The King's Gambit, Is it Refuted?

Is the King's Gambit dead?

Is it refuted?  BUSTED?

The Great Bobby Fischer adamantly proclaimed so in his famous 1961 article.

After Bobby Fischer lost a 1960 game at Mar del Plata to Boris Spassky, in which Spassky played the Kieseritzky Gambit, Fischer left in tears and promptly went to work at devising a new defense to the King's Gambit. In Fischer's 1961 article, "A Bust to the King's Gambit", he brashly claimed, "In my opinion the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force." Fischer concluded the article with the famously arrogant line, "Of course White can always play differently, in which case he merely loses differently. (Thank you, Weaver Adams!)" The article became famous. - courtesy to Wikipedia


One of the most famous examples of the King's Gambit, and in chess,  is The Immortal Game played by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky in London 1851.  For those of you who haven't seen of this game yet, Enjoy!

In the inaugural themed tournament, we played the King's Gambit.  All boards started 1.e4 e5 2. f4.  Due to time constraints the time control was G15 + 3sec delay.  This allowed 4 games on the night. This time control didn't allow either side to tarry long and quick decisions had to be made but fun and exciting chess was had by all.

Newcomer to the club, NM Sam Copeland(2122 qck rating) scored a perfect 4-0 as he mowed down the field and also kindly shared his objective analysis on past positions with his opponents.
Ben Caiello(1913 qr) captured 3 points and only posting a miscue to NM Copeland.
Erik Murrah(1520 qr) executed a swiss gambit to perfection by "throwing" the first game and winning the next 3 to tie with Caiello for second place.

Notable returning and new members Leo Rabulan and John Bailes had success with the Gambit as well.

Although a small number of trials of just 28 games, White scored 61% of victories:17 games, Black 36% :10 games, and 1 game was a draw 3.6% this is evidence that the King's Gambit is suitable enough for club play and not busted, dead or refuted here in Columbia.

Thanks to all who supported this exciting event.  Full Results.

No club meet on July 24th.  The next regular tournament will resume on July 31st.

Don't Forget to register for The Columbia Open Aug 15-17.