Aggressive Chess Opening Discussion #19: King's Gambit Series: King's Gambit Accepted

Again, this opening I never really heard of. It's another opening that isn't played on the highest level. I can see why. Considering that white is literally going to gain some central space with a tempo on the knight on c6 with the d pawn. 3...Nc6 is considered to also be a waiting, but the drawback of this move is revolving around the d pawn. Causes black to waste a lot of time moving the knight. Since there isn't really much theory on this opening, I won't going over too much about this opening. Just enough to show all how to destroy this opening as white. Let's get started.

After 3...Nc6, this opening is called the "King's Gambit Accepted: Macleod Defense".

3...Nc6 as stated by the only source that the opening was discussed about (wikipedia) is a waiting move. I don't see any point behind this move, but the fact that it develops a piece. However, this move immediately meets with 4.d4. White decides to finish their long term plan of controlling the center and is ready to play d5 on the next move to gain some central expansion with a tempo on the c6 knight. Black has only one move, but there is only 1 game where black played this move and won the game (mostly because both players made a lot of inaccuracies). 4...g5, black needs to look for counterattacking measures, because black wants to meet d5 with the move g4, trying to dislodge the f3 knight. Now, I won't be going over other moves that was played, because white pretty much won every game in those cases. So, I will only be going over 4...g5. Let's look at the move 4...g5.

After 4...g5, black needs to look for some counterattacking measures. White will continue with 5.d5, trying to dislodge that misplaced c6 knight. Black with do the same with 5...g4, trying to dislodge the knight from f3. White will just capture the knight 6.dxc6 6...gxf3 7.Qxf3 7...Qh4+, black wants to create more weaknesses. If white decides to block with the queen, then black will be happy for a queen trade that leads to an endgame. White shouldn't move the king anywhere, because that takes away castling rights. 8.g3 is the only move, because it blocks the queen from checking the king and it defends the h1 rook. However, this move does create a lot of weaknesses for black to exploit later on. At this point, black just needs a queen exchange. White's queen is just too active. 8....fxg3, getting rid of that pawn weakness and preventing white from regaining their pawn. 9.hxg3, regaining the pawn, having a semi open h file, and gaining a tempo on the queen. 9...Qf6, black needs a queen trade here. White's queen is just too active. Of course, if white wants to continue their attack, they shouldn't want to trade queens. So white should play 10.Qb3, preventing the queen trade. In this position, there is not too much going on for either players. Both queens are out on the board, but the other pieces haven't been developed yet. A queen trade will pretty much just be forced in a few moves. 10...dxc6, just regaining the pawn. 11.Bf4, white needs to develop their pieces. This bishop is putting some pressure on c7. 11...Qe6, black needs a queen trade to prevent white from having any attack here. 12.Qa4, white moves the queen out of the way. 12...Qe7, again black wants to get a queen trade via Qb4+. White defends with 13.Nc3 and develops a piece, but now 13...Qb4. Forcing a queen trade, or else black will be the one with the advantage, since the b2 pawn is hanging. 14.Qxb4, it's forced. 14...Bxb4. Black is threatening to ruin white's pawn structure. 15.Be5, attacking the h8 rook and defending the knight on c3. Black simply plays 15...f6 dislodging the bishop. Now white just takes the c7 pawn. 16.Bxc7, white grabs a pawn, but now black can damage white's pawn structure. 16...Bxc3+. 17.bxc3. I'll just stop right here since there isn't much going on in this position. White is still slightly better, because white has the bishop pair and is more developed than black, but white has a lot of pawn islands with doubled c pawns. So who is to say is better here. Here is what the position looks like on the board:

*My Opinion: Bad. Since it can lead black to a worse position and allows a tempo move. I wouldn't recommend playing this opening as black. 

https://www.chess.com/a/2jmQnwCviAQ7Q

Okay, so as I said, I won't being going too deep into this opening, since there isn't much theory on it. I only showed the best moves for both players to play here and explained why the moves had to be played. Alright, that's all I will be covering for this opening. Next, I'll be going over the move 3...f5 today as well. I'll see you all later on another post.