The Falkbeer Countergambit is a line of the King's Gambit that starts 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5.
It is named after Ernst Fallkbeer, who is regarded as Austrian although he was born in a city now known as Brno in the Czech Republic (the Brno Open, part of the CzechTour, is played in November - both the city and the tournament are well worth a visit).
Falkbeer's birthday was June 27, 1819, but the Falkbeer Countergambit had by then already been around for two centuries.
Gioacchino* Greco, who seems to have been born to Greek-speaking parents in south Italy, quotes a game he claimed to have played in 1620 (some chess historians believe many of Greco's quoted games were really made-up encounters for teaching purposes).
Greco - Anon
1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 Qxd5
This seems to have been regarded as more-or-less forced in the early days of what would be named the Falkbeer. Three moves have supplanted it in popularity: offering a second pawn with 3...c6 (White rarely accepts), offering a transposition to a line of the King's Gambit Accepted with 3...exf4 (after the commonest reply, 4.Nf3, the game reaches a position traditionally arrived at via the move-order 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d5), and Falkbeer's invention 3...e4 (I will come to that later).
4.Nc3 Qe6 5.Nf3?!
Best seems to be 5.fxe5 Qxe5+ 6.Be2, when material is level, but White will develop smoothly, while Black only has his queen in play.
5...exf4+ 6.Kf2!?
An extravagant-looking choice, but it was later played by two world champions-to-be, Steinitz and, believe-it-or-not, Petrosian. More solid is 6.Be2, as in Achim Schlitter (2025) - Ralf Lau (2490), Kassel 1995, which was won by White in 59 moves.
6...Bc5+?
This is too accommodating, as the check is parried with gain of tempo. Sensible is 6...Be7, reducing the danger of a pin on the e file, or 6...Qb6+, removing the queen from the e file.
7.d4 Bd6?
Black could have avoided immediate catastrophe with 7...Be7.
8.Bb5+ Kf8 9.Re1 Qf5? 10.Re8#
The moves 1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 were given the name Falkbeer Countergambit thanks to Falkbeer treating the opening in a new way in the following game.
Adolf Anderssen - Falkbeer
Berlin 1851 (match - game 3)
1.e4 e5 2.f4 d5 3.exd5 e4
Falkbeer's idea is that the black pawn on e4 cramps White's game. Meanwhile the white king is already slightly exposed thanks to the move 2.f4, and White's compensation for all this consists of an extra but doubled pawn. It is interesting to compare this with the Albin Countergambit, where the mainline starts 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e5 3.dxe5 d4. Despite the fact that White's king has not been weakened in the Albin, it is probably fair to say that today the Albin is regarded as sounder - or, at least, less unsound - than the Falkbeer.
4.Bb5+
According to ChessBase's 2019 Mega database, today's most-popular antidote of 4.d3 was first played by Conrad Vitzthum von Eckstädt in 1861, although it took some time for the strength of the move to be fully appreciated. Anderssen, for example, was still playing 4.Bb5+ in 1877.
4...Bd7 5.Qe2 Nf6 6.Nc3 Bc5
This is not liked by my main analysis engines Stockfish10 and Komodo9. Most popular is 6...Qe7, but the engines prefer 6...Bd6, eg 7.Nxe4 0-0 8.Nxd6 cxd6 9.Bxd7 Nbxd7 with an unclear position in which Black is two pawns down but has a big lead in development and attacking chances.
7.Nxe4 0-0 8.Bxd7
8.Nxc5 Re8 9.Ne6 fxe6 (George Mackenzie - Francis Brenzinger, Brooklyn 1869, ½–½ 63 moves) is another line in which White is two pawns up, but Black has lots of compensation.
8...Nbxd7 9.d3 Nxd5 10.Nf3
The engines reckon White is better after 10.f5 Re8 11.Bd2 with quick queenside castling.
10...Re8 11.f5 Bb4+?!
It is easy to be wise with the help of engines, but this is a strange choice when Black has the natural 11...N7f6.
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| White to make his 12th move - can you refute Falkbeer's play? |
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12.Kf2?!
This is no refutation, but then maybe there is no refutation.
Hard to evaluate is 12.c3!? Nxc3 13.bxc3 Bxc3+ 14.Nxc3! Rxe2+, when White gets rook, bishop and knight for queen and pawn. An added complication is that White also needs to take into account the possibility of 13...Rxe4!?
Anderssen must have been tempted by 12.Bd2, but presumably rejected it because of 12...Nf4, when 13.Qf2 Nc5! leads to huge complications, the engines' main line running 14.0-0 (14.Bxb4? Ncxd3+ 15.cxd3 Nxd3+ 16.Kf1 Nxf2 17.Nxf2 gives White three pieces for queen and pawn, but he is losing because his pieces are uncoordinated) Rxe4! 15.Bxb4 Ncxd3 16.cxd3 Rxb4, which the engines assess as equal.
However, it seems that after 12.Bd2 Nf4, White gets a slight edge with 13.Qf1! (avoiding the fork on d3), when the engines reckon that best is 13...Bxd2+ 14.Nfxd2 Nd5, and now 15.Qf2, when White emerges a pawn ahead and with Black's attack diffused.
12...N7f6 13.g3 Qd7
Black could have won his pawn back with 13...Nxe4+ 14.dxe4 Nf6 15.e5 Ng4+ 16.Kg2 Nxe5! 17.Nxe5 Qd5+, when he has a lead in development and the safer king. However, the text is also strong.
14.c4?!
Black is much better after this. The engines suggest 14.a3 (or 14.c3), but prefer Black despite White's pawn-plus.
14...Nxe4+ 15.dxe4 Nf6 16.e5 Qxf5
Also strong is 16...Ng4+, which is similar to the line given at move 13.
17.Kg2 Rad8
The engines want Black to methodically go after the e pawn with 17...Ng4 etc.
18.a3 Bd6 19.Rd1
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| The game's key moment - can you do better than Falkbeer? |
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19...Qh5??
Throwing away all his hard work. Black is much better after the obvious 19...Ng4 or 19...Nd7. But can you see what is wrong with the text?
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20.c5 Rxe5?
This speeds the end, but Black is also lost after, say, 20...Bf8 21.Rxd8 Rxd8 22.exf6.
21.Qxe5 (1-0, 26 moves)
*Also spelt Gioachino
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