I'm getting bored with always playing the French as black against 1. e4, especially since 80% of those games are the Advance variation and the other 20% are the Exchange. At my level, everyone's afraid to play anything else for fear that I'll go into a "pet" line of the French and clobber them. If only they knew that the Advance and Exchange ARE my pet lines.

So I've started to meet 1. e4 with e5 again, for the first time in a while. I generally like those types of open games, which is why I play 1. e4 as white. I know the Scotch, Giuoco Piano, and Ruy Lopez well enough to play against them, and I get plenty of practice, since those are the most common at my level. Most other openings don't really scare me, as I feel I can improvise well enough to play reasonably against them, even if I don't know the specific lines.

The only thing that scares me a little is the King's Gambit. It's very sharp with a lot of theory, so one false move, and it's a quick and painful death. So I decided I need to pick a line to learn against it instead of just improvising like I do with most openings. Looking at the options, I discovered that there's a line of the King's Gambit Accepted that literally has my name on it (The Becker Defense), so I think I'll look at that first.

Are there any other double king's pawn openings that are very sharp that I should try to prepare for, to avoid getting caught off guard? I'm wondering if I should look at the Evans Gambit more deeply, in case anyone throws it at me. Anything specific in the Becker Defense to the KGA that I need to worry about?

I'm probably better off just continuing to study tactics and not worrying about this stuff, but I just want to make sure I know about the obvious traps in the openings I play, if nothing else. I'll learn more detailed theory the hard way as I go.

--Fromper

I would say that, yes, you need to prepare for the Evans gambit.

For the KG, have you considered declining it with 2.Bc5? This is Davies' suggestion in "Play 1.e4 e5." (Emms "Play the Open Games as Black" prefers to accept it, but is constructed in the less-useful-for-your-level (IMO) tree-of-variations format.)

That being said, you need to prepare for the Vienna, which can have a surprising amount of sting.

About the KGA, I'm now a little confused. Because my last name is Becker, I can't resist trying the Becker Defense. Everything I've read online suggests that this is 3. ... h6, shooting for g5 to hold on to the f4 pawn, but MCO-14 says that it's 3. ... d6, then playing the g pawn to g5 and g4 to attack the f3 knight.

On a related note, I think I'm spending too much time looking at openings lately. I'm going to go read about Lucena's Position in Silman's Complete Endgame Course now.

--Fromper

MCO-14 is wrong then. 3. ... d6 is the Fischer defense (part of the so-called 'bust' which doesn't quite bust the KG). There is a plan involving g5 in the Fischer defense, but usually black chooses not to play it.
The KGA is definitely nuts, dangerous and fun. I don't think 3. ... h6 (the Becker defense) is all that great compared to the other g5 lines, but speaking as a once fervent King's Gambiteer, h6 gets on people's nerves! It's annoying compared to other lines. I would recommend you this though, avoid slow moves and get your king out. If I recall, the Q-side is the spot for it.

I like 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6 (Nimzowitsch Countergambit) myself. Should it somehow come under fire, I'll try 2. ... Bc5, though I liked playing against the declined..

When one finds that his opponents are avoiding the critical lines to prefer going into lines that promise equality with best play, then it should be a reason to go on playing that opening !
This is true in terms of results.

However, I know all to well how it feels when you play in a tourney 4 times as black and all the times always the same stuff... one gets bored, so I understand you

By the way, 1. e4 e5 is a very good choice in my opinion !


Have a look at the Ponziani opening, it can be surprisingly dangerous if you do not counter it properly.

The Goering Gambit and the related Danish Gambit also deserve a look.

And besides the sidelines, I recommend you a thorough study of the ideas behind the Exchange Variation of the Ruy Lopez:there are quite a few good sources (e..g. the latest "Ruy Lopez : a guide for black" by Johnsen and Johannessen, Gambit Publication mhas a very good chapter on it), but I strongly recommend the chapter on the typical endagmes from the spanish exchange written by Mednis in "From the opening into the endgame", Pergamon.
Also, volume one of "Mastering the endgame", by Shereshevsky, covers all the typical endgames from 1.e4 opening, including the spanish exchange.


Of course !! The Evans Gambit is verydangerous, virtually for any NON-professional player, and there are quite a few lines that white can play at no-risk (e.g. with good black defense, there is equality, but black can often slip)

Just out of curiosity, why not play the 2 Knights defense ? I won't go as far as saying that it's stronger than entering an Italian game or Evans Gambit, but my personal feel is that if white wants really something more of equality he has to take greater risks there. Just my opinion, though



If you want to keep the opening study to the minimum required for having a good game, and save energies for more important stuff, an easy and reliable line as suggested by Ronaldinho is certainly declining the gambit with 2.... Bc5, when the positions arising do not require a ot of memorization but rather a good positional and tactical skill

But I can understand the pleasure to play an opening with your last name

The approach is certainly good. Good luck !

These are the lines that I played myself. It seems that people who like the KGA don't like having the tables turned and giving Black the initiative. As black I found four or five different lines which gave black an easy time of it once you knew them. These two lines that you suggest seem to be the easiest way to respond for black if you don't want to have to play a precise rope-a-dope defense after grabbing the pawn. They also have the advantage of annoying the gambiteers sitting across the board.

Crash

i agree with Chamaco, 2 knights defence is a very good option for black.

regarding Kings Gambit if you decide to accept 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 white does have the option of 3.Nf3 and 3.Bc5 so you will need an extra line for 3.Bc5 even if it is pretty rare at the moment, just incase you forgot about that.

Lastly, nice job on obtaining such a good book for endgame study fromper. Silmans endgame book is very well done in my opinion.

Correction: 3. Bc4. Not popular? 3. Nf3 is the critical move, I've no doubt of that. But 3. Bc4 is almost as good, it's different at any rate, ask the Polgars

Im not sure of the actual occurance rate of the 3.Bc4 variation, i presumed that 3.Nf3 was more popular as there seems to be more publications on 3.Nf3.
That is all. Theres no doubt at all about the 3.Bc4 variation, Short has played it also among others!


ps. i also ''asked'' the Polgars. They showed me a few tips and tricks too... :S

I find that I've done alright accepting the KG. I don't really like declining it, because after Nf3 and Bc4 it feels like white gets an Italian with extra pressure on the white center.

At the same time, I found I've done pretty well accepting the gambit. A recent game:

[Event "FICS rated standard game"]
[Site "FICS, San Jose, California USA"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Ronaldinho"]
[Result "0-1"]
[TimeControl "1500+25"]
[Time "10:25:37"]
[WhiteElo "1896"]
[BlackElo "2030"]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 h6 4. Bc4 g5 $6 (4. ... d6 {is much safer} ) 5. Ne5 Rh7 6. d4 d6 7. Ng6 fxg6 8. Bxg8 Rg7 $2 {this becomes a target. Rh8 was better.} 9. Bb3 Nc6 10. Nc3 Re7 {No idea if this is best, but I wanted the B on the long diagonal.} 11. Qd3 Bg7 12. Nd5 Rf7 {This becomes the opening problem of this game. If I can develop my pieces without losing an exchange (or worse) on f7, I'm better. Nevertheless I feel like I've made two inferior moves already and I'm still ok.} 13. c3 Na5 14. Bc2 Be6 $6 15. b4 Nc6 16. Bb3 Bg4 (16. ... Qd7 17. Nxc7+ Qxc7 18. Bxe6 $16) 17. h3 Bh5 18. O-O Qd7 19. Bd2 {fairly passive. He's trying to set up his 20th move but misses my response. At the same time, the thread of Nxd4 cd Bxd4+ winning an exchange hangs over the position if he moves his queen} O-O-O 20. g4 Bxg4 $1 {I certainly couldn't calculate this out, and I'd been planning this sacrifice, but for what it's worth the alternative, which white must have been counting on, was clearly bad:} (20. ... fxg3 21. Rxf7 Qxf7 22. Nb6+ $18) 21. hxg4 Qxg4+ {In any event, I've got a strong attack and a phalanx of kingside pawns which black's pieces are going to struggle to contain.} 22. Kf2 Rdf8 23. Ke1 h5 {push those pawns. Three connected passers are a huge threat.} 24. e5 $6 {breaking open the position with his rooks misaligned and his king in the center can't be good.} dxe5 25. Qxg6 Rd7 (25. ... exd4 26. Nb6+) 26. Qe4 exd4 27. Qf3 dxc3 $1 28. Bxc3 (28. Qxg4 cxd2+ 29. Kxd2 hxg4 $19) Bxc3+ 29. Nxc3 Re8+ 30. Ne2 Qh4+ 31. Qf2 f3 {White resigns} (31. ... f3 {White resigns} 32. Qxh4 Rxe2#) 0-1

Cut and paste into any PGN reader to play through.