Aggressive Chess Opening Discussion #13: King's Gambit Series: King's Gambit Accepted

3...d6 is supposed to hang on to the f4 pawn. Fischer states this as a "hyper modern waiting move". After 3...d6, white will play 4.d4, controlling the center and attacking the f4 pawn. So 4...g5 defends the pawn. 5.h4 attacks black's pawn duo on the king side. 5...g4 attacks white's knight on f3. The knight returns back to g1. 6.Ng1. This is the main line of the fischer defense. Black has 5 ideas in this opening: 6...Bh6, 6...Nf6, 6...f5, 6...Qf6, or 6...f3. Let's continue on and look at the move 6...f3.

 

With 6...f3, I'd say this move wants white to take the pawn on f3 so that black can put the dishop on the same diagonal as the queen targeting h4, gain some development, and trying to uncastle white's king. Yes it is a free pawn, BUT is it really a free pawn is the question. Taking the pawn could be a bit risky for white (I'll leave a line in my analysis showing what happens after white takes the pawn). The thing is, white doesn't have to take the pawn, but instead develops the dark squared bishop with 7.Be3.  White is trying to develop their Queenside pieces as fast as possible and avoid opening lines for black to take advantage of. Now black should take the pawn on g2 since now that white played Be3, it was looking to defend the pawn on h4. So now the f3 pawn is free for grabs. 7...fxg2. 8.Bxg2. This bishop will become an incredible piece later on in the game. 8...Be7 is still an idea of uncastling the enemy king. Suprisingly in this position, white can get away with 9.h5. I was shocked seeing that this move can be played in this position, but it seems white's king is pretty safe on e2 for now. 9...Bh4+ 10.Ke2. 10...Bg5, is looking to trade the dark squared bishop's off the board. White doesn't mind this and plays 11.Qd3. 11...Bxe3. 12.Qxe3 12...c5 is looking to bust open the position also challenging white's center. 13.dxc5 or Nc3 can be played, but I picked dxc5. 13...dxc5. 14.Nc3 again trying to develop their pieces. 14...Be6 developing the bishop and eyeing it on the Queenside. 15. Qxc5 since it is a free pawn, but black has come compensation for development with 15...Nd7. 16.Qd4 attacking the rook on h8, but here is when things really really get interesting. Black can play 16...Qb6. At this point, I'm just going to stop the analysis and let you guys see how insane the position is. Here is what the position looks like on board:

Now there is a lot of excitement going on in this position and I think ONLY an engine would be able to play this position down a rook. The question is, is that rook REALLY free for grabs? I will let you guys figure that out. 

Let's move on with the move 6...Qf6.

With 6...Qf6, black looks to protect the pawn with the queen. White should continue developing with 7.Nc3. Black will do the same with 7...Ne7. With Ne7, black could be going for protection of the f4 pawn for a second time with the knight. White will play 8.Nge2 attacking the f4 pawn for a second time and developing a piece. 8...Bh6 is developing and defending the pawn on f4. White will play 9.Qd2. Qd2 is setting up for a tactical idea that the bishop is hanging on h6 and wants to play the move g3 on the next move. Black will counterattack in the center and develop with 9...Nc6. Putting pressure on d4. White can play either Nb5 going for the fork (I'll leave that line in the analysis) or 10.g3 setting up their tactical idea with the bishop. 10...Be6, which was not played in any game so far, but it is recommended by the engine. This move is trying to get the king to castle, but it does allow white to grab a pawn. 11.gxf4. Although the material is balanced, black is still better in the position. The line continues with 11...d5. This move is attacking at white's very strong center. 12.e5 keeping the center intact and attacking black queen's. 12...Qg6. Only logical square for the queen to keep it from being attacked by white's other pieces. 13.h5 again attacking black's Queen forcing it back to g7 13...Qg7. 14.Qd3, looking to try to develop the dark square bishop and castle. 14...f6 attacking white's strong center and maybe having ideas with the light squared bishop later on. 15.Na4 trying to put the knight on c5 and have a nice outpost. 15...fxe6 16.dxe5. Releasing all of the tension from the center. 16...Bf5 gaining a tempo on white's queen and putting the bishop on a very nice square targeting the queen side and keeping pressure on c2. 17.Qb3 protects the pawn and keeps pressure on d5. 17...O-O-O. King safety. 18.Bg2 puts more pressure on the d5 pawn and fianchetto's the light squared bishop. 18...Rhf8 completing development and putting the rook on the semi open f-file. I'm gonna stop the analysis after this move Nxe5. This move sacrifices the knight to keep the king stuck in the center while having potentially strong attack at the king. I swear, I never been so excited about a line being played in this opening while analysing. I know I should've stopped a while ago, but this is honestly tense and insane. Here is what the position looks like:

This is some real exciting stuff going on here. I'll let you guys evaluate this position, since I am having a seizure just by processing all of the stuff going on.

Let's now look at the move 6...f5.

After 6...f5, black is striking at white's strong center. Since black decided not to defend the pawn on f4, white can get a pawn and develop a piece with 7.Bxf4. Black should regain the pawn with 7...fxe4 having their own strong center now. White's best move by the engine is 8.Ne2, but Nc3 can be played as well (I'll leave Nc3 in the analysis). White is developing the knight to e2 since the knight could potentially head to g3 and enter black's camp. Black will play 8...Ne7 so that black can support their central e4 pawn with d5. White should just continue developing their queenside pieces with 9.Nc3. 9...d5 just completing black's plan of having central pawns. 10.Ng3 again completing white's plans as well to reroute the knight. 10...Ng6 gaining a tempo on the dark squared bishop also rerouting the knight. 11.Bg5 attacking black's queen. 11...Be7 developing and protecting the queen. 12.Qd2 just trying to castle queen side and defend the dark squared bishop for a second time. 12...Be6 just defending the d5 pawn in case white decides to take the dark squared bishop and developing a piece. Again, this next move might suprise you: 13.Bc4. Sacrificing a bishop to destroy black's central structure. 13...dxc4. 14.d5 gaining space in the center and attacking black's light squared bishop. You might as well just give the piece back because if you tried protecting the bishop then white will always be better. So 14...O-O is the best move. Just giving back the bishop (I'll leave it in the analysis what happens if black tries to hold on to the bishop.) Before taking the bishop, white get's rid of the dark squared bishop first with 15. Bxe7. 15...Qxd7 16.dxe6. regaining the piece back. 16...Nc6 just developing the pieces. 17.O-O-O. In this position, the bishop pairs are off the board with a bunch of imbalances in the position: https://www.chess.com/a/21Eaus7RYAQ7Q

Now let's look at the move 6...Nf6.

After 6...Nf6, black just improves their development and just ignores the f4 pawn. Obviously, white should take the pawn with 7.Bxf4. 7...Nc6 just continuing with development. 8.d5 just expanding in the center and attacking the knight on c6. Black will move the knight to e5 with having a strong knight on a central square (8...Ne5). 9.Nc3 just continuing development. 9...Nh5 attacks the dark squared bishop. White goes for a tactical idea with the move 10.Bb5+. Note that you cannot block with the bishop because if you block with the bishop then black loses a pawn by force. So black calmly plays 10...Ke7. The king is perfectly safe there for now. Since the king moved, now the bishop is really hanging and again, you don't want to lose the bishop pair and a piece so the bishop must come back with 11.Be3. 11...Bg7 just fianchetto's the bishop on a very good diaganol. 12.Nge2 develops a piece and looks to control the f4 square. Black wants to develop the rook so that the king can be safe so, 12...a6 is played. 13.Bd3 retreating the bishop. Although it would be nice to win the bishop pair, king safety comes first. So 13...Re8 trying to get the king to safety and develops a piece. 14.Qd2 trying to get the king to queenside castle. 14...Kf8 again trying to get the king to safety. 15.Bg5 attacking black's queen. 15...f6 just asking white what is that bishop doing there. For the moment of truth, white castle's queenside 16.O-O-O. Trying to sacrifice the bishop to open lines for white to attack black's king. I'll stop right here on the analysis and show you what the position looks like:

Again, you guys can try to evaluate this position and fine some balances and imbalances. This is just too much for me with all of these sacrifices.

Now let's look at black's most popular move 6...Bh6.

After 6...Bh6, black develops the bishop and protects the f4 pawn. White should just continue development with 7.Nc3. 7...c6 is trying to limit the knight from hopping into any squares, opens up a possibility for the queen to move to the queenside, and stops any Bb5+ ideas later in the game. A multi-purpose move. White will play 8.Nge2. to add a second attacker to the f4 pawn. Black should play 8...Qf6 to add another defender to the pawn. An engine move 9.Qd3 instead of g3. g3 isn't such a good move according to the engines. Qd3 is trying to develop the queen side pieces and castle. 9...Nd7 trying to develop the queen side pieces as well. 10.b3 looks to fianchetto the dark squared bishop on the nice diagonal. 10...b5 looks to expand the pawns on the queen side and maybe trying to ask the knight on c3 a question. Here comes a pawn sacrifice: 11.e5. White sacrifices a pawn to put the c3 knight to e4 and gain a tempo on the queen. Having a nicely centralized knight. 11...dxe5. 12.Ne4 as planned. 12...Qe6 is a nice square for the queen. 13.dxe5 removing black's only central pawn on the board. 13...Qxe5 is attacking black's rook. 14.Qd4 is the only good move from white to defend the rook. 14...f6 looks to balance black's pawn structure once white takes black's queen. 15.Bb2 puts more pressure on black's queen and has a tactical idea behind it. I will stop the analysis here. This position is slightly better for black but it will eventually lead to both players getting equality. Here is what the position looks like on the board:

This position leads to equality later on.

Alright so I think now I finally covered everything on the 3 main moves from black after the Nf3. Wednesday we will continue on black's other responses. I hope you guys found this fascinating on how engines evaluate these positions. See you all Wednesday .