The first diagram follows three lines in the King's Gambit Accepted (KGA) where black does not play one of the main continuations on move 3. Here I have given lines for 3.Nf3 for white (3.Bc4 is incredibly interesting and I will devote a separate post entirely to this system and its unique ideas), and I have looked at 3...Nc6, 3...Nf6, and 3...Be7 which I think are the most likely early deviations people will face when playing in scholastic tournaments as they develop pieces and are pretty natural moves for black. They all allow white to get certain nice advantages. The general principles you will see in my analysis are that 1) If you can grab the full center with e4 and d4, it is almost always correct to do so 2) when black puts on a knight on f6, it is usually correct to kick it with a gain of space and tempo with the move e4-e5 and 3) sometimes it is ok if the white king ends up on f1 as it is actually quite safe here 4) white would like to regain the f4 pawn if allowed with Bxf4. I will try to add more posts that show illustrative games in these variations and then I will move on to the more critical responses that black has before shifting to the King's Gambit Declined and other random early deviations.
Opening Discussion: King's Gambit
Hi Murph (and everyone else)! It's nice to see activity in this group. I remember that as black in 2009-10 I would often face the King's Gambit from Rufus King's third board. I talked with Ashish about this and he recommended I play 2... d6 - but beyond that I don't know remember any of the theory! We didn't discuss openings very extensively, just basic ideas and patterns we needed to recognize. As white, I feel like most of USM - or at least my grade and below - was taught to play the Italian Game/Giuoco Piano (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. c3). It's neat to see how openings rise and fall in popularity. Keep the chess updates coming, and best of luck to the team this year!
Hey Bradley! Yea, as I recall Ashish was very big on the old mainline of the Italian (like you mentioned). I also teach this to a lot of my students, but as I coached for USM at the last couple of State events people asked about aggressive openings which is how we came upon the King's Gambit (the Scotch Gambit is another interesting option for white in this regard). I think the KGD is probably quite popular at scholastic tournaments, but it's always good to have ideas against black's greedier options 
Agreed. I've played that line before and I quite like it for Black. The nice thing is that you have different approaches after 3.exd5 (one that equalizes easily and the other doesn't but leads to sharper play). A funny way to reach the Falkbeer that I've seen before is 1.f4 e5!? 2.e4 d5!
This will be a discussion space for the King's Gambit. I will post key ideas, games, and positions with analysis of the King's Gambit. Feel free to post as well with questions or your own analysis/comments. Actual chess content incoming later tonight.