8

The Allgaier, Horny Defense in the King's Gambit is given by the sequence:

[FEN ""]

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ng5 h6 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Qxg4 Nf6 8. Qxf4 Bd6

I'm a King's Gambit player, and I'm rated 1650 USCF, although I'm tactically much, much stronger (my biggest weakness is not knowing theory). This is a defense that my computer often plays against me (and assesses the position after the opening moves as +2 advantage for black, which doesn't seem reasonable to me), and I don't know how to deal with it. Any strategic/positional ideas that I should be aware of? I would also like to know how you guys would deal with the annoying

[FEN ""]

1.e4 e5 2.f4 Qh4+ 3.g3 Qe7

as white. What kind of strategy should white adapt there?

Please don't berate my opening choice, and refrain from telling me to read up on theory. While that is a good idea, I am more interested in strategic ideas of this variation of the King's Gambit.

ETD
  • 23,592
  • 4
  • 95
  • 169
chubbycantorset
  • 4,656
  • 7
  • 31
  • 53
  • In the first position. I would like to be white (against a human in blitz :) ). I would, after the queen moved away, finish development, something like: d4, Nc3, Be3, 0-0-0, Bc4. And I think white forces are mobilized of the attack, and I think it is hard for black to finish development and/or get their king to safety. Black has to play very precise, which gives white good practical chances. I have not looked at this position with an engine, so I don't what to make my comment an answer. – Akavall Dec 26 '12 at 17:36
  • 3
    By the way, are there any other ridiculous names of opening variations that you guys are familiar with? – chubbycantorset Jan 01 '13 at 01:44

1 Answers1

4

If you type your moves into Google it will actually find games that open that way. It's quite cool. I use the move numbers as well as the actual moves. Basically, a copy-paste of the first few moves. Your game seems to be a ECO "C30".

For your Qh4+ question, I get this link.

The gist is you get this continuation:


[fen ""]
1. e4 e5 2. f4 Qh4+ 3. g3 Qe7 4. fxe5 d6 5. exd6 Qxe4+ 6. Qe2
Qxe2+ 7. Nxe2 Bxd6

And you really don't have a lot to worry about. In the games in the link above, White developed easily, Black's pawn structure was smashed, and White won pretty easy endgames.

Tony Ennis
  • 20,145
  • 1
  • 44
  • 86
  • 2
    I don't quite understand how black has a smashed pawn structure in the Qh4+ line that you showed me. It looks completely fine on move 8, and I may actually prefer to play on the black side with its open bishops. What strategic ideas am I missing for white here? – chubbycantorset Dec 30 '12 at 06:53
  • @chubbycantorset I was referring to the games posted in my link. – Tony Ennis Dec 30 '12 at 14:38