Is the King's Gambit dead?
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I've been playing the King's Gambit a lot lately, so I think I agree with everyone else--for all but the top players in the world, the King's Gambit is alive and well!
billwall wrote:
I enjoy playing the King's Gambit more than any opening on the Internet or in blitz chess. I've written 3 books on the opening and there are still hundreds of King's Gambits being played every year in all kinds of tournaments and published in chess magazines around the world. It's rare at the GM level, but you still have Spassky playing it, and lesser known GMs such as Morozevich (rate 2762 and ranked #4 in the world), Fedorov, and Gallagher (British GM and former British champion.
I would be willing to rethink the bias beaten into me against playing KG if, say, you were to send me a book 
KG is blitz only for me. I don't play it much since many times black plays french instead.
Jan 20, 2008
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#24
All Thomas Johansson's King's Gambit books have been well received. I suspect that for anyone wanting to become proficient in KG theory, he's the go-to man.
The Kings Gambit is dead; is Batgirl trying to project the spirit of RJF? Some strong talk for a person who doesn't play a lick, the KG is very much alive to sonar or non sonar chess players!~
Only if you are a CCR fan and since you are from NC and not UCLA try again with the references to '60s protest music. Is Julie Newmar showing some age?
farbror wrote:
There is an excellent book by Thomas J devoted to the Bc4-line ("Fantastic King's Gambit"?). Hi previous book: "King's Gambit for the Creative agressor" is a few years old but also very good.
So let me rephrase: The King's Gambit is Deadly Fun!
Just to clear things up, the actual title is 'The Fascinating Kings Gambit'. I bought this book in the summer and it is really good. The book covers 3.Bc4 (not 3.Nf3) and naturally it has several chapters on the kings gambit declined. It will definatley provide you with a good repitoire for the KG. The book is large and so are the diagrams. There possibly could be a little more commentary but its not a big deal.
The KG is not dead, the king is just resting thats all! Remember, Morozevic has beaten Anand with 3.Bc4 in 2001 i think (i will edit this when i get home to my database).
The kings gambit isnt dead but its not so popular because several other openings score better for white with much less risk. Even the ponziani scores better according to chess assistant.
redmadstake wrote:
KG is very strong in Blitz- and Bullet chess
i totally agree ,
in standard games it's like opening fire on ur king
Jan 21, 2008
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#31
If the KG is strong in correspondence chess, then how, logically, is it unacceptable due to current opening theory?
There are many reasons it isn't popular at high level OTB, but being theoretically bereft surely isn't one of them.
if you are a professional, it's probably dead. For everyone else, I don't think it's dead.
......dont underestimate the KG!
I love king's gambit, though it is rarely seen in all masters tournaments. probably becauseo of its very aggressive nature.
Leo_Rosene wrote:
I never play KG as white though I love to play against it!
I challenge Anyone out there who is cosiderally familiar with this line to a KG match where I play black- message me
here's a KG I played against recently, my opponent was rated higher than me though resigned on move 18!
Howeve, he played it very wrong.
I thought everybody played it before =( Almost every beginner book I find have at least one KG game in it. It's quite easy to bring across the point of the initiative to newbies since the KG (A) has arguably the greatest potential in producing wickedly wild games.
By the way, I agree with 3.Bc4 being more aggressive. Just a reminder for Black that there's no point checking at h4 anymore since after Kf1, White will gain tempo developing his pieces attacking the Queen. And if you face 3.Nf3, there's no point defending the pawn at the cost of ruining the kingside pawn structure with ...g5?. (I think current theory should already put ? to g5. The reason why they don't is to sucker people into playing that stupid move so they'd have endless supplies of more ridiculous games to add as examples in beginner books.)
....i believe this is how black destroys the KG