Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. f4/2...exf4

King's gambit accepted
	a b c d e f g h 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 a b c d e f g h
	Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/8/4Pp2/8/PPPP2PP/RNBQKBNR
	Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4
	ECO code: C33
	Parent: King's gambit

2...exf4 · King's gambit accepted

If Black could make a free move in this position, it would undoubtedly be ...Qh4+. White couldn't successfully block the check with the g-pawn thanks to the Black pawn on f4, and the awkward move Ke2 would be forced.

How should White deal with the threat? There are two main approaches, 3. Nf3 and 3. Bc4.

Prevent ...Qh4+

3. Nf3 is the most obvious approach: control the h4 square and develop a piece to its most active square. This is called the king's knight gambit. Now, White at last threatens to play d4, taking over the centre and discovering an attack on f4 to recover the pawn, and Black has a wide range of ways to play.

Unusual approaches (that you probably should not play) include:

3. Qg4?, the Dodo variation, is an eccentric also-ran where White's queen guards h4 directly while threatening to take on f4. If Black gives the pawn back they should have an easy time, exploiting White's queen for tempi.
3. h4, the Stamma variation, controls h4 with the rook so disallowing ...Qh4+. It is, however, another pawn move, giving Black the time to get ahead in development and perhaps deny White the chance to play d4 at all, which was the whole point of the exercise. 3...Nf6 4. Nc3 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bb4∓.

Allow ...Qh4+

3. Bc4 is the bishop's gambit. This develops the bishop to an active square and gives White's king another square to move to, preparing to answer 3...Qh4+ with 4. Kf1, and then to gain tempo on the queen with Nf3. More common replies for Black are 3...Nf6 and 3...d5.

Lots of other third moves that allow 3...Qh4+ for White have been tried but are not good.

Those include 3. d4?!, the Villemson gambit, and 3. Nc3?, the Mason-Keres gambit, but 3...Qh4+ 4. Ke2 leaves White's king too weak.

There are a couple of other ideas to allow ...Qh4+ but remove its sting:

3. Qf3?!, the Breyer gambit, has the interesting plan to allow 3...Qh4+ but answer it 4. g3, as now after 4...fxg3 5. hxg3! and queen defends both the pawn and the rook.
3. Nh3?!, the Eisenberg variation, is cute, intending 3...Qh4+ 4. Nf2.
3. Be2, the Tartakower gambit, provides an escape square for the white king on f1.
3. Qe2?!, the Basman gambit, provides an escape square for the white king on d1 but blocks the bishop on f1.

Bad moves

The moves below have names but are awful and should probably not be played.

3. g3?, the Gaga gambit. White stops Qh4+ and attacks the pawn on f4 but at the cost of an isolated g-pawn after 3...fxg3 4. hxg3.
3. Bd3? and 3. Bb5? are both called the Schurig gambit, with Bd3 and with Bb5, respectively. White develops their bishops to bad squares but provides a square for the white king to go to, f1.
3. Qh5?, the Carrera gambit, stops Qh4+ and hopes for 3...g6?? 4. Qe5++-, but the queen is misplaced and 3...Nf6 attacks it.
3. Ne2?, the Paris gambit. After 3...Qh4+, 4. g3 is defended by the knight on e2, but after 4...fxg3 5. Nxg3 the misplaced knight is in an awkward pin.
3. Kf2?, the Tumbleweed gambit, aims to sacrifice multiple pawns for a lead in development: 3...Qh4+ 4. g3 fxg3 5. Kg2 Qxe4+, but White's king is unsafe.
3. b3?, the Orsini gambit, is very bad and pointless. White aims to put their bishop on b2, but 3...Qh4+ 4. Ke2 d5 stops that as 5. Bb2?? Bg4+ 6. Nf3 dxe4-+ sends White to ruins.

Theory table

1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4

	3	4	5	6	7
King's Knight Gambit	Nf3 g5	h4 g4	Ne5 Nf6	d4 d6	Nd3 Nxe4	∞
King's Bishop Gambit	Bc4 ...	=
Lesser Bishop's Gambit	Be2 ...
Villemson Gambit	d4?! Qh4+
Mason Gambit	Nc3?! -
Breyer Gambit	Qf3?! -	=/+
King's Own Gambit	Kf2?! Qh4+	g3 fxg3	Kg2 Qxe4+	-/+