! 17 PxN BxP (threatening B-R7 and mate) 18 R-Q1 Q-N6 wins, owing to the threat of R-R8+.
12...K-Q1 13 NxN
Not 13 N-K6+ BxN 14 QxB QxQ 15 BxQ NxQP!
13...QxN 14 BxP
14 RxP also loses to 14...Q-K8+ 15 R-B1 R-R8+ 16 KxR QxR+ 17 K-R2 QxQB etc.
14...NxP
And Black wins...
Of course White can always play differently, in which case he merely loses differently.
Struggling to read it? Back in the 1960's, descriptive notation was popular. This Wikipedia page should help you understand it.
In his 1961 article, Fischer proposed 1.e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d6! as the bust to the King's Gambit. According to Fischer, d6, a "high-class waiting move", supposedly busted the King's Gambit. However, modern innovations have proven that with best play, it is equal. Unfortunately, this was a few decades too late. When Fischer published the article, the King's Gambit virtually disappeared from high-level chess.
The Final Blow: Computers
By the 1990's chess computers were becoming very powerful. In 1997, IBM's Deep Blue beat Garry Kasparov in a classical chess game, making it the first computer to beat a World Champion.
Chess engines soon found ways to blunt the King's Gambit further, making it an even less popular opening. By this time, the King's Gambit was virtually non-existent.
Hope
But all is not lost. The King's Gambit is occasionally used by top players, such as Hikaru Nakamura in the Norwegian Chess Tournament against Magnus Carlsen. Amateurs don't have to worry as much as top GM's on if their opponent know the exact refutation, so most of us can deploy it with good success rates.
My Experience With The King's Gambit
I have had good success with the King's Gambit, so I would like to share some of my games and tips.
- Don't be afraid to sacrifice! The King's Gambit is made for an attacking game!
- Look for tactics down the f-file and on f7.
- Watch out for Qh4 checks.
My best King's gambit game involved a lot of attacking sacrifices that worked out in the end.
Good Resources on the King's Gambit:
(92) Learning the King's Gambit with Hikaru!! - YouTube
(92) King's Gambit Opening Lecture by GM Ben Finegold - YouTube
(92) The Real Chess GOAT Gives a Masterclass on the King's Gambit - YouTube
That is it for this blog! Help bring new life to the King's Gambit!
