Getting past the Falkbeer Counter Gambit

When I first started chess, I was filled with confusion from the complicated thoery and didn't care much for learning anything too advanced.  Then, I found the King's Gambit.  I immediately fell in love with it and dedicated myself to learn everything I could about it.  Now, as an intermediate player with a rating of about 1500, I know quite a lot of lines to the opening.  However, one day I finally came across the worst nightmare to any king's gamit player: The Falkbeer Counter Gambit.  I have learned how to play with it, but often times find myself in a losing game to a worse player.  After 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 I go into the main line of 3. exd4 e4 4. d3 Nf6.  After this I am now down tempo, and my pawn structure is not doing very well.  I then play 5. dxe4 Nxe4, and I feel the same thing that I said before in that he's up tempo and structure.  I often find myself in a bad position so I am thinking maybe I'm not playing this right.  Maybe instead of 4. d3 4. Nc3.  Then after 4... Nf6 5. Bc4.  I think that this will fare much better as it keeps up my tempo and seems to give me a nice position.  Give me your feed back and I hope you found this usefull!

Thanks for commenting!  Interesting: I've always heard that taking on d4 is always the best option for white.

The Falkbeer is not good for Black. After 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 (Black should play c6 or exf4 instead) 4. d3 Nf6 5. dxe4 Nxe4 6. Nf3 Bc5 7. Qe2!, White has clear advantage. You can research the lines yourself, I haven't looked at them in ages.

There are few lines in the King's Gambit where White immediately gains a large advantage, so you should not be upset at all to face the Falkbeer.

As a Falkbeer player I think it's harder to counterattack when white plays Qe2 initially. I lose most of my ideas after that.

A sample line after 7. Qe2! is 7. ...Qxd5? (Which is what I'd expect most 1500s to play) 8. Nfd2! f5 (or else Black just drops a piece) 9. Nc3 followed by Nxe4 with a clean extra pawn and Black has no counterattack whatsoever, since he has to play Be7 (since White threatens Nxc5 or discovered checks!).

The main line is 7. ...Bf5, when 8. Nc3 Qe7 9. Be3! Nxc3 10. Bxc5 leaves White with the two bishops.

Yes, Be7 and c6 are both better than Bc5, but white is still better in both of those lines.

I find the best thing about the falkbeer is the phycology of it, putting white in a game he didn't expect or sometimes want. Once your not thrown off by it you'll want it more than KGA.

Thanks a bunch!  I do kind of like your sample line clunney.  However, you don't get to keep the bishop pair after 10... Qxe2+ 11. Bxe2 and then black has 11... Nd7 threatening both bishops and ending up trading a knight for a bishop, while developing the knight.

I remember a game of IM Pruess against 3...c6 and it looked like White was the one gambitting... 

As I said, I haven't looked at this stuff in ages, but yes, you're right.  White doesn't keep the two bishops... but he does have an extra pawn! (a shitty doubled c-pawn, but a pawn is a pawn!).