The key to the danish gambit (says pandolfini) is to not take the third pawn.
This is how I always play against it, and it seems to cancel whites plans. I'm sure there are other responses for black, but this one works for me and I'm happy to be black from this position.
that is a nice position for black but isnt there some potential for that a1-h8 diagonal being very dangerous for white....
I don't think you need to be bothered much by the danish even when taking the third pawn. Look here:
that is a nice position for black but isnt there some potential for that a1-h8 diagonal being very dangerous for white....
Chess can always be dangerous without correct play, but remember you are in the drivers seat when you see the danish. You can have a three pawn lead and a castled king
I prefer cheese danishes please, or maybe cherry...come to think of it, strawberry is good too! And bear claws, ooooohhhh!
immortalgamer how can you have a 3 pawn lead because the when takes on b2 is just recaptured with the bishop
so what should i play - the first diagram, second or third?
excuse me...not a three pawn lead...but rather you've captured three of whites pawns.
That is the beauty of chess, all of the choices we gave you are great choices....but you have to choose.
I don't play 1...e5 myself so I only have fragmented knowledge (nothing Scotch, for instance), but I'm playing in a Goring/Danish tournament right now and I can tell you that Danish should not be taken as lightly as Immortalgamer does. Manicdragon's suggestion, called the Capablanca defence is very sound and a bit drawish. I'd recommend it for a otb tournament, because it is probably not worth your time memorizing the critical, but complicated main lines where you accept the pawns, given the rarity of the opening. I'll give a sample from the book "Danish dynamite" (by Karsten Muller and Martin Voigt)
to discard with Immortalgamer's view that black has an easy game when he accepts the pawns.
Edit: 18...Bxg5 doesn't work because of the rather obvious 19.Nxg5, but it does prevent 19.Qxh7+, of course.
mathijs you have hit it on the head - that is exactly the sort of thing I dont want to happen in my game so maybe never take on b2....?
Sugden1403,
You must take the c3 pawn and the b2 pawn to have a Danish Gambit, as you know.
I recommend (the Goring Gambit position) dxc3, but then pinning the White knight at c3 with Bb4. You don't capture the final pawn, avoiding the Danish. This way you can exchange the bishop for the knight at c3 and play a pawn ahead in the Scotch.
This what I play against the Danish (usually):
And for the Scotch:
I don't play 1...e5 myself so I only have fragmented knowledge (nothing Scotch, for instance), but I'm playing in a Goring/Danish tournament right now and I can tell you that Danish should not be taken as lightly as Immortalgamer does. Manicdragon's suggestion, called the Capablanca defence is very sound and a bit drawish. I'd recommend it for a otb tournament, because it is probably not worth your time memorizing the critical, but complicated main lines where you accept the pawns, given the rarity of the opening. I'll give a sample from the book "Danish dynamite" (by Karsten Muller and Martin Voigt)
to discard with Immortalgamer's view that black has an easy game when he accepts the pawns.
Edit: 18...Bxg5 doesn't work because of the rather obvious 19.Nxg5, but it does prevent 19.Qxh7+, of course.
I looked through all my post here and I don't think I ever said the word "easy". I just gave him what I thought would be a solid opening against the danish and I stand by it. In your diagram you give the move 8. you give d6, and I would never play this, would you? I would castle on move 8, and then please tell me where is the danish bite after?
I'm not saying the danish doesn't have teeth, but I think if you get your king castled before white can focuse on the f pawn, you've got through the worst of it.
See Below:
yes but i do like the line of not taking the b2 pawn and turning it into a sort of goring gambit and playing with a pawn advantadge throughout
I can see where you are coming from. In the spirit of the post those phrases were in reference to the many options we gave him to contend with the danish (Don't take the pawn, take the pawn, take two pawns, take three). So because he is playing in his first tournament, I suggested he is in the "drivers seat" in relationship to having many options to play should he see the gambit.
I have no doubt that Lasker and Capablanca could be beat by the danish. I've been beat by it. Though Capablanca also lost to the Latvian Gambit (one of my favorites), and I don't think after losing once he would very likely lose again to it.
I agree that the game for black defense must be played correctly, or it can be devastating. But from my position, I feel like black can just defend logically and trade pieces moving toward a winning endgame. Black should strive to take the queens off the board asap.
HAHA immortalgamer that made me chcukle this isnt my first tournament....if you read my profile I played for england in the junior U14 world championships 4 months ago! lol i think you maybe just might be underestimating - what I am trying to emphasise from this post is that I am completly covered prepartion wisebut these openings have defied me for the last year!
oh haha...I write so many posts! I must have mixed you up. So sorry. So are you gonna take the third pawn, if the chance comes?
Hey guys,
I have two big up and coming tournaments and want to be well prepaed in the opening. I am covered for everything except two things which White can do against me when I play e5.
The first one is d4 exd4 c3 (danish gambit) and I am so eager to take the pawns which is fair enough but then I normally get aniliated on the kings side with those bishops on c4 and b2 and normally the queen which comes to b3.
The second one is the scotch game....I am sure you will know what this is e4 e5 nf3 nc6 d4 - again what do I do!?
I know there are a lot of strong players on the site so could everyone pleas try and help me get two solid lines against these two...to let you know so you can make an informed decision I am an attacking player, I like to have a materialistic advantadge and I dont like big sacks of pawns etc... unless I can regain the material in the next 10 moves or say (basically I dont like being down on material - the tipical junior!!!)
Thank you very much and I will look foward to hearing from you about these two openings.