Around 1700 rating, I face a lot of king’s gambit opening (1.e4 e5 2.f4). I haven’t set time to study this opening, so when I face it, I just wing it, without really understand its goal and so I found myself many times with a lack of space and underdeveloped, struggling to find counterplay.
Game
Master’s games top response to 3.Nf3 from chess.com
and from Wikipedia: Joe Gallagher writes that 3.Nf3 Nc6 “has never really caught on, probably because it does nothing to address Black’s immediate problems.”
Points to take 1. Better understanding and a new response to king’s gambit is required. (This post helped me with that) 2. Make exchanges wisely, piece activity and positional aspects are sometimes more important then winning an exchange.
Opening 1. When looking at computer analysis and players’ history, 5. ..Qf6 is the most common move, so I will move to that. This adds pressure d4 and prevents tempo if Nxc3. Also, the queen can go to g6 and after white’s kingside castle, d5 followed by Bh3 attack on g2. See the optional flow above. 2. 7. ..Nf6 is just a waste of time since 8. e5 will force the knight back.
Middle game 1. 20. .. Kf8 is a big mistake that happened because of a lack of calculations. I am already a big time difference here, so it got an effect on me. 2. After 25. Qg7, I missed a free pawn Bxd5 3. And after 41. Kf3, I missed Rxh1 when I only had 20 seconds left vs 1:51 for my opponent. The decision took 1 second. Eventually, I lost because of “time blunders”
Points to take 1. Improve my calculation, even on time pressure 2. A better way to play the scotch.
