The full game, which ended in a draw, can be found at KG, but here I want to concentrate on how to react to such a shocking move over the board.
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| There are 70 examples of this position in ChessBase's 2022 Mega database |
Nevertheless I am going to proceed on the basis that White was unfamiliar with the move.
There is a rough-and-ready rule-of-thumb in openings that it is better to carry on developing than to initiate exchanges.
It may have been on this basis that White chose 3.Nf3, but after 3...fxe4 4.Nxe5 Nf6 Black was already at least equal.
Indeed, after the further moves 5.c3 (a 2305 in Mega22 preferred 5.Be2) d6 4.Nc4 Black had at least the upper hand, according to the analysis engines Stockfish14.1 and Komodo12.1.1.
A better way to 'just' develop is 3.Nc3, when 3...fxe4?? is a blunder thanks to 4.Qh5+.
More sensible is 3...exf4, when the engines reckon White may have a slight edge after both 4.Qe2 and 4.Qh5+ g6 5.Qe2.
However the diagram position seems to be a case where capturing is good, namely by 3.exf5 (four games in Mega22 feature the blunder 3.fxe5??, although only one black managed to find the winning reply 3...Qh4+), as played by Bobby Fischer in a 1964 simul in Houston, Texas.
At first glance exf5 may appear counterintuitive, especially for a King's Gambit player, in that White captures away from the centre.
But concrete analysis suggests Black has no fully satisfactory answer.
There are 33 games in Mega22 with the reply 3...exf4?!, but the symmetry ends if White plays 4.Qh5+.
Fischer's opponent preferred 3...d6?!, which can also be met by 4.Qh5+, which is what Fischer played, delivering mate on move 15.
The engines reckon Black should choose the modest 3...Qe7!?, which appears three times in Mega22, each game continuing 4.Qh5+, when the engines give 4...Kd8!? 5.fxe5!? Qxe5+ 6.Be2 Nf6 7.Qh4 Qxf5 8.Nf3!?
Capturing with 8...Qxc2!? looks risky, but otherwise White is better thanks to Black having lost castling rights.
Nevertheless the engines reckon White can improve with 4.Nf3!?, when 4...exf4+ restores material equality, but after 5.Be2 the black queen seems misplaced.
Perhaps more natural is 4...e4, when the engines prefer 5.Ng5 over 5.Ne5. After 5...Nf6 6.Be2 d5 7.Bh5+!? the engines reckon White has a large advantage.
Black has other choices at move four, including ...d6 and ...Nc6, but they do not seem to alter the verdict of White having the better game.
Nevertheless the position is not completely clear and several moves, for both sides, are tricky to find over-the-board.
CONCLUSION: it has become a cliché to stress that concrete analysis should be given precedence over generalised considerations, but, as with most clichés, there is a good reason for it.
White scores 74% in Mega22 after 4...f5!?, but perhaps the move can be played as a surprise weapon, and might even be a good punt against 'bookish' opponents who do not like being taken out of their repertoire.
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