The Danish Gambit

Craig, why not have a go at a thematic tournament? It'll give you an insight into the opening, which lines to play and which lines to avoid. There is one here http://www.chess.com/tournament/the-danish-gambit2 but of course you can find others

Pfren covered practically everything here:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/danish-cracker

I am stumped after 5...Bb4+ 6.Kf1 Nf6 7.e5 d5 8.Bb5+ Nd7! instead of 8...c6.

I can't speak for him, but after reading the article I suppose he discarded the above posted variation because he dismissed it as obviously worse for white, as I'd assume he didn't overlook it.  Qa4+ looks bad for white, though.

Well, I did examine this option, but after the natural 11...Bf5 and an eventual bishop plug at the d3 square, I can not find any decent way for white to proceed. Black needs some time to wrap up the g7 pawn, but he only has a few technical problems to achieve that.

Some common sense, regarding the position at #21:

- Black is not behind in development.

- White's king is at least equally uncomfortably placed as Black's.

- Black has a powerful bishop pair.

- Black is a pawn up, and he has easy moves to develop the rest of his army.

Factly, even the "illogical" 11...Rxg7, which trades the weak g7 pawn for the strong one at c4, leaves Black with a clear advantage: 12.Nd5 (only serious move) c3 13.Nxc3 (13.Bxc3 Bxc3 14.Nxc3 Be6 is just a pawn up for nothing) 13...Rg6 (to answer the check from d1 with ...Rd6) 14.Nf3 Nc6, and I cannot find anything reasonable for white- he has to fight a miserable, pawn-down position.

But of course I think 11...Bf5 is much stronger- white is in a critical position after that.

In short, using Adorjan's terminology, 6.Kf1 "is a bright idea that loses".

Summing up, I believe 4.Bc4? cb2 5.Bxb2 Bb4+! is a complete refutation of the Danish gambit (= clear advantage to Black), and I challenge anyone to find a hole in my analysis.

White can stay alive by 4.Nxc3! when he is probably somewhat worse, but he has decent practical chances for his missing pawn.

Thank you for your response!  After looking at your lines, I completely agree - it does seem difficult (or impossible) to find any way for white to compensate for his missing pawn even in the Kf1 lines.

It has played  a lot in top grandmaster level in the past.It is a really good openning.But requires sereious preperation

White can force a draw!!!

Ummm... maybe this is a draw in hope chess.

White is a piece and a pawn down for nothing. Resignation is already in order

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=906234715

so you have choosed the games which white has played totally bad

what is that bishop sacrefice!!!?

I have played  a lot of games with great succsuss

http://www.chess.com/livechess/game?id=906234715

Notice the example games being posted are bullet games..

And white is down a piece. White resigns in shame.

?

It's a draw after that move...

Are you trolling? Bxf7 is completely unsound and I would refute it OTB as well.