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The Danish Gambit We’ll begin by looking at a very aggressive and fun opening called the Danish Gambit. It’s a very assertive line for White, who sacrifices two pawns right off the bat. For the material, White gets a powerful lead in development. Black must play carefully or he’ll find himself under an attack that can cost a major piece or worse. Careless play by Black is often fatal. This is an excellent line for players who enjoy open, tactical games, or who don’t expect their opponent to be familiar with the proper defenses. It’s a King’s Pawn opening, so there are plenty of opportunities to spring it. 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 White offers the first pawn sacrifice, since he didn’t recapture when he had the chance. … dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 Look at this position!
5… d5 6. Bxd5 Nf6 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qxd8 It looks for a moment that White has won Black’s queen for a bishop, but Black has a discovered attack that wins it back. 8… Bb4+ 9. Qd2 Black cannot simply block the Bishop’s check, as then Black would take back the queen without further loss of material, and end up a piece ahead. 9… Bxd2+ 10) Nxd2 which now supports the white e pawn.
Although material is even and no side has a strong edge, the position is unbalanced, with White having a preponderance of pawns on the kingside while Black has the pawn majority on the queen side. Both players possess a protected passed pawn. From this point on the focus of play for both sides will be to advance those pawns without making foolish mistakes. From here, Black can continue 10… c5 11. Ngf3 Nc6 12. e5 Nd5 13. Ne4 b6 14. O-O-O with chances for both. Or Black can play 10… Re8 11. Ngf3 Nc6 12. O-O h5 puts pressure on the white e pawn since if it’s captured White no longer has a knight fork on g5. Black has to be careful not to lose the g pawn by having its defenders drawn off. This position is about even.
There is another good alternative for Black. After returning the first pawn, Black can go on the offensive with 6… Bb4+. White needs to think carefully about what to do here, either to block the check (one way or another) or to move the King. This is scary, as 7. Kf1 is very dangerous. If White tries to run like that, Black can follow up with 7… Nf6. White can’t capture the knight with 8. Bxf6 since Qxf6 for Black wins a piece, as the rook is now attacked on the diagonal and the knight can’t move without being captured, as in 9. Nb2 Bxd2 10. Qxd2 Qxa1. Better in this version would be 8. Qa4+ Nc6 9. Bxc6+ bxc6. Now not 10. Qxb4 Qd1+ is a nasty mate, 11. Qe1 Ba6+ 12. Ne2 Bxe2+ 13. Kg1 Qxe1#, so White can’t touch the enemy bishop on move 10. So the right approach is 10. Qxc6+ Bd2 11. Qc2 Bb5+ 12. Ne2 O-O and Black is better off. But instead of moving the king after the check, White should play 7. Nc3. (worth considering but not as good is 7. Nd2 Bxd2+ 8. Qxd2 Nf6 9. Qg5 O-O leaving Black a pawn up). The game would continue 7… Bxc3+ 8. Bxc3 Nf6 9. Qf3 Nxd5 10. exd5 O-O 11. Ne2 Re8 and although White has better development, he is down a pawn and his d pawn is isolated. With decent play on both sides, Black should end up winning this game.
So, it’s best for White to play 7) Ke2 in response to the check. After 7) … Nf6 8) Qa4+ c6 9) Bxf7+ Kxf7 10) Qxb4 Re8 the game continues with even material and equal chances or both sides. Now we’ll consider two alternatives where Black tries to keep both of the pawns in his pocket. Are these positions any clearer? We’ll also list the possible transpositions if Black declines any of the sacrifices. Those openings will be identified but not looked at here. They may be studied in future essays. 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Black accepts the full Danish opening sacrifices. In these lines there is no intent to return them. 5… d6 6. Qb3 Black should not play 6. f4 Be6 7. Bxe6 fxe6 8. Qb3 Nd7 9. Qxe6+ (White cannot capture the b pawn as 9... Rb8 wins the White bishop with an X-ray attack) 9… Qe7 and things quickly head for an endgame where Black is a pawn up and therefore better off. 6… Qd7 7. Nf3 Nc6 8. Bc3 to prevent 8… Na5 8… Nh6 9. O-O f6 in order to neutralize the effect of the White bishop on the long diagonal and to improve the position of the Black knight. 10. Nbd2 Nf7 11. Rad1 Ncd8 to protect the contested e6 square 12. Nd4 Be7 13. f4 O-O Here White has a few good options, like 14. Nf5 or 14. e5 or 14. f5. In all cases, White plans to take the attack behind the enemy lines. Black is cramped while White controls the center and has good mobility. Unfortunately, White does not have any clear targets that can be exploited in the near term, despite the pinned knight on f7 and the dominance of e6. There’s a need for strategic White stands better even though Black has so many more pawns, but the game could go either way. Now let’s look at another line. Taking it from the top 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Bb4+ This move is natural and seems quite strong. It develops and helps clear the way for castling, and it gives a check that forces white to either block the powerful bishop on the long diagonal or move the king and forgo castling. Unfortunately, it also leaves the black kingside undefended in an opening where White is intent on attacking the kingside at any cost. 6. Kf1 Nf6 7. e5 d5 Black doesn’t have much choice about this, since 7… Ne4 loses a pawn and allows 8. Bxf7+ Kxf7 and now White can pick either the bishop with 9. Qb3+ or the knight with 9. Qd5+, which then also attacks the bishop. In both cases White has the better game with persistent pressure on the Black kingside. 8. Bb5+ c6 9. exf6 cxb5 10. fxg7 Rg8 11. Qc2 Be6 and although Black is still up two pawns, they cannot be held for long. 12. Qxh7 Kd7 13. Nf6 White is better, but the game is far from over. It’s going to be a slugfest. Both of these variations seem to be playable for Black, even though White has compensation for his lost pawns. Keep in mind, however, that attempts to retain the pawns allows White exactly the kind of game he’s probably most comfortable with. Black can win, but he’ll have to beat White at his own game to do so. But however uncertain the outcome is, one thing is for sure—these games are going to be fun! Here’s a list of some variations that avoid the Danish Gambit by stopping short of accepting both pawn sacs and transposing into other lines. First, 1. e4 e5 2. d4 d6 3. N6 transposes into Philidor’s defense. This opening is seen most commonly in amateur play and only rarely at higher levels of play, as it is generally leads to lines where White is clearly better. Also possible here is an immediate 3. dxe5 dxe5 4. Qxd8+ Kxd8 and Black has all the problems. Secondly, 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 d5 is the Danish Gambit Declined. Finally, 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 Nf6 will transpose into the Goring Gambit of the Scotch Game. Other alternatives either lead back into the accepted lines of the Danish gambit or are so clearly unplayable that they don’t have names as acceptable openings. That’s it for our investigation of the Danish Gambit. For in depth study of this opening, one can hardly do better than the book Danish Dynamite by Karsten Müller and Martin Voigt, which also covers the Scotch and the Urusov Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Nf6 3.d4!?). If this article interested you, it’s worth checking out.
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White
is down two pawns and Black is a move away from queening, and we’re not even to
move five yet! Yet with 5. Bxc2 White has two pieces developed, and Black
doesn’t have a pawn or piece on the board that’s even moved. White’s bishops
controls adjacent long diagonals, and are like eagle talons raking the board.
This is the classical position of the accepted Danish Gambit. Black now has to
make a decision. He can attempt to hold onto his material advantage, in which
case he will have to fend off White’s attack. Or, he can return the material and
in the process blunt White’s attack. Since that’s the most common line, let’s
consider it first.
