"The main advantage of the King's Gambit is there are so many refutations that he can't play them all at once and he's got this problem he has to decide which one to go for and then he loses on time." Nigel Short
“All gambits are sound over the board.” – William Ewart Napier
Below you will find theory, some historical example games, Grandmaster games, and brief survey of opening. Please play through them.
In King's Gambit, white offers a pawn to divert the Black e-pawn. If Black accepts the gambit, White can go with two plans. The first is to play d4 followed by Bxf4, regaining the gambit pawn with central domination. The other plan is to play Nf3 and Bc4 followed by 0-0, when the semi-open file creates attacking prospects for white on the f7 square; the pawn on f7. According to theory, for Black to maintain the gambit pawn, he may well be forced to weaken his kingside, with moves such as ...g5 or some weak piece placement on the edge of the board (e.g., ...Nf6–h5). A downside to the King’s Gambit is that White weakens his own King’s position, exposing his kingside to the threat of ...Qh4+ (or ...Be7–h4+). Qh4+ binds white, neither g3 is possible with a black pawn on f4, so the king must move to f1 loosing castling rights for white.
Gallagher's book Winning with the King's Gambit, The King's Gambit for the Creative aggressor by Thomas Johansson and Neil McDonalds The King's Gambit: A modern view of a swashbuckling opening are some of the book on King's Gambit. You can find these used on Amazon or Batsford Books.
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Intro Analysis
