Bertin Gambit


I like playing this gambit too. I'll tell you why. First, not many people are familiar with it; second, White appears to be at a serious disadvantge and Black usually tries to make something happen out of nothing; third, since not many people even play the Cunningham (the Bertin is a variation of the Cunningham, developed arount 1735) it's a break from the usual King Gambits.
Here's a Bertin Gambit played by our own Bill Wall waaaaay back in 1981. Black's reply seems to be main-line, but I don't know for certain.
Here is one played by my dear Paul Morphy against the ever-tricky Henry Bird. Paul, who is playing 5 Masters simultaneously, takes wild chances in this game and goes into a winning endgame.
I realize this topic is from 2008, but I can't resist an historical correction. The finish of Bird vs Morphy caught my eye, because whlie 46.Kc7 wins, it is hardly the best move. I wanted to play the artful 46.b4 and promote the e7-pawn by Zugzwang. Then I plugged it into Stockfish which gives +M7 after 46.Ke6!. This is well within genius Morphy's horizon.
Checking my database, I see that Sergeant (1916) Morphy's Games of Chess (page 159) has the finish of Morphy vs Bird as "44 K-Q6 Resigns".