Annotated chess game: Why to take the pawn on f4 in a king's gambit

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ANNOTATED GAME

Why to take the pawn on f4 in a king's gambit
oogiegork (1500) vs. varsity (1547)
Annotated by: ravster (1200)
Chess opening: King's gambit (C30)

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1. e4	Hello and welcome to my annotated game. This game is played by someone I know from school (oogiegork) and shows that it can be dangerous game if there is a king gambit played, and this shows what can happen even if you don't take the pawn on f4!
	1 comment archduke_piccolo (2334) on 12-Apr-08: An instructive brevity: something to retain as part of one's technique...


1... e5 2. f4	Like I said, there is a king gambit.



2... f6	I personally think that you should not do this because moving a kingside pawn in a opening is dangerous, even when you can take the pawn on f4 and defend badly on the next few moves. But these players are better than me, so I cannot talk.
	3 comments kingstuart (1200) on 18-May-07: 2...f6 is a terrible move, it is bad even if white has played 2.Nf3 instead of 2.f4 as white can sacrifice the knight by 3.Nxe5! fxe5 4.Qa5 . so if white would be willing to give up a knight to force the recapture ...fxe5 this must be even better for white!! archduke_piccolo (2334) on 21-May-07: There are indeed better ways of declining the King's Gambit. 2...Bc5 is the "standard" method, but I have also seen 2...Nc6 and even 2...d6 played. This move isn't fatal in itself, but it tends to lead to what follows.. theorybrat (1333) on 23-May-07: 2 ... f6 as a "defense" in any 1. e4 e5 game is almost always a horrible blunder. Period.


3. fxe5	Black thinks that white is offering a fair exchange.
	1 comment nuntar (1702) on 15-Oct-08: Normally in the KGD 3. fxe5? goes down horribly to Qh4+. The other weakness of 2... f6 is that Black has deprived himself of this resource. As well as offering the same resource to White.


3... fxe5	And so he takes the pawn on e5
	2 comments archduke_piccolo (2334) on 21-May-07: (?) Now this really does cause a lot of trouble. Black can mitigate the damage by 3...Nc6! 4.exf6 Nxf6, transforming the game into a kind of gambit. After 5.Nc3 Bb4 6.Bc4 d6 Black has some problems assiciated with the light squares around his K position, but is otherwise still in the game. meleagru (1200) on 07-Jun-07: After 3...Nc6 White is in no way obligated to take on f6, 4.Nf3 followed by Bc4 is more promising and White is still a lot more comfortable than Black.


4. Qh5+	However, this has turned out that it was not a fair exchange after all! For not only he moved a kingside pawn, he also captured a piece, leaving a path where white can check black, making it unable to castle for the rest of the game and take the pawn on e5 next move (fork).
	1 comment igd13 (1774) on 26-May-07: black can still castle (queenside) by playing the far better: 4...g6 (but 2...f6 is certainly a mistake)


4... Ke7 5. Qxe5+	And not only white took the pawn on e5, he has got the black king on the run!



5... Kf7	Black must be in agony :)



6. Bc4+ Kg6 7. Qf5+	At this point, balck resigned perhaps because of agony. Thank you for watching this annotated game, and please rate this game, and good luck on all your current and future matches :)
	4 comments kingstuart (1200) on 18-May-07: on 6.Bc4 black should play 6...d5 opening the diagonal for the bishop but he is lost anyway isthisrealifex (1200) on 18-May-07: black resigned here because white has forced mate, the game would continue 7...Kh6 8.d4 Qg5 only move then the queen takes and delivers checkmate raskerino (1841) on 19-May-07: well, black would play 8...g5 but after 9.h4 mate is forced. And yeah, black should play 6... d5 (to cover the f5 square) when something like 7.Bxd5 Kg8 8.h4 h5 9.Bxb7 Bxb7 10.Qf5 Kh6 11.d4 might happen. archduke_piccolo (2334) on 21-May-07: The kibitzers are right: 6...d5 does improve Black's defensive resources on the K-side by releasing the light-square bishop. The downside is that it does present White with an additional target at b7. Too bad. The king's safety is paramount. One little thing is in Black's favour after 6...d5 7.bxd5ch Kg6 - that White might think there's a quick kill in this position. He may overreach and compromise his own position. That is whyas White I might be tempted to smash and grab at once: 8.Bxb7, and not to keep going after the king. If 8...Bxb7 9.Qf5ch Kh6 10.d4ch (or 10.d3ch might be more solid) 10...g5 11.Bxg5ch Qxg5 12.Qxf8ch Qg7 13.Qf4ch Qg5 14.Qxg5ch Kxg5 15.Nf3ch etc. White emerges with 4 pawns for the bishop: a sizeable but not overwhelming advantage. No doubt improvements can be found for both sides e.g. (for White) 8.Nh3 (hoping for 8...Bxh3 9.gxh3 opening a file for the rook), or even the pragmatic 8.Nf3, deeming that the advantages so far gained (two extra pawns, biggish lead in development) are sufficient, and seeking to consolidate.