King's Gambit

The Gambit thread that was recently created has gained some attention, and I have noticed many people feel that gambits are unsound in the opening. This may be somewhat true at GM and Super GM levels, but I don't think which opening you play below the 1800 level makes any difference really. (To support this, I played somebody, just slightly worse than I. I opened with the Hammerschlag, and ended up crushing him.) Beyond this I have been getting amazing results with the King's Gambit. The following game was played on FICS, I'm CMSBones and you can see the ratings of my opponent and I. What I'm asking is that you guys comment on the game, the weak play, etc. done by my opponent or I, and comment on how you feel the opening affected this play. Here's the game...

[Event "rated standard match"]
[Site "freechess.org"]
[Date "2006.05.28"]
[Round "?"]
[White "CMSBones"]
[Black "Smakhapiknotinot"]
[Result "*"]
[WhiteElo "1328"]
[BlackElo "1468"]
[ECO "C34"]
[TimeControl "1200"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 Bd6 5. d4 Nge7 6. O-O O-O 7. Nc3 Kh8 8.
a3 f5 9. e5 Bxe5 10. dxe5 d6 11. exd6 cxd6 12. Bxf4 Rf6 13. Ng5 a6 14. Qh5 h6
15. Nf7+ Rxf7 16. Qxf7 Qb6+ 17. Kh1 Bd7 18. Bxd6 Qd8 19. Rf3 b5 20. Rg3 Qg8
21. Qxg8+ Nxg8 22. Bxg8 Rxg8 23. Re1 Nd4 24. Re7 Nxc2 25. Rxd7 Re8 26. Re7
Rd8 27. Be5 *

Some notes I may add, as I haven't yet annotated this game.

On move 8.black moved quickly and made a slight blunder. This may have made him nervous and from here on he shows little chance for victory.
Move 15, another tactical error by black, proper calculation a couple moves ahead may have been able to prevent this poor exchange from occuring. Then black's 16th move, the check with the queen, seems to only weaken black's defense. If anybody could point out the idea behind that move I would be pleased.
Move 24, what? He trades a pawn for a bishop? His third, maybe fourth extremely bizarre move this game, and the loss is soon to follow.
Move 26. Another error, this move loses quickly and the game is over after my 27th move when he resigns.

This game seems to show poor middlegame play. He played this game like a 1200, but it seems strange to me that somebody rated over 130 points higher than myself would play such a poor game, especially against an opening that so many people jump to call "inferior" or "refuted". So once again, post any mistakes that you find, and give me your comments on the game, please.

I just checked FICS to see if his rating has changed, as maybe he was overrated. It has changed, but it has actually gone up to 1535.

1300-1400 BLITZ is a reasonably good rating....

1300-1400 Standard is....well, a bit poor, you see play not much stronger than the 1200's here, not that I make a habbit of playing 1400's


4. Bd6??

who the hell plays that before moving the D-pawn first?

Indeed f5 was bad (f6 was better), traps that badly placed bishop 1-0


Do you know how the FICS rating system works??

Well, it uses the Gliko(sp?) system....He has a very High RD (100) ...which means his rating can go up 50-100 points for a win

When my RD was that High I was 2200....its dropped A LOT since then

Yeah, that would make sense, I'd say he's more of a 1200 player. He played very weak, but also rushed some of his moves. I agree, Bd6 was the start of his demise....that was a terrible move, blocked his d pawn, and really didnt put his bishop in a good spot. I was happy with the way I played the game however, at the time of that game I had a 1328 rating, so I'm generally expected to make 1-3 blunders a game. A quick analyzation by Crafty didn't show a single error (although I'm sure there were plenty of minor errors) so I was very happy with the outcome. 😉

I also think part of his poor play had to do with him being confused on how to reply to the KG. Obviously any experience against it, and common sense alone, should have told him that 4.Bd6 is not a good move.

KG is very easy to "handle", if your not sure, simply "decline" the Gambit

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. nf3

A very simple move I used to play was Be7...

for Example....

...3. Nf3 Be7 4. Nc3 Bh4+

^^ its a simple, and a reasonably effective line, Nowadays however I tend to follow Fischer's recomendations...

Here's a Good example of how to beat the KG

Game 1950332

And Equally, How NOT play KG

[White "Hisaw"]
[Black "Shinidoki"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteElo "1961"]
[BlackElo "1723"]
[ECO "C34"]
[TimeControl "900"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d6 4. d4 g5 5. h4 f6 6. Nxg5 fxg5 7. Qh5+ Kd7 8.
hxg5 Be7 9. Bxf4 Nc6 10. c3 h6 11. gxh6 Nf6 12. Qf5+ Ke8 13. Qg6+ Kf8 14.
Qg7+ {Shinidoki resigns} 1-0

Wow, you got slaughtered. Nice examples though.

Most GMs recommend 3.Bc4.

I fear the Qh4+!

Actually no, I don't, the guy I was playing with last night told me that he thinks Nf3 is far better.

Originally posted by cmsMaster
I fear the Qh4+!

Actually no, I don't, the guy I was playing with last night told me that he thinks Nf3 is far better.

Probably a matter of taste, I quite welcome Qh4+

The problem I have with the whole Bc4 thing, and my opinion means jack because I started the KG last night, is there seem to be many times when white plays 4.Bc4 after Nc3 anyway. Also, doesn't it bother you that after Qh4+ you lose the right to casle? Like I said, I'm still new to the KG, so I'll listen to any good advice.

Oh yeah, Bedlam, with you being a KG player could you comment on the game, perhaps? Specifically the opening...

Originally posted by cmsMaster
The problem I have with the whole Bc4 thing, and my opinion means jack because I started the KG last night, is there seem to be many times when white plays 4.Bc4 after Nc3 anyway. Also, doesn't it bother you that after Qh4+ you lose the right to casle? Like I said, I'm still new to the KG, so I'll listen to any good advice.

After Qh4 just play Kf1, the queen is misplaced white will get a good game the tricker lines are Bc4 d5 . Then either Bxd5 or exd5 and then black plays Qh4+. Spassky recommended exd5 as being the better line for white.

Iv been playing the Bc4 lines for about 7 months now, havent lost a single game in 90 min OTB conditions. I guess its all down to style if you enjoy that sort of game or not.

Just curious, why do you feel that 3.Nf3 is so weak? After, g5, g4 white has the choice of the Ne5 line or the Muzio gambit which looks exciting, and beyond that Nf3 seemed to be a favorite of Spassky.

Originally posted by cmsMaster
Just curious, why do you feel that 3.Nf3 is so weak? After, g5, g4 white has the choice of the Ne5 line or the Muzio gambit which looks exciting, and beyond that Nf3 seemed to be a favorite of Spassky.

The only reason I play Nf3 instead of Bc4 is to play the Muzio gambit!

Originally posted by cmsMaster
The Gambit thread that was recently created has gained some attention, and I have noticed many people feel that gambits are unsound in the opening. This may be somewhat true at GM and Super GM levels, but I don't think which opening you play below the 1800 level makes any difference really. (To support this, I played somebody, just slightly worse than I. ...[text shortened]... errated. It has changed, but it has actually gone up to 1535.

I've played the Hammerslag against players rated much higher than that on FICS, and crushed them. I'm 1-1 with it in correspondence, and score close to 90% in online blitz. However, the King's Gambit is useful OTB against players that that are one or two levels above me; the Hammersclag would never do there. The King's Gambit is a solid positional opening; the Hammerschlag is a comedy routine.

Originally posted by Akashic
The only reason I play Nf3 instead of Bc4 is to play the Muzio gambit!

^^^

ah yes.....

the Muzio Gambit, if accepted can be a nightmare to defend against