The Danish Gambit is one of the most aggressive openings as white will look to sacrifice two pawns for quick development and the attack. White starts with 1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3 allowing black to take pawns at will.

Many times you will see games with the Danish Opening last less than 20 moves as white will either breakthrough and checkmate the king early on or white will fail miserably and be left in shambles.

If accepted, white will have a strong bishop pair developed staring down at the black's king side while black will have none of his pieces developed. Many lines have been studied that allow black to defend correctly and protect the material advantage and it is very common for black to give back some material in order to gain back some development.

It is important if accepted that white hold on to his bishop pair as the open board allows white to keep the pressure on black.

This opening is not for the faint of heart but for those that enjoy attacking early and often, the Danish Gambit might just become one of your favorite openings.

Some Danish Gambit Games

They were all Masters games :) Here is one of my own but still against a Master...

And the Compuer Analysis

And unfortunately, this is how not to play the Danish, as it massively backfired on white.

This is some analysis liloh5 did on the opening :)

Analysis by billwall :)

"Henry Atkins was a British International Master who liked playing the Danish Gambit. He won the British Championship 9 times between 1905 and 1925 (7 in a row starting in 1905). Here is a game in which he won by playing a Danish Gambit and swindling his way to a smothered mate. By the way, he sacrificed some pawns, both is bishops, a knight, both his rooks and his queen! He finally mated with a lone knight."

By NM GreenLaser

When White offers the Danish Gambit, how many pawns should Black accept? It is possible to accept or decline the pawns offered. Each time the Gambit is offered Black has to decide how many bites of the Danish should be taken. For some the appetite grows with the nibbling. Every chess game is a battle between free will and the environment. The following game will include analysis of these options. White represented Oxford and Cambridge Universities in a match against the Metropolitan Chess Club more than three months before the assassination that would become the immediate cause of World War I.

And Back to the Masters Games :)

This game is very similar to legals mate - except it was played on Legal!!

I know this one isn't strictly Danish Gambit because c3 wasn't played, but it is a lovely checkmate :)

Danish Gambit: Declined Variations

I annotated all of these :)

Accepted Variations

And that should keep everyone busy for a while! There is tons of info there, lots to discuss :)

Opening Study Group

Super Admins