Fighting the King's Gambit
The King's Gambit is an opening with as rich a history as any other. Played for hundreds of years, numerous elite players have been advocates of the opening. However, it is much less popular in a time when the World Championship could be renamed 'World Draw-Fest' (that is another subject) and I think the modern chess world treats it in the same category as openings like the Budapest. In my opinion it deserves a category of its own- somewhere between the slightly dubious and the sound. It tends to give sharp attacking positions where the greater tactician will prevail so it is no surprise that some of the most famous games of all time stem from the King's Gambit. Take, for example, 'The Immortal Game':
This was not the greatest game of chess ever in terms of the quality of the moves played, although I am led to believe this was because the game was just a knock-about one. In fact, both sides made many huge oversights. However it nicely demonstrates the swashbuckling battles that the King's Gambit can lead to.
Now let's address a couple of the systems that Black has at his disposal.
Declining the Gambit with 2...Bc5
Probably the calmest choice available to Black, he says no to the Gambit and continues with his development.
The first distinct advantage of this choice is that it is easy to play- Black gets a decent game by simply developing his pieces sensibly. Another plus is that White will not be aiming for a game like this when he sets out with the King's Gambit, so it has a nice psychological edge to it as well.
This is shown here by Rubinstein who manages to quickly reduce the game to an endgame where his superior skill prevails:
However, my main criticism of 2...Bc5 is that it is not very challenging. While it is true that Black gets an easy game, the same goes for White. Therefore, Black needs to give White more of a headache to have better hopes of fighting for a win.
Fischer's Bust to the King's Gambit
Black has a different try which Bobby Fischer decided was the 'bust' to the King's Gambit ("White loses by force", were his words). After a frustrating encounter against Spassky in 1960, he set to work to find a refutation to the opening. This is what he cooked up. It was published in Larry Evans' 'American Chess Quarterly' and subsequently contributed to a decline in the popularity of the King's Gambit. Read more about it here.
Black manages to hold on to the pawn with few complications. The only criticism I think people could have about this is that it consists of too many pawn moves. However, I think Black can justify this little waste of time if he manages to catch up in development. A pawn is a pawn is a pawn.
Here's a wild sample game from Bent Larsen:
The Muzio Gambit
A quick note should be made about the Muzio Gambit, which arises after:
Louis Paulsen enjoyed the following continuation against the exciting gambit:
Tchigorin deviates from Paulsen on move 6 in this encounter with Schlechter:
That, in my opinion, is a perfect example of how Black should fight against the King's Gambit. He respected White's sacrifice and calmly proved that he had the skill to refute it.
Note #2: In the King's Gambit, both sides are fighting for piece activity. White, in order to prove his sacrifice was worth it. Black, to prove the opposite or to at least get a good position.
