Aggressive Chess Opening Discussion #17: King's Gambit Series: King's Gambit Accepted

I'm not entirely familiar with the becker defense since it's rarely played, but after doing some research, the becker defense revolves around the pawn chain on the king side. Hell, even the engines say that this line is actually good for black. If that's black's plan, well then I can see why this opening is rarely played. Considering that black has weakened their king side and is wasting time by making a bunch of pawn moves to protect f4. You could've done so with the move g4 immediately. Since this opening is possible to play, then I'll just go over it and see both plans for the players. If the becker defense can be used as a strong asset for black, well, I could be wrong. So let's get on with the ideas for both players in this opening.

After 3...h6, this opening is called the "King's Gambit Accepted: Becker Defense".

The idea behind 3...h6 is to make a pawn chain on the king side. This pawn chain can be used for a king side attack in which black castles queen side and just marches the pawns forward. There are cases in which black doesn't even need to castle but instead just artificially castles. The engines do prefer this line for black as well. Since it is possible that white can be unprepared for this opening and doesn't spot the idea behind it. White's main idea should be to control the center immediately since black just wants a nice pawn chain. Since white will be able to control the center, then white will have a better game, but there can be lines where black strikes at the center with d5, but white can be prepared for this. White has 3 options (2 of them leads to white being worse and black having a better game): 4.Bc4, b3, or d4. (4.Bc4 and b3 leads to white being worse). Let's look at b3 since it's the 3rd most popular move.

After 4.b3?!, the idea behind this move is to prevent black from creating a pawn chain after Bb2, gaining a tempo on the rook, developing a piece, and preventing black from castling, but this move meets with 4...Be7!. Since black spotted the idea behind b3, black decides to take the chance of putting white in a tight spot by threatening Bh4+ with the idea of uncastling white's king and to open up the position following d5. This is why b3 isn't played as often, since it puts white in a very tight spot. The line continues with 5.d4, controlling the center and giving the king some room for the threat of Bh4. 5...Bh4+ as planned. This move just puts white in a tight spot. Note that you should not take the bishop because now the queen can come into the game, and with black's queen near white's uncastled king, there could be major problems in the position. 6.Kd2 is the only escape square for the king. 6...d5 as planned trying to bust open the position for possible attacking lines for black. 7.e5, you don't want the position to open up as you have an uncastled king wondering around the battlefield. 7...c5, again trying to bust open the position to open up attacking possibilities. 8.Kc3, you have to move the king to safety and since b3 was played, white is looking to place the king on b2 and tuck it there. It is the best move, but white has made too many king moves and now black has a lot of opportunities. 8...Nc6 putting more pressure on d4 and developing a piece. White tucks the king away with 9.Kb2. 9...Bg4 develops the bishop and pins the piece. 10.dxc5 just grabbing a free pawn, but black does the same with 10...Nxe5. Now white's central pawn is gone which gives black enough chances to start their own attack. 11.Bxf4 grabs back the pawn that was sacrificed and develops a piece. Knight moves back 11...Nc6. The thing is you don't want to grab the knight on f3, since it doesn't give black anything. Also, since white made a lot of wasteful moves with the king, you don't want to trade off pieces. It just leads to not having an attack. 12.Nc3 just trying to get as many pieces out into the game as possible to defend the position. 12...Nge7 black is ready to castle and start their pawn thrust. 13.Qd2, puts the queen a better square and gets out of the pin. Since the queen has moved, now the dark squared bishop is under attack by the knight. 13...Bf6, puts the bishop on a more active square and pins the knight to the king. 14.Bd6, this is a monster piece in black's house, but it can be dealt with easily. 14...Qa5 is a strong move. It keeps the pressure on the knight so the king can never move from b2. It also prepares the move b6 trying to remove the only defender of the dark squared bishop. White needs to try something so 15.Re1 putting the rook on the same file as the king and setting up some tactical ideas for white. Now comes 15...Bxf3, this knight could've been a problem for black later on in the game. Besides, this move is justified since white's bishop isn't developed yet and black still has a lot of attacking potential. 16.gxf3. 16...b6 as planned. Trying to remove the defender of the d6 bishop. 17.a4 looking to pin the c6 knight, but black isn't having it. Black castles 17...O-O. 18.cxb6 18...axb6 19.f4 is the best move according to the engine, but this move gives black too much attacking potential. Now comes 19...Ng6 sacrificing the exchange to get a better attack. It's justified because black has an excellent dark squared bishop. White has nothing better to do but just accept the exchange sac. So 20.Bxf8, now 20...Kxf8. This position is just devastating for white, because white has a lot of problems: white has 3 pawn islands, white still needs to develop their pieces since white's bishop and rook aren't doing anything, white still can't move the king because of the monster f6 bishop is pinning the knight on c3 and there is still a double attack on the knight, the light squared bishop needs to stay on the f1-a6 diagnol to prevent the move b5, and lastly, the f4 pawn is hanging. There are just too many threats in this position for white to continue this game. I'll just display this postition on the board for everyone to see:

This position favors black entirely. So do not play 4.b3. Now let's look at another move 4.Bc4.

After 4.Bc4, white wants to continue developing and castle king side. Bc4 puts more pressure on f7 as well, so white can take advantage of the fact that this f7 pawn is weak, but this move meets with 4...g5. Black gets what they want by having a solid pawn chain on the king side. This position already favors black here since white didn't decide to control the center. Now comes 5.Ne5, this move puts a double attack on the f7 pawn, this has to be defended, so 5...Rh7 has to be played. White castles 6.O-O. 6...d6 kicking the knight away and opening up some possibilities for the bishop. 7.Nf3. 7...Be6 challenging white's light squared bishop. 8.Bb3, you don't want to trade and give black a solid pawn chain on the king side. It allows too much of a better game for black. Also, white might have ideas after black captures the light squared bishop. 8...Nf6, continuing development and attacking the e4 pawn. Now comes 9.d4. controlling the center and testing to see if black would be greedy enough to capture the e4 pawn. Black should not get greedy here and take the pawn. Instead, black should just continue development with 9...Nbd7. This move develops a piece and puts more control over e5. White should now protect the e4 pawn with 10.Nc3. It develops a piece and puts protecting on e4. 10...c6. This move wants to bring the queen to the queen side later in the game and trying to have a solid position plus promoting the move d5. 11.h3 preventing the bishop from appearing on g4. 11...Be7 continues development and the king will be safer on the king side perhaps. 12.Re1 puts the rook on the semi open e file. Now comes 12...d5. Busting open the center. 13.Qd3, setting up for a tactical idea that the rook is placed on h7 and the knight is the only defender of the rook and if black tries to defend both threats, then white will just regain their pawn and maintain an equal position. You don't want to allow this, so 13...Rg7 is the best move. Moving the rook out of the way and putting the rook on the same file as white's king. 14.exd5 releaving the tension in the center. 14...cxd5 15.Bd2, developing a piece. 15...Kf8, as mentioned the king will be safer on the g8 square and gets out of the same file as the rook. 16.Re2, there isn't much for white to do here and this is a logical plan. Just controlling the e file. 16...Qb6, this queen will be a very active piece on the queen side that keeps pressure on the d4 pawn. 17.Rae1 just finishing the plan of controlling the e file. 17...Qc6, now black wants to expand on the queen side with the queen side pawns. 18.Ba4, you need to try something since there isn't much for white to do. It is a tempo gainer after all. 18...Qd6, getting out of the way and it looking to infiltrate the queen side Qb4. 19.Bb3, there isn't much for white to do, so white just brings the bishop back. 19...Rd8 just completes development. This rook will indirectly defend the important d5 pawn. 20.Nb5, you need to try something. 20...Qb6. Getting out of the way and keeping pressure on d4. In this position, black has a nice advantage here with a lot of threats on the board. e4 is a very important square on the board for white to control. If white loses control of this square, then this leads white to a worse position. There are just too many possibilities for black. Most importantly, the queen side is where the most activity is at. White knows that they don't have to much to play here and just wants a queen exchange. Trying to deliberate any possibilities of attack for black and hope for a draw. Black owns the entire board:

Now let's look at the main move and the best move: 4.d4.

After 4.d4, white controls the center and adds pressure towards to f4 pawn. Black defends the pawn with 4...g5. 5.h4, white wants to deal with black's nice pawn chain on the king side. 5...Bg7 is the best move since it protects the rook on h8 in case white decides to take the g pawn. 6.Qd3, white wants to castle queen side here and keep the play on the king side. Also this queen is nicely centralized and safe from any pins or tempo gainers. 6...d6 looks to develop the light squared bishop and put some control for e5. 7.Nc3 as planned. 7...Nc6 black does the same. 8.hxg5  relieving the tension and destroys black's pawn chain.. 8...hxg5. 9.Rxh8 since the rook was under attack on h1. 9...Bxh8. 10.Qb5, white  wants to take the knight on c6 with the follow up of d5 also white puts more pressure on the g5 pawn. You have to do something about this, so 10...Bd7. Seemingly offering the b7 pawn, but that pawn is off limits since it gives the rook the open b file for queen side activity. White continues with 11.Qxg5, regaining the pawn as planned. Black has to take the queen to prevent anymore pawn lose, so 11...Qxg5, 12.Nxg5. 12...Nxd4 simply grabbing a pawn, but now threatening to fork the king and rook. 13.Bd3 13...Ne6 black tries to defend the f4 pawn, but black simply takes the defender of the f4 pawn, so 14.Nxe6 14...Bxe6 15.Bxf4. 15...Be5, black wants to exchange pieces, since there is much to do here. I'm just gonna stop right here since the material is balanced and it is a theoretical draw. Nothing to do here for both players. Here is what the position looks like on the board:

As you see, this position is a dead draw.

Here is proof with my full analysis of these positions:

https://www.chess.com/a/2Mn7iu2eaAQ7Q

Anyways, I hope you guys found this post useful. I will be going over another opening involving the move 3...Ne7 today as well. This will not necessarily be my last post for today. So yeah, I hope you guys found this useful. Let me know what you think about this opening. I'll see you soon.