KING’S GAMBIT

Duh! You're point?

The King's Gambit blows. Black is better!

The King's Gambit is a well-respected opening that performs about as good as the Spanish and many other white openings below master level, while making it hard for black to hold a draw.

At the grandmaster level black has nearly equal chances, therefore it's not played often at those levels.

Probably lower rated players should use the king's gambit much more often when they really need a win.

This is a good point. I just did a quick check, and in Chess.com's DB, which is master level games only, 2.f4 has a win rate of 40%. But in 365Chess, 2.f4 has a win rate of 47.2%. Clearly, the opening is more successful on the lower levels, doubtless because of all the crazy tactics that can ensue. No big news there. But what I think is surprising is how rarely I see the KG in players under 2000, and it's certainly as good a try as anything on those levels. I think that newer players are told early on 'The KG is no good, GMs never play it' so they go into something else. As if the way a GM plays has anything to do with the way a beginner plays.......

I play a different move order.

The Fischer Defense

This is a good point. I just did a quick check, and in Chess.com's DB, which is master level games only, 2.f4 has a win rate of 40%. But in 365Chess, 2.f4 has a win rate of 47.2%.

What's is Back's win %... something in the 35% of the time.. That means only about 10% of the games end in a draw. (That my friends is the real reason why you do not see the Kings Gambit more often at the top... Few GMs are that aggressive and willing to roll the dice ... when it comes to playing with prize money on the table

Actually the draw rate is 21%. But you're right: that's significantly less than the other popular second moves. Now that I think of it, this is pretty funny. I was thinking that players with white avoided the KG because, theoretically with best play, black gets a draw. And why would white choose an opening that's likely to draw? But maybe it's the other way around: they avoid the KG because it's less likely to draw, and black might win. As usual, my logic is backwards!

I'm in the 1800's both OTB and online blitz and have good success with it. I find players below 2000 who frequently respond 1...e5 typically have their pet defense prepared in the Ruy Lopez when White plays 2. Nf3 but are taken out of their comfort zone a bit when White plays 2. f4 thinking " How do I respond to this?"