I want to play the Kings gambit. Any tips?

I have a Highschool chess final vs the best in my school coming up and have been studying the kings gambit. I know my opponent does not study any theory at all but is very good regardless by playing by instinct. Any tips? (I know it is really advanced but I am confident I am up for it)

Okay, let's consider that you already know all the theory of this opening. What will you do if your opponent will decide to play c5 or something like that instead of e5? All the theoretical tips related to this opening that you've learnt before will become useless in one moment.
It's not definitely a good deal to rely on such things.

I wouldn't recommend you to study any opening that takes more than two moves, especially if you're not an advanced player. It just doesn't worth its time.
In chess, you must develop your skills in preference to knowledge. That's the only working way to get better at this game.

The most important thing when playing the kings gambit is to be a king. Put yourself on a throne and command your pieces. If your not a good leader than the kings gambit is not for you. You may want to try the poop gambit. It works like this: Tell your opponent you gtg poop and resign.

nice I will do that next time I play a game

too many different natural looking replies to kings gambit as early as move 3 so he could play any of them. The only tip I can think of is to never forget the aim.. which is to attack down the f-file.

Playing the king's gambit, especially the bishop's gambit line that is the most fun, requires nerves of steel. A lot of times your king is out there nekked while you are attacking and it can be nerve-wracking. You really need to learn the theory and be prepared to lose some games before you get the hang of it, because it's definitely not a safe opening.

But it's the most fun that can be had playing chess.

@ubik42 - believe it or not, in that other web site's database of non-master games, the king's gambit has a win% of only 1% less than the queen's gambit. If you know what you're doing, it's fine. If you don't know what you're doing, though, it's kinda suicidal.

But it is fun!

I agree with Tails. There is no point in studying opening theory at the lower levels. Watch some classic games with the KG to get some of the ideas instead. If you really want to study "theory", study the theory of pawn endgames. That will be more helpful. 

There's no need to study opening theory, but there's no reason not to, especially if you want to play a fun opening like the king's gambit that's suicide without a rudimentary knowledge of theory. You're assuming everyone's goal is to climb the ratings ladder as quickly as possible. My goal is to have as much fun as possible and playing slow, methodical openings just bores me to tears.

Learning the basic theory of the king's gambit will take you what, an afternoon? You can even practice some lines on the bots before you go live with it. Will it take you a week or two more to gain 100 rating points? Maybe. But who cares. Additionally, the king's gambit will help you sharpen your tactical skills because the opening is all about tactics.

You can  look for a bot at Chess.com that play it.

I don't know what bot does!

Maybe Nelson Bot?

Sadly, no bots play the king's gambit, not even MORPHY!!!!! That's dumb.

There is nothing wrong with studying opening theory, if you enjoy the activity of studying opening theory. Unless you expect, that it will have an impact on the results, everything is fine.  I don't know about your goals, but if I understood correctly, the OP wanted to know how to increase his/her chances in that match. 

One afternoon? We might have different things in mind when talking of about opening theory... As I said, I think it is a good idea to look at basic ideas and plans. If that's what you mean, I don't disagree.

If your opponent doesn't know theory at all, as you said. Chances are he will end up playing something suspicious, he may even decline the gambit. In my experience players who don't study theory and have a lot of experience, tend to decline opening gambits and try to play it safe, hence you'd often notice they play passive moves like be7 for eg. in some King's gambit positions. 

You can definitely try the King's Gambit. I would advice you to research on what to do if he declines the gambit and if he plays a passive move. 

@jenium - I didn't say learn all lines in an afternoon. It took me maybe a week to learn how to learn the Fischer, classical, Kierseritsky, Bishop's gambit, and the Muzio, as well as how to beat up on the Falkbeer. That covers most of what black is likely to play even if they don't know any theory. I wouldn't even say that I was studying hard. All I did was write down the lines and play through them with the bots over and over again for about 8 moves, resign, then do it over again. It was all very leisurely and easy.

I think the best game I have ever played was a bishop's gambit line that I knew about 6 moves deep, but actually followed a previous master game to like move 13 or 14. It ended on a knight sacrifice on h7 and a really pretty mate. The king's gambit is fun. It really is, but I never would've survived the opening without knowing those 6 moves of theory.

Thnx so much guys the speed of the response was amazing!!!!

@ubik42 - GMs rarely play the kings gambit not because it's losing, but because it's almost always a draw. Computers have developed the theory so much that if you follow all the lines, white can never get an advantage. Black doesn't win more than white, but GMs feel that it doesn't give white enough chances.

But we are not GMs and 99.999% of us will never be GMs. Even at 2500 rating in that other web site's database, the KG is pretty much just as good as anything else.

Hi. I've played him once with it and he accepted it. He manipulated my white diagonal. In saying that, the game I'm referring to is when I did not know as much as I do now.