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The King’s Gambit is one of the most aggressive openings in chess. It was previously a very popular opening up to the late 19th century, and from what I’ve read, it is often described within the context of the “Romantic Era” of chess. So, big attacks, audacious sacrifices, tactical brilliancies. I believe it was for a time, considered unsportsman-like to decline a gambit! However, overly aggressive early attacks can leave deficiencies in defense. For my opponent, they could not recover from an early blunder, even though they played well for the rest of the match.

When I looked at all the games on chess.com where I played with the black pieces, and the game started with e4 e5, only in about 1 in 30 games did my opponent play the King’s Gambit. Interestingly, this is about as common as having the Vienna Game, Nc3, played against me. When we compare this to the most common opening after e4 e5, which is Nf3 with over 60% of the games, we can see that the King’s Gambit is not a common opening today.

Of the ten games that I had played against the King’s Gambit, I noticed an interesting trend. I tended to lose the games where I played more defensively and declined the gambit. I tended to win the games where I played aggressively and counter-attacked. Perhaps there is something to this against the King’s Gambit! I didn’t know the theory in this game, but my thinking was to not necessarily focus on holding onto the extra pawn, and to not allow white to capture the centre. I hope you found this video interesting, and thanks for watching!

Game on chess.com: https://www.chess.com/game/live/38788785865

[Event "Live Chess"]
[Site "Chess.com"]
[Date "2022.02.16"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Jesus66666"]
[Black "vitualis"]
[Result "0-1"]
[ECO "C36"]
[WhiteElo "1261"]
[BlackElo "1319"]
[TimeControl "1800"]
[EndTime "14:52:07 PST"]
[Termination "vitualis won by resignation"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. d3 dxe4 5. d4 exf3 6. Qxf3 Qxd4 7. Qxf4 Nc6 8. Bb5 Qb4+ 9. Nc3 Qxf4 10. Bxf4 Bd7 11. O-O Bc5+ 12. Kh1 O-O-O 13. Rad1 Nd4 14. Bd3 Nf6 15. h3 Rhe8 16. Bg5 h6 17. Bxf6 gxf6 18. Rxf6 a6 19. Rxf7 Bc6 20. Rdf1 Rg8 21. R1f2 Nb5 22. Rd2 Nxc3 23. bxc3 Bd5 24. Rh7 Bxa2 25. Rxh6 Be3 26. Bf5+ Kb8 27. Rxd8+ Rxd8 28. Rf6 Bd5 29. Bd3 Rg8 30. Bf1 b5 31. Rxa6 Bc4 32. Ra1 Bxf1 33. Rxf1 Kb7 34. Rb1 Ka6 35. Ra1+ Kb6 36. Rb1 c5 37. c4 b4 38. c3 Bd2 39. cxb4 cxb4 40. g4 Kc5 41. Rd1 Bc3 42. Kg2 Kxc4 43. Kf3 b3 44. Ke4 b2 45. Rb1 Ra8 0-1