This is the first chess lesson of the third part of the series of chess lessons at intermediate level. In the future I will add more chess lessons to the previous parts, but I think it is time to move on to the next level.

The King’s Gambit is one of the most famous gambits. The purpose of this pawn sacrifice is to get an piece development advantage. In fact this is the general compensation for the sacrificed pawn in a gambit.
When you start playing the King’s Gambit you have to be familiar with the key concepts: the fast piece development, the strong pawn center, the (half)open f-line and the attack on f7, all in exchange for the sacrificed pawn on f4. Despite all of these compensations Black can obtain a reasonable position by giving back the extra pawn at a later time and consolidating defensively.
This is one of the main reasons that the King’s Gambit is rarely seen at the master level. On the other hand I think that every chess player has to play some gambits during some time. This contributes to a better understanding of the chess game and gives a feeling about the value of things like piece development. In addition the games are very sharp and interesting, and increase the fun in playing chess games.

In this chess lesson I will limit myself to indicate the most important variations of the King’s gambit. In general the variation ends at the point where the pawn has been recaptured. Black’s largest mistake is to hold onto the pawn at all costs.

In the King’s Gambit White tries to get control about the centre and to increase the pressure on black’s pawn on f7, his greatest weakness. The white Bishop often moves to c4, attacking f7. The Knight on the king’s side is moved to f3 and later on to g5 or e5, also attacking f7. After White playing O-O and opening the f-file White’s Rook is targeted at Black’s weakest square.
As mentioned before this overview is far from complete, but gives an overview of the most important variations. The advantage of this compact representation is that it is probably easier to understand and comprehend. The next chess lesson is about the third rank defense followed by the game Kasparov - Georgiev, 1988.

Original 2 Responses on CTL to “King’s Gambit”

1. 
   harcee sarmiento
   January 9th, 2009 at 5:45 am
   i am an avid fan of the kings gambit accepted and one of the Novelty i am using right now which comes to success is 1.e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. h4!? i am looking for more new theory about it so please give me more new lines on the kings gambit.
2. 
   Chess Teacher
   January 9th, 2009 at 7:44 pm
   1.e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. h4 is the Leonardo Gambit.
   I will later add some information about this gambit on this site.
   Eric Schiller also pays some attention to this gambit in “Unorthodox Chess Openings”.
   One of the oldest examples of this gambit can be found on the net in theEarliest Chess Games by Bill Wall.