Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...e5/2. f4/2...d6

King's Gambit Declined
a b c d e f g h 8 8 7 7 6 6 5 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 1 1 a b c d e f g h
Position in Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN) rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/3p4/4p3/4PP2/8/PPPP2PP/RNBQKBNR w
Moves: 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d6

King's Gambit Declined

2...d6

This is one way to decline the King's Gambit. This can arise from many different positions, but this transposition to the King's Gambit Declined is most common. This is somewhat sounder than the King's Gambit Declined, Classical Variation, as in the Classical Variation, white can chase the bishop out of c5 and put more pressure on e5, especially with Nf3. Here, on the other hand, if white plays 3. Nf3?!, then black plays 3...exf4! transposing to the King's Gambit Accepted, Fischer Defense. This is similarly true with with 3. Nc3!?, but in this case, white gets a lot more compensation for the pawn compared to 3. Nf3. In fact, the best move here is 3. d3!, defending the pawn on f4 and blocking all transpositions to the King's Gambit Accepted. However, white had to make a concession for this: block his light-squared bishop. Nevertheless, 3.d3 leads to equality with best play. Note: If white plays 3. Bc4 (to not block the bishop), 3...exf4! also works.

Theory table

For explanation of theory tables, see theory table and for notation, see algebraic notation..

1.e4 e5 2.f4 d6

	3	4	5	6	7
Fischer Defense	Nf3 exf4	d4 g5	h4 g4	Ng1 Bh6	Ne2 Qf6	∞/+
Omaha Gambit	Nc3 exf4	Qe2 Qh4+	Qf2 Qxf2+	Kxf2 Nf6	d4 Ng4+	∞
King's Gambit Declined	d3 Nc6	Nf3 f5	Be2 Be7	O-O Nf6	Nc3 O-O	=
King's Gambit Accepted Sideline	Bc4 exf4	Qf3 g5	h4 Nc6	Qc3 Ne5	Nf3 Bg7	∞/+

• Nunn's Chess Openings. 1999. John Nunn (Editor), Graham Burgess, John Emms, Joe Gallagher. ISBN 1-8574-4221-0.
• Modern Chess Openings: MCO-14. 1999. Nick de Firmian, Walter Korn. ISBN 0-8129-3084-3.
• Kasparov, Garry, & Keene, Raymond 1989 Batsford chess openings 2. ISBN 0-8050-3409-9.