How do you play the Kings Gambit?

Batgirl's blitz games are my personal favs

VERY CAREFULLY---NG5 AND PH4 ALSO SHOW UP......FISCHER LOVED D6.

2...d5 It's king's counter gambit. Black won most games in that opening. I like playing it too.

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8047

Apparently the King's Gambit has been solved using a riduculously powerful supercomputer. 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 actually loses to 3...d6!, which Fischer wrote about in A Bust to the King's Gambit. 3. Bc4 also loses, and 3. Be2! leads to a draw with best play.

**EDIT: See my next next post on this thread. Sorry. Just check the date on the article...**

there's a couple of significant dates on that article

You mean April Fools' Day? I don't think they celebrate that in Hungary.

EDIT: See my next post on this thread. Sorry...

http://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=8067

Oops. It was an April Fools' Day joke. I fell for it. Sorry everyone.

The Kings Gambit is a difficult opening, because it is both tactical and strategical at the same time. More "pure" tactical openings, such as the Evans Gambit, Center Gambit, Scotch Gambit, Italian Game, etc, would be simpler to understand and to play. "How to play the Kings Gambit?". Gosh, it's hard. You just play it and study it and keep trying for years. Hire a master for help if you can afford it.

Cnl_Duck gave a very good reply to the King's Gambit.  Personally as White, and I've played a lot of King's Gambit, I find this particular response by Black the hardest to refute. 

 The King's Gambit was the opening I studied seriously as a new player, mostly because it was a lot of fun, but also because it seemed to irritate a lot of my opponents (?!).  I bought a Batsford Chess book on the King's Gambit and spent a few months on it, learning the main lines.  I also attended seminars given by Lawrence Day, who played on Canada's Olympic Chess team 8+ times, on the subject of this opening.  Lawrence gave a simul against 32 players in our Brampton, Ontario club and won 30 games, drew one and lost one (I lost after about 47 moves). 

  However, if you want to learn how to play the King's Gambit, I highly recommend getting a book specifically on that opening, and spending time in that book regularly playing out the various lines over the board, noting traps, key diagonals and files, etc and the main features of the opening.

  While all openings are different, there are key themes that they all share and studying one at a time is a great way to learn opening play in general.  Don't let people discourage you by telling you the KGB is an old fashioned opening, etc.  Let's face it, if chess isn't fun, unless you're a professional player or candidate for the World Championship, there's not much point in playing.  So pick an opening you have fun playing, and do your best to master it.  At least you won't go into a game without a clue about opening strategy and you'll have a sharp weapon if you can play your choice of opening.

  That's my advice, for what it's worth.  However, nobody should study any openings more than they practice tactics, until they master tactics.

Tactical traps will prove to be the key to most openings!

I hope this helps.  All the best and good luck.

From a patzer-in-progress.

mcb_1, it turns out the referenced article was an April Fool's day joke. Sorry, I didn't realize. :(

However, the Fischer Defense is definitely a sound response to the King's Gambit. It deprives white of the post on e5 and forces the king's knight to retreat.

To Pfren and everyone else debating between 3. Bc4 and 3. Nf3 - theyre both playable. Sure, 3. Nf3 is more sound, but can lead to the violent Muzio Gambit, a personal favorite of mine. On the other hand, it does prevent 3...Qh4+ as allowed in the Bishops gambit. Granted this check is not seen too often since it gives white little problem.

I think pfren's argument was not 3...Qh4+ but 3...d5

Cnl_Duck, the Fischer response really is brilliant in its effectiveness and simplicity. I agree.

3. Bc4 and 3. Nf3 are the two main lines.

Gallagher's "Winning with the King's Gambit" is devoted to Nf3.  Johansson's "The Fascinating King's Gambit" covers Bc4.  There isn't much overlap between them so if you really want to get into the KG, you should look up one or the other.  Gallagher's book was in '93 and out of print - Johansson's is only a couple years old.  

There's supposedly a new book coming out in a couple months by Pinski, but it's been supposedly coming out in a couple months for a year or more.  Amazon says it's 600 pages...not sure why it's so humongous but there you have it.

Still, ultimately that's what opening manuals consist of. 

very carefully!

I'm a pretty low-rated player and play the KG for a couple reasons:

1. At my level, a loss of a pawn never decides the game.  It's always tactics in the middle game.  There is no point in my carefully playing some 9-move variation of the QGD to get to +/= if a couple moves later I or my opponent loses a bishop to a tactic.  So other than completely bad or silly openings, "everything is playable".
2. The KG (declined or accepted) immediately launches into an open, tactical game.  No old stodge games.