It's interesting that almost any time I get a jones to look up an interesting line in a modern grandmaster database, whether it be for white or black, it's often Zvjag defending the line's honor.
The man is single handedly keeping beautiful chess alive, and I really must do more to study and appreciate this player.
Thanks for sharing the game!
Hammerslag, you miss the point entirely, when playing against black, you have options of play that can force draws easily and although every game should technically draw, the Evans offers too many draw avenues I understand that I am insulting part of your repertoire but the higher you get the more you will find that other openings offer more ripe positions ...
I'm not insulted or offended; I think I may have done that with my response...however, I still do not see a forced anything in the games you showed; they are games that are drawn or 1 game where black wins, not lines showing/explaining the draw/win for black line(s). If anything, the game where Black wins shows that the Evan's is playable as modern GMs still play it today; why would GMs play an opening where it's a forced draw (or even a win) for their opponent? That would not make sense.
Magnus Carlsen wins playing the King Gambit :)
http://www.chess.com/news_/view/bazna-kings-update-3288
This is a good example of why no grandmasters play it.
A good example? Who's going to be stupid enough to play b3? My King's Gambit database doesn't contain one single game with 3.b3.
The Carlsen game. Obviously if it is good enough for the current world number one, it must be pretty good.
What you played in the first example is what is called the Blackburne Gambit. I play it myself on occasion. The main idea behind Nxf7 Kxf7, is that Black can no longer castle, his kingside defense is severely weakened, and he is subject to either Qxg4, or Bc4+. The queen on g4 is devastating for black, although it is not immediately played. Nc3 is the correct continuation, just looking to complete development. If black does not defend g4 with maybe, King back to e8, Qxg4 is played, and black is in huge trouble, as white still can play Bc4, because the knight on c3 is defending d5. Had it not been there, after Bc4, black can safely play d5.
Hope this helps!
You have a better move?
I know it looks bad, retreating it to its starting square, but to the best of my knowledge, no other squares work even as well as Ng1
I have a better move, instead of playing that lame h4, play Bc4 and when black pushes the pawn to g4 you just castle kingside, and he captures your knight and you recapture your knight with your Queen.
Roman Dzindzichashvili has the answer to your question in this youtube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGJgQXtUqdM
reLentless, how would you recommend following that up then as white? Obviously, at this point, you're going for black's king, as unless you checkmate black or get a lot of material in trying to kill black's king, you're going to lose.
If I remember correctly, most muzios end in a draw. The position is ripe for perpetual check.
More to the point, does any grandmaster(after Bobby Fischer, obviously) ever play the King's Bishop Gambit?
I quite enjoy this opening, especially if my opponent chooses to play Qh4+, checking me in the very third turn
The main grandmasters who play the King's Bishop Gambit would be players like Heikki Westerinen, David Bronstein, Judit Polgar, Nigel Short, Dimitri Reinderman, Michael Bezold, Michael Adams, Vassily Ivanchuk and Alexander Morozevich. Bronstein used to claim that it was a better winning try than 3.Nf3 although he played both. Spassky preferred 3.Nf3 although he played 3.Bc4 once against Korchnoi fairly recently.
Yeah, but you can make the same argument about e4 in general. A black player who specializes in only one branch of the sicilian needs only to learn that one branch. However a white player has to be prepared to meet ALL the branches of the sicilian, not to mention e5... e6... c6 etc. If your preparation argument was valid at all you'd see people playing a lot more c4 and a lot less e4.