The Cunningham Defense, the Bonsch-Osmolovsky Variation and the Becker Defense are solid alternatives to g5 and d6, the main ways for black to fight the King’s Gambit.
Black is better in the King’s Gambit. There’s no doubt about that. It’s up to him to prove that, though. White sacrifices a pawn, opens up his kingside and accepts playing a dangerous position, but he gets a broad center and huge attacking prospects.
Black’s main responses to the King’s Knight Gambit (Nf3) are g5, the main line, and d6, the Fischer Defense. Those are objectively best and tend to lead to favorable positions for black. That fact matters much less in the King’g Gambit than it does in sounder openings, because the positions are so volatile that any single inaccuracy may lead to a complete shift in evaluation. Because of that, the main defenses have become less and less “winning” for black. White has adopted to them, and can often enter a known middlegame in which he stands a good chance to confuse or outplay black.
Here enter the sidelines! The Cunningham Defense, the Bonsch-Osmolovsky Variation and the Becker Defense are solid ways to fight white, and they are much less known, which is why the players with white will be less prepared when facing them and black might have better winning chances despite having chosen an objectively worse defense.
All three have been played at the highest level, and all three are logical and good defenses. I would suggest the King’s Gambit players to study them all and to find a variation which suits them in order to be prepared for them perfectly. That would mean that black can hardly ever surprise you in the opening and that you have the initiative (at least a psychological one)!
#chess #kingsgambit