The King's Gambit is an ancient attacking opening. White sacrifices the f-pawn to open the f-file, seize the centre and charge at the king. All the main branches are gathered here: the Accepted and the Declined, the Falkbeer Countergambit, the Kieseritzky, Muzio, Fischer and Cunningham variations, and the Bishop's Gambit. At each branching point, choose which line to play.
The dimmed moves are the rest of the main line, and the dots mark branching points. Click any move to jump to that position.
The thin arrow on the board shows the next move.
You can also play the move on the board: pick the piece up and put it on the square.
The starting position. Choose your moves - at a branching point several continuations are available.
The King's Gambit is one of the oldest and most thoroughly analysed openings: it was studied as early as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and flowered in the romantic era of the nineteenth, when a direct attack on the king was prized above all. With 2.f4 White offers Black the e5 pawn in exchange for the initiative.
Why the sacrifice. After 2...exf4 White gives up the f-pawn but gets three things in return: an open or half-open f-file for the rook, a central advantage after d2-d4, and fast development of the kingside pieces. The point is to create threats first and deny the opponent a calm deployment.
The price of risk. The move f2-f4 weakens White's own king position and the e1-h4 diagonal. That gives Black the resource ...Qh4+, and careless play can simply leave White a pawn down. The King's Gambit is a race in which the initiative matters more than material.
As early as move two Black chooses a strategy for the whole game. Accepting the sacrifice (2...exf4) means taking the pawn and trying either to hold it or to give it back at a convenient moment while finishing development. The most critical and sharpest route.
Declining (2...Bc5) means developing without weakening your own position and keeping g1 and the diagonal to White's king in your sights. The game becomes quieter and more positional.
Counterattacking (2...d5, the Falkbeer Countergambit) means opening the centre yourself and seizing the initiative while White is busy on the flank. The roles of attacker and defender are swapped.
For White the King's Gambit is a race, not an exercise in counting material. After 1.e4 e5 2.f4 the main task is to open the f-file quickly, bring the pieces to active squares and point them at the king. The typical formation: pawn on e4, knight on f3, bishop on c4 aiming at f7, short castling and a rook on the f-file.
If Black accepts the sacrifice (2...exf4), play 3.Nf3: the move covers h4 in advance and removes the main counter-threat ...Qh4+. Then after 3...g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 (the Kieseritzky Gambit) you stay a pawn down but get a powerful central knight and a lasting initiative. Those who like it sharp can take the Muzio Gambit - 4.Bc4 g4 5.0-0!, sacrificing a knight for a crushing attack.
The main rule for White is not to chase the pawn back and not to dawdle. Spend every tempo on development and opening lines: let the opponent slip once and the attack down the f-file and against f7 usually decides. If Black declines (2...Bc5), develop calmly and prepare d2-d4 and Nc3.
Black has three equally good routes, and only panic loses. You can accept the pawn (2...exf4) and try to hold it or return it in time; you can decline (2...Bc5), developing without weaknesses; or you can counterattack in the centre with 2...d5, the Falkbeer Countergambit.
If you take the pawn, remember the resource ...Qh4+: until White's knight reaches f3, that check is very awkward. After 3.Nf3 the reliable moves are 3...d6 (the Fischer Defence) and 3...g5. The first shores up the centre and prepares ...g5 without the immediate h4 hit; the second holds the f4 pawn at the cost of weakening the flank - and demands precision in the tactics around g4 and f7.
Black's strategic aim is to defuse White's initiative and either carry the extra pawn into the endgame or give it back for a solid position. Trade off White's attacking pieces, do not expose your own king unnecessarily, and finish developing: without an attack, the sacrificed pawn is simply a pawn White is missing.
The typical set-ups this opening leads to - learn them, and the plan follows by itself.
After 2...exf4 3.Nf3 the knight has covered h4 (no ...Qh4+) and prepares a quick Bc4, 0-0 and play on the f-file. Most of the classical lines grow out of this.
3...g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5. White is a pawn down, but the e5 knight dominates, lines are open and Black's kingside is weakened - textbook compensation for the material.
4.Bc4 g4 5.0-0! White gives up the f3 knight for a headlong attack down the f-file and the diagonal to f7. Less material, but an enormous initiative.
2...d5 - the counter-strike in the centre. After 3.exd5 e4 Black sacrifices a pawn in turn: the e4 pawn cramps White, Black leads in development and takes over the initiative.
These are the main named variations. Click any one of them and it loads straight onto the board above, where you can play it out move by move. The trainer itself holds more lines than this: it also covers main-line continuations and transpositions that have no name of their own.
What to avoid, and what catches an unprepared opponent.
If you develop the bishop to c4 before the knight, Black gives 3...Qh4+ 4.Kf1 and White's king loses the right to castle. It does not lose - White gains a lead in development for it - but for a beginner with White, 3.Nf3 covering h4 first is safer.
Having accepted the knight in the Muzio Gambit, Black has to defend very precisely. Greed and passive moves end quickly in disaster down the open f-file and with blows against f7 - over the board it is often wiser for Black to give the material back and defuse the attack.
You can hold the f4 pawn, but you cannot forget about your pieces. If Black only pushes kingside pawns, the knight on e5, the bishop on c4 and the rook on f1 build an attack before Black gets his pieces out.
In the declined gambit Black should not pin the knight early with 4...Bg4?! or grab pawns: White strikes at the centre with d2-d4 and f4-f5 and gains a space advantage. Safer is the quiet ...Nf6, ...Nc6 and ...0-0.
Traps in other openings - the 12 most common opening traps.
Yes. As a teaching opening it shows the value of the initiative, of tempo and of attacking the king beautifully. It is rarer at the top level because of the risk, but for learning, blitz and rapid it is an excellent choice.
No. Taking (the gambit accepted) is the most critical route, but declining with 2...Bc5 and the counter-strike 2...d5 are both perfectly sound and lead to games of their own.
The move 3.Nf3 covers h4 and takes away Black's main counter-argument, the check ...Qh4+. Without that precaution White's king would immediately come under fire.
In the Knight's Gambit (3.Nf3) White first shields the king from the check; in the Bishop's Gambit (3.Bc4) he presses on f7 at once and allows 3...Qh4+ 4.Kf1, banking on a lead in development instead of castling.
Want the tactics that decide these positions? Start with the 12 most common opening traps and tactics for beginners. If you are just starting out, read the rules of chess and how to set up the board.
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