Who's Afraid of the King's Gambit - 3RD EDITION

In many conversations with chess players, it can be noted that there is a reluctance to answer 1. e4 with 1. . . . e5 based on an irrational fear of some deviations from the standard Spanish or Italian play. The various central gambits are hardly frightening, " . . but what about the King's Gambit?", players will often say.

This venerable opening scares players, probably because we all grow up seeing brilliant games by the leading exponents of the King's Gambit and we do not wish to fall prey to a Morphy-like combination. Every effort is made to side-step the gambit, even though virtually all authorities agree that one must accept the gambit or else concede positional superiority for White.

This book is offered as a remedy to the problem. Here you will find that not only can the pawn be seized at the second turn, but in many cases Black can become the aggressor in the game. In the end, it is easier to achieve a good game with Black in the King's Gambit than it is in most other open games.

The theory of the King's Gambit has been rather stable and significant novelties are rare. For this edition we have filled in a gap, the minor variation 3.Nh3, and summarized the critical lines with recent game references. We consulted up-to-date databases (doubling number of games considered to over 20,000) and checked analysis with top engines, mostly HOUDINI 2.0 and RYBKA 4. The game references are mostly blitz and casual lines since these variations are not frequently seen in Grandmaster games.

Eric Schiller (born March 20, 1955 in New York City) is an American chess player, trainer, arbiter and one of the most prolific authors of books on chess in the 20th century. In 1974, Schiller was the Illinois Junior Champion. Schiller played for the University of Chicago team several times at the Pan American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship. He was an organizer of the Hawaii International chess festivals 1994-98 including 1998 US Open California Champion 1995. Later that year, he appeared as a chess adviser for the music group Phish on some of the stops for their "Chess Tour" where they played an ongoing game of two chess moves per tour stop and some "band vs. audience" partial games as part of their stage performance. Schiller was an arbiter at several notable games and championships including the FIDE World Chess Championship 2000. While Vladimir Kramnik and Garry Kasparov opted not to participate in the event, they had both endorsed Schiller for this sensitive role during the planning stages. As of April 2009, Schiller has a FIDE rating of 2166. He is also an International Arbiter and International Trainer. Schiller's expertise and publications in the Flohr-Zaitsev Variation made him a sought-after expert when Gary Kasparov used that opening at the second game at the World Chess Championship 1990.