How To Win With the King's Gambit
Hello everyone! You've heard of the King's Gambit, right? Either way, in this blog is everything you need to know about the King's Gambit whether you already know about it or not!
As you can see, white offered black a free pawn, but why? This is known as "a gambit". A gambit in chess is when one player offers a free piece early in the game (usually in the opening) to the other player. For example, if white offers a pawn for the "King's Gambit" and black takes, then it's the "King's Gambit Accepted". If black doesn't take, basically the same thing, "King's Gambit Declined".
This is the "King's Gambit Accepted". White is down a pawn, but they have a few counterattacks (Obviously, because if not then no one would use gambits lol). One of which is Nf3 or Nf3 g5.
I personally think this isn't the best plan, because black can push either of their two pawns, f7 and h7 to attack the knight and force it to retreat back to a safe position. If you only play Nf3 and not Nf3 g5 you are ahead in development, but you're still down a pawn. The King's Gambit was one of the most popular openings for over 300 years. Around 150 years later Siegbert Tarrasch, one of the world's strongest chess players in the late 19th and early 20th centuries stated that the opening was "a mistake". He even wrote that "It's almost madness to play the King's Gambit". With that said, some people still play, and win with the King's Gambit to this day. 
This is known as the "Fischer Defense" a common counter to the King's Gambit. Even considered to be the best response. It's considered really good, yes, but are there downsides? The short answer is, yes. But as with all chess openings and tactics there are upsides (yeah, clearly). In summary, white has a knight and a pawn developed, but still down a pawn. Black is up a pawn and has developed two of their own pawns.
Thank you all for reading, and have fun playing chess! What do you think of the King's Gambit? Is it still viable in your opinion?
