King's Gambit: free opening course

Key ideas

• f2-f4 attacks e5; if Black takes, White plays d4 and Bxf4 to win back the pawn with a big centre.
• The f-file is White's highway: castle short and put a rook on f1 against f7, often with a bishop on c4.
• Black's ...g5 pawn chain is the main target: h4 and Ne5 (or Bxf4) break it up.
• Watch the e1-h4 diagonal: until a knight is on f3 or the king has castled, ...Qh4+ is always in the air.
• Against the declined lines, aim to castle and then push f4-f5 or d4 to open lines while Black's king is still in the centre.

The 5 variations in the course

• Kieseritzky Gambit: 3...g5 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. d4 d6 … — White answers Black's ...g5 chain with h4, then jumps into e5 when the f3 knight is kicked. In the main line both sides trade into an endgame where White's pieces are active and Black's kingside pawns are loose.
• Bishop's Gambit: 3.Bc4: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. Nc3 c6 5. Bb3 d5 6. exd5 cxd5 … — Instead of Nf3, White develops the bishop toward f7 and does not fear ...Qh4+. Against the solid 3...Nf6 4.Nc3 c6 White keeps a flexible centre and regains the f4 pawn with Nge2xf4.
• Modern Defence: 3.Nf3 d5: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5 Nf6 5. Bb5+ c6 6. dxc6 bxc6 … — Black gives back the pawn at once to develop quickly. White plays Bb5+, castles and uses the open e-file and pressure on Black's damaged queenside pawns.
• Declined: Classical 2...Bc5: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. c3 Nf6 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Bb4+ … — Black ignores the pawn and places the bishop on c5, where it stops White from castling short. White builds a centre with c3 and d4, exchanges the bishop and castles with a good, space-gaining position.
• Falkbeer Counter-Gambit: 2...d5 3.exd5 e4: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. d3 Nf6 5. dxe4 Nxe4 6. Nf3 Bc5 … — Black hits back in the centre and pushes ...e4 to cramp White. White breaks it up with d3, wins back the pawn and, in the main line, reaches an endgame with an extra centre pawn and better structure.

Traps you will learn (3)

• Warning: 2...Bc5 3.fxe5?? Qh4+ — A warning trap for White: against the Classical Declined, taking on e5 opens the e1-h4 diagonal. Black's queen check wins the e4 pawn and the h1 rook (or mates). Always play 3.Nf3 first.
• Kieseritzky: mate on h6 — After 6.Nxg4 Black grabs e4 and then the h1 rook. When the queen checks on e2, Black must block with the queen; blocking with the bishop allows Nf6+ and Bh6 mate.
• Classical Declined: the false pin on e4 — After the bishop trade on d2, the e4 pawn looks loose. If Black grabs it with the knight, White takes the knight and Black's ...Qe7 pin does not win it back because Qe2 breaks the pin.

How the opening courses work

Each course teaches an opening in a few main variations. For every move you read why it is played, which other moves are good, and which tempting moves are mistakes and why. Each course also shows the traps of the opening: the ones you can set and the ones to avoid.

After a lesson you play the moves yourself in a drill. The lines you learn go into your review, which brings them back when you are about to forget them (spaced repetition). 30 line courses add many short lines per opening, a few new ones a day, and every named opening, more than 3,800 lines, has a lesson of its own.