King's Gambit Accepted

King's Gambit Accepted
If Black could make a free move in this position, it would undoubtedly be ...Qh4+. White can't block with the g-pawn thanks to the Black pawn on f4, so she would have to make an awkward king advance instead.
How should White deal with that threat?
The most obvious approach is to control the h4 square herself, with the natural developing move 3. Nf3.
The only reasonable alternative to that is to create an empty square for the king to run to after the check on h4. 3. Bc4 accomplishes this while also developing a piece to a square where it will threaten Black's weak f7 point. This is statistically White's best approach against the King's Gambit Accepted, in that White wins only slightly fewer games than Black does. Since in most openings White wins rather more games than Black by virtue of going first, this is a considerable fall from grace for the King's Gambit since the "romantic" era of chess in the 19th century.

Theory table
For explanation of theory tables see theory table and for notation see algebraic notation.
1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4

 
3
4
5
6
7
King's Knight Gambit
Nf3 g5
h4 g4
Ne5 Nf6
d4 d6
Nd3 Nxe4
∞
King's Bishop Gambit
Bc4 ...
=
Lesser Bishop's Gambit
Be2 ...
 
Mason Gambit
Nc3?! -
 
Breyer Gambit
Qf3?! -
=/+
King's Own Gambit
Kf2?! Qh4+
g3 fxg3
Kg2 Qxe4+
-/+
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References
 
 
Batsford Chess Openings 2 (1989, 1994). Garry Kasparov, Raymond Keene. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.
External links
365Chess. 1. e4 e5 2. f4
chessgames. 1. e4 e5 2. f4
Batsford Chess Openings 2 (1989, 1994). Garry Kasparov, Raymond Keene. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.