Halasz Gambit

The engines rate this much more negatively than the king's gambit or Danish gambit. However, I find it difficult to play against.

I've never considered this setup, thanks!

I toyed with that sort of setup for White from a slightly different move order (1. e4, e5; 2. f4, Bc5; 3. Nf3, d6; 4. d4, exd4; 5. Bd3 like a reversed Elephant Gambit) and it never worked for me. Black always managed to exploit my dark-square weaknesses.

Black needs to respond sharply and tactically. White has weakened the a7-g8 diagonal so ..., Bc5 will always be a rational move. ..., Nf6 intending ..., Ng4 is in the air (if White plays h3 then you might have ..., Nf6-h5-g3 at some point depending on the tactics of the exact position). I will look this up later [edit: I have nothing relevant in books].

I've been thinking some more about this. Although Black has many ways to play, I suspect the following line is likely best because it gives Black a fair chunk of the centre, immobilises White's Pawns, and makes it very hard for White to develop the Bc1.

Commentary:

4. Bd3 because Bd3 is a move White will always have to play sooner or later. Or else a Black Bishop on c5 (when one moves there) will always be threatening ..., d3 with discovered check once White castles.

4..., d5 hits back at the centre and releases the Bc8. As it doesn't lose any material, surely it's got to be a decent move.

5. e5 looks better than 5. Nf3 to the human eye because if 5. Nf3, dxe4; 6. Bxe4, Nf6 seems lots better for Black because 7. Bxc6+, bxc6; 8. 0-0, c5; 9. Re1+, Be7 doesn't seem to go anywhere for White and the Pf4 in an open position means misery for the Bc1 and Ra1.

5..., Nh6 look odd but stops White's Pawns in their tracks without inhibiting the development of the Bf8 the way 5..., Ne7 would.

And Black has a lot of simple, obvious, good moves to play now. ..., Bc5 and ..., 0-0 and maybe ...Bg4 depending on what White has done and ..., Nf5 are soo easy to find. Meanwhile White is having to make awkward critical clock-time-consuming decisions every single move.

Does this help...?