how do i defend against the king's gambit??

Guys plz help me!!! idk how to defend as black agaimst the vienna gambit or the kings gambit. those two lines are kinda the same. plz comment how you defend against that as black using the accepted pawn take line. (not taking is disadvantageous for black i think)

@russell1013 I see your grade is higher than mine so maybe take what I say with a pinch of salt, but I've been playing the King's Gambit for decades (to be precise, 1984-1998 and 2024-the present day because I had a big layoff from chess, but I did keep up with KG theory to an extent) and occasionally dabble with the Vienna, so maybe I'll be able to be of some use. Naturally enough, I'm not going to give all of my opening "lab" (okay, shed ) secrets away in public mind you.

First, a couple of questions though.

1) How much time to do have which you can devote to studying the Black side of these openings? The answer will be very different for someone who says, "I'm a pro - I can spend weeks" compared with the answer for someone who says, "I can maybe snatch an hour or two here and there per month". Some of the best lines are also the most complicated to learn and involve tons of line-learning, some of the most solid lines are quite straightforward to learn and can almost be played by 'shape'.

2) What sorts of middlegame position do you really really like? Are you a lover of tactics (be that attacking ones or defensive ones) or strategy or slow Karpovian incremental positional buildups? Again, that makes a huge difference to the answer type one might offer.

PS: the "declined" lines aren't necessarily bad imho.

For Vienna Gambit, go with 3… d5 4. fxe5 Nxe4 and if 5. Qf3?! you have 5… Nc6 6. Bb5 Nxc3 7. dxc3 Qh4+ 8. g3 Qe4+ 9. Qxe4+ dxe4 with equality and a relatively easy position.

King’s Gambit is a bit more tricky because of just how many lines there are that you have to learn. I play the Accepted with 3… g5 and play for g4 kicking the knight, and depending on what White does I play lines with h5, lines with Qh4+ and Nh6, lines with gxf3 and Qf6, lines with Nh6 without the queen check, and a few others I can’t think of off the top of my head. I’d either recommend playing the KG yourself to learn the lines or do a LOT of research to learn lines. Good luck

The Vienna Gambit and the Kings Gambit are not the same, and the first can be completely avoided.

The Kings Gambit is 1.e4 e5 2.f4

The Vienna Gambit is 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4, not to be confused with the f4-variation of the Vienna Game, which is 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 (instead of ...Nc6) 3.f4 where the only good moves for both sides is 3...d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4.

So you can avoid the Vienna Gambit completely by playing 2...Nf6. Of course, you would also need something against 3 Bc4 and 3.g3.

Against the Kings Gambit, to me at least, there are four good replies. The first 3 are advantage Black while the fourth is full equality, but simpler to play.

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exd4 and now 3.Nf3 d5 or 3.Nf3 g5 are both advantage Black. 3.Bc4 d5! 4.Bxd5 Nf6 or 4.exd5 Qh1+ 5.Kf1 Bd6 6.Nf3 Qh5 is also advantage Black.

If you don't like the accept lines, the Falkbeer Countergambit (2...d5) is also advantage Black.

2...Bc5 is only equal, though full equality is easily achievable and the lines are easier to understand.

And I speak this as an e5-player myself. Luckily enough, I only have to deal with move 2 deviations and not move 3 (like the Scotch or Italian) as I play 2...Nf6, not 2...Nc6, against 2.Nf3.

@ThrillerFan now this could be really intriguing. I agree with you on the Bishop's Gambit 3..., d5 but have never found any haymakers for Black in the Falkbeer or against the Kieseritsky with 5...,Nf6; 6. Bc4 (obviously 6. d4 is busted, although engine analysis suggests 6. Nxg4 might be equal-ish contrary to the 1980s opening books...not that I myself like White's position one jot in the 6. Nxg4 line).

Have I missed something big? In the Kiesertisky with 5..., d6 maybe?

2.f4 Nf6!? is hardly original, rare, and entirely fine. AFAIK only Artur Yusupov was playing this in a regular basis. The main line is 3.fxe5 Nxe4 4.Nf3 Ng5! 5.d4 Nxf3+ 6.Qxf3 Qh4+ 7.Qf2 Qxf2+ 8.Kxf2 d6 with equality.

Another "rare but good" line is 2...Nc6 3.Nf3 f5!

Another rare but good line against the Vienna gambit (which is very far from being the same as the kings gambit) is 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.f4 d6!? 4.Nf3 Nc6 5.Bb5 exf4! 6.d4 a6 7.Be2 d5! 8.exd5 Nb4.

I would have to go back to where my resources are for that, which is not accessible at the moment as I am not at the house, but if my memory serves me right, which being less than 2 months shy of 50 sometimes makes that unreliable, I think it might have been 5...d6, followed by Be7 instead of Nf6, but unsure at the moment.

Personally, I prefer the 3...d5 lines over the 3...g5 lines (against 3.Nf3 that is).

I didn't really believe in the falkbeer until recently. I used to play 2...Bc5 before playing now 2...exf4 and 3...d5.

2...d5 3.exd5 exf4 is the same, and gives white less options- e.g. you don't have to worry about the bishop's gambit.

Hmmm, true. Didn't think of that as 3.fxe5 would of course be a blunder. So what other option does White have but to take on d5?

I guess you could encounter the Bc4 line with exd5 rather than Bxd5. 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 exf4 4.Bc4 Qh4+ etc (same as 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Bc4 d5 4.exd5 Qh4+ 5.Kf1 Bd6 6.Nf3 Qh5, which I actually have ongoing not here, but in an ICCF Correspondence Game where he is on vacation for about 3 weeks and it is his move., and it was via this move order with 3.Bc4).

@ThrillerFan I hear you as regards memory. I myself will not see 50 again without the invention of Time Travel, and can say for certain that my own memory strays more than was once the case. Should you have time or inclination when you have the resources, I'd be well interested to see any improvements in the Kieseritsky 5..., d6 and 6..., Be7 lines over the following (which is a Neil McDonald 12th move improvement for Black on some Bangiev analysis that came out as better for White) assessed as "unclear" in McDonald's 1998 Batsford book on the KG.

Falkbeer countergambit , nimzowitch líne, very effective, i have very good results in my level (2400 Blitz)

Re #10 you might also see (after 1. e4, e5; 2. f4, d5; 3. ed, ef) 4. Qf3 (Korchnoi and Zak suggested this in the 1970s but it looks uninspiring to me - a sort of Breyer Gambit type position) or maybe 4. Bb5+ (mentioned by John Shaw in the latest book of which I'm aware on the KG as a possible enterprising way of trying for an independent non-theoretical position) but essentially I'd agree this is a very good way of angling White into the sort of King's Knight's Gambit Modern Defence usually arrived at via 1. e4, e5; 2. f4, ef; 3. Nf3, d5.

as black i would not take the pawn.

just because it’s offered don’t mean you have to take it.

i would play 2. …. Bc5

3.Nf3 d6

Yes. This line is bad for white, but of course not losing or anything. Yudit Polgar has a win as white from the position after 5..Bd6 etc against Topalov, but she stood very badly right out of the opening.

Another very good line is the Cunningham (3...Be7) not the traditional way, delivering a check from h4, but following with the simple ...Nf6.