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King's Pawn Game · I. Open Game

Danish Gambit

The Danish Gambit is an aggressive opening where White sacrifices up to two pawns in order to gain a significant lead in development and dangerous open diagonals toward Black's kingside. The Danish scores poorly among masters, but sees great success for amateurs and below.

Side
white

Characteristics

  • ☘ AttainableShows up often enough that a learner should get regular chances to reach it.
  • ⚔ TacticalSharp opening that creates concrete positions with immediate tactical demands.
  • ⏳ TheoreticalNeeds concrete preparation, but not necessarily the extreme depth of the heaviest theory openings.
  • 💎 UncommonLess common in practice, which can reduce opponent familiarity.

Strategic guide

Plans and motifs

  • Qb3 is a common idea for White, targeting Black's weak f7 pawn.
  • White must stay attentive to the opportunity of playing the bishop sacrifice Bxf7+, followed by a queen check to fork the king and another piece—usually Black's dark-square bishop.
  • After Black has played ...Nf6, it is common for White to advance in the center with e5 to threaten that knight.
  • In reply, Black often counterattacks White's bishop on c4 with ...d5.

Theory map

Common lines

  • 3...dxc3 — Danish Gambit Accepted
  • 4.Nxc3 — Alekhine Variation
  • 4.Bc4 — Lindehn Variation (or "Double Danish Gambit *")
  • 4.cxb2 Bxb2 — Danish Gambit, Twice Accepted *
  • Often transposes into the Göring Gambit in the Scotch Game.
  • 3...d5 — Sörensen Defense * These names are not standard nomenclature, but I think they are convenient and pretty self-explanatory.

Train the opening

Training paths

A repertoire plan turns an opening into an ordered set of positions and branches to learn, practice, and review. Foundation paths cover the core branches. Mastery paths add deeper variations after the foundation is complete.

Foundation path

Danish Gambit

developing

Start training this opening
Chapter 1

Imported Lines

  1. 01

    Bishop Gift

  2. 02

    Bishop Onslaught

  3. 03

    King's Gambit

  4. 04

    Knight Blunder

  5. 05

    Greedy Mate

  6. 06

    Rook Snatch

  7. 07

    Rook Forker

  8. 08

    Sacrificial Fury

  9. 09

    Royal Skewer

  10. 10

    Easy Space

  11. 11

    Safe Recapture

  12. 12

    Center Play

  13. 13

    Tricky Endgame

  14. 14

    Pawn Promotion

  15. 15

    Central Siege

Mastery path

Danish Gambit Mastery

advanced

View mastery plan
Chapter 1

Imported Lines

  1. 01

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ Ke7 5. Qxe5+ Kf7 6. Bc4+ Kg6 7. Qf5#

  2. 02

    Knight Ambush

  3. 03

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 Nc6 3. d5 Nd4 4. c3 Nb5 5. Bxb5 c6 6. Ba4 b5 7. Bc2

  4. 04

    Rook Robbery

  5. 05

    Bishop Lasers

  6. 06

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 Nc6 3. d5 Nce7 4. Nf3 Ng6 5. h4 Nf6 6. h5 Nf4 7. Nxe5

  7. 07

    Danish Inferno

  8. 08

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Qb3 Bxc3+ 8. Qx...

  9. 09

    Long Castle Blast

  10. 10

    Queen Snatch

  11. 11

    Double Bishop Burn

  12. 12

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 Bc5 5. Bxf7+ Kxf7 6. Qh5+ g6 7. Qd5+ Ke8 8. Qxc...

  13. 13

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bc5 7. Bxg7

  14. 14

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Qe7 6. Nc3 Nf6 7. Nge2 Nxe4 8. O-O...

  15. 15

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ Ke7 5. Qxe5+ Kf7 6. Bc4+ d5 7. Bxd5+ Kg6 8. Qg...

  16. 16

    Castle Crusher

  17. 17

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 d6 7. Qb3 Bxc3+ 8. Bxc...

  18. 18

    Bishop Gift

  19. 19

    Queen Heist

  20. 20

    Triple Sac Storm

  21. 21

    Rook Heist

  22. 22

    Pinned Knight

  23. 23

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Nf6 6. e5 Ne4 7. Bxf7+ Kxf7 8. Qf3...

  24. 24

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qxe5+ Qe7 6. Qxh8 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Qxc2 8. N...

  25. 25

    Rook Robbery

  26. 26

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qxe5+ Kf7 6. Bc4+ d5 7. Bxd5+ Be6 8. Qxe...

  27. 27

    Battery Blitz

  28. 28

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qxe5+ Qe7 6. Qxh8 Qg7 7. Qxg7 Bxg7 8. Nc3

  29. 29

    Queen Rampage

  30. 30

    F7 Battery

  31. 31

    Bishop Lasers

  32. 32

    Rook Heist

  33. 33

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ Ke7 5. Qxe5+ Kf7 6. Bc4+ d5 7. Bxd5+ Be6 8. Qxe6#

  34. 34

    Bishop Onslaught

  35. 35

    King's Gambit

  36. 36

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qxe5+ Qe7 6. Qxh8 Nf6 7. Bg5 Qxe4+ 8. Be...

  37. 37

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 f6 3. dxe5 fxe5 4. Qh5+ g6 5. Qxe5+ Qe7 6. Qxh8 Qxe4+ 7. Be2 Qxc2 8. N...

  38. 38

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Nf6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Ng8 8. Nc3 d6...

  39. 39

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Nf6 6. e5 Qe7 7. Qe2 Ng8 8. Nc3 Nc...

  40. 40

    Danish Inferno

  41. 41

    Knight Blunder

  42. 42

    Greedy Mate

  43. 43

    Rook Snatch

  44. 44

    Rook Forker

  45. 45

    Sacrificial Fury

  46. 46

    Royal Skewer

  47. 47

    Bishop Lasers

  48. 48

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 Qf6 5. Nxc3

  49. 49

    1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. c3 dxc3 4. Bc4 cxb2 5. Bxb2 Bb4+ 6. Nc3 Bxc3+ 7. Bxc3

  50. 50

    Bishop Lasers

  51. 51

    Safe Recapture

  52. 52

    Center Play

  53. 53

    Tricky Endgame

  54. 54

    Pawn Promotion

  55. 55

    Central Siege

  56. 56

    Triple Pawn Blaze

  57. 57

    Danish King Hunt

  58. 58

    Triple Sac Attack