Who's Afraid of the King's Gambit, Third Edition

In many conversations with chess players, it can be noted that there is a reluctance to answer 1. e4 with 1. . . . e5 based on an irrational fear of some deviations from the standard Spanish or Italian play. The various central gambits are hardly frightening, . . but what about the King's Gambit?, players will often say.This venerable opening scares players, probably because we all grow up seeing brilliant games by the leading exponents of the King's Gambit and we do not wish to fall prey to a Morphy-like combination. Every effort is made to side-step the gambit, even though virtually all authorities agree that one must accept the gambit or else concede positional superiority for White.This book is offered as a remedy to the problem. Here you will find that not only can the pawn be seized at the second turn, but in many cases Black can become the aggressor in the game. In the end, it is easier to achieve a good game with Black in the King's Gambit than it is in most other open games.The theory of the King's Gambit has been rather stable and significant novelties are rare. For this edition we have filled in a gap, the minor variation 3.Nh3, and summarized the critical lines with recent game references. We consulted up-to-date databases (doubling number of games considered to over 20,000) and checked analysis with top engines, mostly HOUDINI 2.0 and RYBKA 4. The game references are mostly blitz and casual lines since these variations are not frequently seen in Grandmaster games.