The King's Gambit
Two moves in, White has given away a pawn and opened a file at their own king. For three hundred years this was simply what chess looked like. Step through it, then play it.
Last updated
- First moves
- 1. e4 e5 2. f4
- ECO
- C30
- Best for
- White
- Style
- Aggressive
- Theory
- Moderate
- Level
- Intermediate
The King's Gambit is 1.e4 e5 2.f4. In two moves White has offered a pawn, opened the f-file, and left the king's diagonal wide open. It is the least cautious opening in chess and, for about three hundred years, it was simply what chess was.
If Black takes, White gets the centre with d4, a half-open file pointing at f7 and a development lead. If White forgets one move, Black plays ...Qh4+ and the game is decided before it starts. Both halves of that sentence are the King's Gambit.
The main line
The Kieseritzky Gambit - the main line of the King's Gambit Accepted. Step through all nine moves.
Now play White's side of it - and notice which move the board will not let you skip.
You are White. Offer the f-pawn, stop the check, undermine the chain, and jump the knight forward.
Declining it: 2...Bc5 and the Falkbeer
Most opponents below master level take the pawn. The two good ways to say no are worth knowing from both sides.
The Classical Declined - Black keeps the pawn structure and the a7-g1 diagonal.
The sharper decline is 2...d5, the Falkbeer Countergambit: after 3.exd5 e4 Black gives the pawn straight back to seize the centre and cramp White before the attack can be organised. It is the classical answer to any wing attack, applied to the oldest wing attack there is.
The trap you must not fall for
There is one. It is on move three, it has been ending King's Gambits since the 1600s, and it is the reason 3.Nf3 is not a matter of taste.
You are White. Black has just taken on f4. Find the move that develops and closes the diagonal in the same breath.
The pawn is gone and the e1-h4 diagonal is open at your king. One move develops AND stops the check.
If you would like to see what happens when nobody covers that diagonal, the Fool's Mate page has the two-move version.
The plans, for both sides
White's plans. Take the centre with d4, castle if the position ever allows it, and use the f-file: Rf1 behind the pawn on f4, Bc4 at f7, and a knight to e5 or g5. The recurring sacrifice is on f7, and the recurring tactical theme is that Black's kingside pawns on f4, g5 and h6 are targets rather than a wall. Do not try to win the pawn back early - the pawn was never the point.
Black's plans. Hold the extra pawn only while it costs nothing. The modern recipes give it straight back with ...d5 to open the centre, develop fast, and castle - and then White's own king, sitting behind a missing f-pawn, becomes the weakness. Watch the f7-square until you have castled, and remember that trading queens is almost always good for the defender.
The tactical vocabulary here is checkmate patterns more than anything else - the open f-file and the exposed kings on both sides mean most games end with a mating net rather than an endgame.
For the same f-pawn idea with the check pre-emptively prevented, see the Vienna Game; for a gambit that pays a pawn to build the centre instead of opening a file, see the Evans Gambit.
Try it
Move two. Play the King's Gambit.
The King's Gambit is not the soundest opening you will ever play, and that has never been the point. It is the one that teaches what an open file, a lead in development and an exposed king are actually worth - by putting all three on the board on move two. The lessons take it from there.
Common questions
- What is the King's Gambit?
- The opening 1.e4 e5 2.f4, offering the f-pawn to deflect Black's e5-pawn from the centre. If Black takes, White gets the whole centre with d4, an open f-file pointing at f7, and a lead in development - at the cost of a pawn and a permanently airy king. It was the main opening of the nineteenth century and produced most of the games people still call immortal.
- Is the King's Gambit sound?
- It is playable, not refuted, and objectively worse than the quiet alternatives. Engines give Black a small but real edge with best play in most lines, and top-level practice moved on a century ago. As a practical weapon below master level it is still excellent: the positions are sharp, the defender has more to get right than the attacker, and one careless move by Black can end the game by move fifteen.
- Why must White play 3.Nf3?
- Because of 3...Qh4+. With the f-pawn gone, the e1-h4 diagonal is open at White's king, and almost any third move other than Nf3 allows a check that forces the king to e2 or costs the castling rights forever. 3.Nf3 covers h4 with the knight - it is the single most important move in the whole opening, and it is why the Bishop's Gambit 3.Bc4, which allows 3...Qh4+ deliberately, is a separate opening with its own theory.
- What is the best way to decline the King's Gambit?
- Two answers are completely respectable. 2...Bc5 is the classical decline: the bishop takes the a7-g1 diagonal, so White can never castle comfortably and can never play d4 with tempo. 2...d5, the Falkbeer Countergambit, is the aggressive one - Black offers a pawn straight back to open the centre before White's attack exists, which is the standard cure for any wing attack.
- What is the Kieseritzky Gambit?
- The main line of the King's Gambit Accepted: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5. Black has built a pawn chain to hold the extra pawn; White undermines it with h4 and then leaps the knight into e5 rather than retreating it. The knight on e5 is loose, active and hard to dislodge, and the resulting positions are among the sharpest in chess.
- Should a beginner play the King's Gambit?
- Play it for a while, then decide. It teaches attacking chess faster than any other opening - open files, sacrifices, initiative, the value of a tempo - and the games are never boring. But it also punishes sloppiness immediately, and there is one move (3.Nf3) you must never forget. Start with the Vienna Game if you want the same f4 idea with a safety net.
Ideas this opening runs on:
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