King's Gambit
C30 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4
A pawn for the centre and the initiative, in the oldest style there is.
Analysing from a photo?
This page needs a FEN or a board you set up by hand. The app reads a position straight from a photograph of a real board or a screenshot, and keeps your saved positions between sessions.
The idea
White offers the f-pawn to deflect the e5 pawn and take over the centre with d4, then uses the half-open f-file against Black's king. It dominated chess for two centuries, fell out of favour when defensive technique improved, and remains completely playable below master level because the positions are so much easier to handle with White.
Typical plans
- After exf4, play Nf3 and d4, taking the centre and preparing to recover the pawn.
- Use the f-file with a rook on f1 once the king has castled.
- In declined lines, treat the position as a Vienna with an extra option.
What goes wrong
- Losing the initiative. Once the attack stalls, White is simply a pawn down with a weakened king.
- Meeting the Falkbeer Countergambit unprepared, which turns the tables immediately.
- As Black, grabbing the pawn and then defending passively rather than returning it for development.
Using the board above
The board starts at the position after 1. e4 e5 2. f4. Play the continuation you normally meet, then ask the engine what it would do. That is more useful than reading a line, because it answers the question you actually have, which is what happens in the position you keep reaching.
One caution worth carrying into it: an engine evaluates an opening on the assumption that both sides then play perfectly. A line rated a tenth of a pawn better whose middlegames you have never played is worth less to you than a line rated slightly worse that produces positions you understand. More on that here.