Boom, boom & that’s a checkmate. It’s so fascinating to trap your opponent
like this – you feel so great, right? Well, in this video, I will show you 8 brilliant
games of the king’s gambit, where some really strong players lost in the opening. Let’s try and learn from their mistakes
& of course, you can use these traps & tactical ideas in your own games as well. Let’s start with this game – e4, e5, f4
– the king’s gambit. Black declines the gambit & brings out his
bishop, preventing white from castling. The knight comes out, taking care of this
queen check & attacking this pawn. Black defends it. And then we have c3, preparing for d4. D4 is a common theme in the king’s gambit
& black is aware of this, so he goes for a sneaky idea – queen e7, indirectly attacking
this pawn. Then we have d4, as expected. Takes, takes & eventually, black gains an
extra pawn with a check. White can block with the queen or with the
bishop. But instead, he moves out his king & gives
away his right to castle. This seems like a dubious move, but he’s
setting up a cunning little trap here, let’s see what happens next. This bishop is under attack so he moves back. And here, black is completely screwed up. Can you find the winning continuation for
white? First, we have this bishop check. Doesn’t matter whatever move black plays
here - If he blocks with any of these pieces, then rook to e1. And it’s a painful love story, the king
is hiding behind the queen so she will have to sacrifice herself for her love & white
is completely winning. Going back, even if, after this check, he
moves the king away, you’ll still play rook e1. And after queen moves, the rook jumps up the
board, punches the king right in the face & that’s a brutal checkmate. The next trap in the king’s gambit was played
in the Falkbeer Countergambit, which is the move, d5. White takes & black offers another pawn. This is the Nimzowitsch countergambit. White does not take, but plays queen e2, hitting
the king. Black takes the d pawn & invites white to
take with the queen. White goes for it, it’s a check. Black can block with any of these pieces,
but he brings his bishop in between. He’s seducing the queen into his territory. Now what would you play here as white? Are you thinking of taking this g7 pawn? Well, white, who was a 2300 rated player,
did exactly that & captured this pawn. He fell into a very nasty trap – that starts
with bishop f6. The queen has only one safe square, and that
is g3. And finally, we have the crushing move, bishop
h4 & again, we have the same old scene of the lover’s sacrifice & this sweety is gone. Moving onto our third trap, which arises out
of the king’s gambit accepted line. Here, white goes for knight f3. Black defends his pawn; white can’t take
because it is protected by the queen. So, he develops his bishop. Black adds another defender to this pawn & creates
this strong looking pawn chain on the kingside. White wants to break it up so he attacks this
g pawn. Black says ‘I won’t let you do that’
so he advances this pawn as well. If white takes, then black can simply take
back & he gets rids of his doubled pawns. And more importantly, retains this solid pawn
structure. But white is thinking on another level. Guys, can you even imagine what move did he
play here? Take a wild guess. He went for the stunning knight sacrifice
– knight to e5. White is threatening all kinds of attacks. He can fork the queen & rook. He has this bishop check as well. So black obviously takes the knight. But then, white starts revealing his tricky
idea and the fun begins. First, we have a queen check. King e7 is the only legal move. Then queen f7 check, again this is the only
move. Another check, the king goes back & queen
e5 hits the final nail in the coffin because that’s a beautiful checkmate. The king just got smashed in front of his
own army. By the way, you can also smash something. And it’s the Like button! Show your support & hit that thumbs up button
right now. Alright, let’s move on. In this game, we again have the king’s gambit
accepted line followed by knight f3, g4. But this time, white tries h4 straightaway
challenging this pawn. Black pushes his pawn forward & attacks the
knight. Knight jumps to the center, and now bishop
attacks the knight. This is the Kieseritzky gambit. Here, black is gambitting this pawn & white
just accepts it. Then comes d5, another aggressive move - attacking
the center & opening up this diagonal for the bishop. White doesn’t care, he just takes what he
gets, but that’s a big mistake. This e file is wide open so black strikes
with queen e7 check. He cannot block with the queen or bishop because
then this knight is hanging. Therefore, he is forced to move away his king. The bishop jumps into action, again it’s
a check. King f3 is the only safe square. Black continues his assault on the king – this
time with bishop g4 check. He takes the bishop. But just look at this king, he is dancing
all over the board. Black is absolutely loving this! The knight joins the party, knight f6 check. King goes back to f3 & finally, black finishes
off in style with queen e4 checkmate & that’s game over. Alright, the next trap comes out of the Falkbeer
Countergambit variation. But this time, white does not take any of
these pawns & brings out his knight to cover h4. Pawn takes, knight takes & here black offers
a knight exchange. White does not take immediately, instead he
brings out his bishop, pinning this knight to the king. Now look, this knight has two attackers, but
only one defender. Black should be doing something about this,
but he just ignores & simply develops his other knight. White is over the moon & he goes after the
knight right away. After pawn takes, bishop takes, he is forking
the king & rook. Bishop blocks & white picks up the rook as
well. You might think black is in a completely lost
position, but NO, he has a killer move here & that is, Bishop to g4. Believe it or not, the queen is caught napping
& there is no way to save her. In this position, the engine gives almost
a 3 point advantage to black so he easily wins it from here. The next trap in the king’s gambit arises
when black accepts this pawn sacrifice. And after bishop c4, he gives a check with
the queen, a very natural move since the knight has not yet come out. The king moves to the side and then comes
bishop c5. He’s looking to get it done & dusted as
soon as possible. But white has other ideas. First, he pushes d4 and forces the bishop
back. Then knight f3, forcing the queen to go back. But black says “Hang on, I won’t back
off, I’ll stay here, protect this pawn & I’ll maintain pressure on your kingside.” He plays queen g4 & that’s exactly what
white wanted. Can you find the deadly move for white in
this position? Yes, it’s bishop to f7 check. You might be thinking what on earth is white
doing. Look, if he takes the bishop & by the way,
that’s what was played in the game. We have this brilliant knight to e5 check
– forking the couple. He also has a discovered attack on the queen
so he can take any way he wants. Going back, at this point, even if black realizes
that he is in trouble & plays something like king f8, then you have h3, attacking the queen. Surprisingly, she only has one safe square
to go. Now we can bring out the other knight. If black tries to be greedy & takes the bishop,
then we have the lethal move, knight to e2. G6 is the only safe square for this queen. Again, we have knight to e5 & now, no one
can save this damsel in distress. As per the engine, white has more than a seven-point
advantage in this position so he easily wins it from here. Moving onto trap number 7. This game starts with the Falkbeer countergambit,
d5. Knight comes out. Black takes & white takes back. Now the bishop comes out, covering this diagonal. Knight is developed, attacking the center. Black defends it. White attacks it again with the queen. But that’s not the main point, he has another
tricky idea, which you will see soon. Knight c6, offering to exchange knights. And now white reveals his trick – Knight
takes on f7, forking the queen & rook. If black takes with the king, then after this
queen check, he gobbles up the bishop ending up with a clear pawn advantage & also an exposed
king to attack. Therefore, in this position, black does not
take the knight, instead he saves his queen. White happily takes the rook, but now black
has a deadly plan. Knight d4, going after the queen & also threatening
this lethal attack on the king and rook. White wants to diffuse both these threats
in one move so the only option is queen d1. And now we have knight f3 check. What a move! If he moves here, black has some nasty attacks
with this bishop so he decides to eliminate the knight. Pawn takes back & this time, it’s a discovered
check with the queen. The boss is helpless, he just cannot move
anywhere. So, he is forced to sac his bishop. Black does not even bother to take it. Instead, he makes another brilliant move,
f2. That’s again a check. King f1 is the only legal move. And now it’s a mate in one, can you find
it? Yes, it’s bishop to h3 & that’s a beautiful
checkmate. Okay now, for all these traps, please keep
in mind you don’t need to memorize the moves, just understand the basic ideas behind them,
and identify the setups where you can use them, especially in the king’s gambit. If you’re aware of these tactical ideas,
you can easily avoid embarrassing yourself by falling for such traps, and also look out
for similar patterns to trap your opponents. Anyway, let’s check out the next game between
two top-rated players – Igor Efimov & David Bronstein. The game starts with the king’s gambit accepted
variation. Then knight f3, covers h4. Then knight f6, attacks e4. White pushes forward. The knight moves to the side, also defending
this pawn. The other knight comes out & then pawn d6,
black wants to do something about this powerful central pawn so he offers an exchange. White simply brings out his bishop. Black takes & white recaptures, this is actually
the turning point of the game. Let’s see how. Look, you might think that white is doing
great because he is ready to attack this weak f7 square. But this knight e5 move has also made this
h4 square weak so the queen jumps in with a check. The king runs away to this side. Black needs to do something about this threat
so he offers to exchange bishops. White accepts and Black is delighted to see
this. Actually, his main motive was not to exchange
bishops, but what he wanted was to get this bishop away from this important diagonal. Now let’s see how black exploits this. Knight g3 check. White can’t take because he loses his rook. Going to any of these 2 squares is also dangerous
because of the discovered checks so he decides to go to g1. The hungry bishop pounces onto the king with
a check. He has to block with d4. And now the bishop takes that as well. What is happening here? The knight is hanging, the bishop is also
hanging, but white just cannot take it. Well, he tries taking the bishop because that’s
the best move, but after queen takes the bishop, black has this absolutely stunning – knight
e2 check, forking the couple. The queen is hanging so he obviously has to
take with the knight, but its game over. Black wraps it up with the crushing move,
queen e1 & that’s a stunning checkmate. Look, in this position, had this bishop been
here, white could have taken the knight with the bishop & then he could’ve diffused this
checkmate as well. But that didn’t happen & black very smartly
trapped his opponent. Alright, so it’s puzzle time. In this position, it is white’s turn & you
need to find the best move for white. Do share your answers in the comments section
below. Let’s see how many of you can solve this. Guys, don't forget to Like and Subscribe and
check out these videos as well which are showing up on your screen right now. Thanks for watching and I shall see you in
the next one.
