He put forward the merits of another fairly unusual line - one in which blacks, as it were, get their theory in first, namely 2...Nf6!?
Taking a look at it, I found a game featuring none less than Bobby Fischer, his opponent being New Zealand-born Robert Wade, who had won the British championship in 1952 and would do so again in 1970.
Fischer - Wade
Vinkovci (Yugoslavia) 1968King's Gambit
1.e4 e5 2.f4 Nf6!?
No prizes for guessing Stockfish16 and Komodo14.1 want Black to accept the gambit, but then so (probably) does everyone who plays 2.f4.
Incidentally if, like me, you did not know Fischer played the King's Gambit (yes, I should know things like that, but I must have been overly influenced by Fischer's famous 'refutation' of the opening that he wrote after losing with it with black against Boris Spassky), he played it 18 times, according to ChessBase's 2023 Mega database, every game occurring after his 1960 loss to Spassky.
The text is obscure enough - just 512 games in Mega23 - to be something of a surprise weapon, unless White is very well prepared (there are six more-popular continuations).
3.fxe5!?
The mainline in Mega23 runs 3.Nc3 d5 4.fxe5 Nxe4 5.Nf3 Be7 with an equal game, according to the engines. Fischer almost certainly knew Wade played 2...Nf6!?, and presumably felt the text is an improvement over the main move (the engines agree).
3...Nxe4 4.Nf3
This seems to have been first played by Fritz in 1889 against Isidor Gunsberg (the Fritz in question is Alexander Fritz, who has a variation of the Two Knights Defence named after him).
4...Ng5!?
This is not forced - Capablanca lost in a simul to 4...d5 - but it has been the overwhelming choice of the strongest players.
5.d4 Nxf3+ 6.Qxf3
Not 6...gxf3? 7.Qh4+, as in Jasper Seelemeijer - Van Kesteren, Utrecht (Netherlands) 1998 (0-1, 17 moves).
6...Qh4+ 7.Qf2 Qxf2+ 8.Kxf2
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| How would you assess this queenless position? |
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White has lost castling rights, but the white king should fine safety on g1 after the king's rook is developed. Meanwhile White has occupied the centre with pawns, but it is questionable how useful that is without queens as the pawns are targets. Stockfish16 reckons the game is equal; Komodo14.1 gives White a slight edge.
8...Nc6
This was the main move but later 8...d6 became popular, a recent high-level example being Ian Nepomniachtchi (2766) - Shakhriyar Mamedyarov (2759), Zagreb SuperUnited Blitz 2022, which continued 9.exd6 Bxd6 10.Nd2!? 0-0 11.Nc4 Be7 12.Bf4 Be6 13.Rd1 c6 14.Be2 Nd7 15.Na5 g5!? 16.Bd2 Nf6 with a slight edge for Black, according to the engines (½–½, 38 moves).
9.c3 d6 10.exd6 Bxd6 11.Nd2 Be6!?
Svein Johannessen - Wade, Zevenaar (Netherlands) 1961, saw 11...Bf5 12.Nc4 Be7 13.d5!? Bc5+ 14.Be3 Bxe3+ 15.Nxe3 Ne7 16.Nxf5 Nxf5 17.Bd3, when White has the better minor piece in a late-middlegame with rival pawn-majorities.12.Ne4 Be7 13.Ng5 Bxg5 14.Bxg5
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| The bishop-pair gives White an edge |
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14...h6 15.Bh4 g5 16.Bg3 0-0-0 17.Bb5 f5 18.Bxc6!?
14...h6 15.Bh4 g5 16.Bg3 0-0-0 17.Bb5 f5 18.Bxc6!?
A very committal decision. White gives up the bishop-pair and allows opposite-coloured bishops in return for smashing Black's queenside pawn-formation. The move is Komodo14.1's top choice; it is disliked by Stockfish16.
18...bxc6 19.Be5 Rhg8 20.h4 g4!?
Both engines at first strongly dislike this, but it comes to be Komodo14.1's top choice, at least for a while.
21.h5 g3+!?
This positional pawn sacrifice is Stockfish16's top choice, but is not liked by Komodo14.1 until the move is played on the screen and the engine is given minutes to consider the position.
22.Bxg3
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| What has Black got for a pawn? |
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I presume the answer is activity. Thanks to opposite-coloured bishops and pressure down the half-open g file, White's kingside pawns are vulnerable.
22...Rg4 23.Rh4 Rdg8 24.Rxg4 Rxg4 25.Re1 Kd7
The engines like 25...Bxa2, one point being 26.Ra1 Bd5 27.Rxa7?? fails to 27...f4. Instead the engines give 26.Re8+ Kb7 27.Be5 Bd5 with equality.
26.Re5 f4 27.Bh2 Rh4 28.Bg1 Bd5
Again capturing the a pawn may be best, eg 28...Bxa2 29.Ra5 Bd5 30.Rxa7 Rxh5. The engines reckon 29.g3 and 29.b4 are a tad better than 29.Ra5.
29.g3 Rg4 30.Bh2
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| How should Black proceed? |
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30...f3?
This may have been a winning attempt, or perhaps the idea was to keep the white bishop out of play for as long as possible. Better are 30...fxg3+ and Stockfish16's 30...Rg7.
31.b3
Black cannot hold the f pawn.
31...a6
The opposite-coloured bishops ending after 31...Rg5!? 32.Rxg5 hxg5 is lost, according to the engines, and presumably the players thought so too. One plausible line runs 33.g4 Be4 34.c4 a5 35.Be5 Kd8 36.Ke3 Kd7!? 37.h6, after which Black must give way somewhere.
32.c4 Rxd4?!
Desperation.
33.cxd5 Rd2+ 34.Kxf3 Rxh2 35.dxc6+ Kxc6 36.Re6+ Kd7 37.Rxh6 Rxa2 38.Rg6 1-0
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