Panteldakis Countergambit

The Panteldakis Countergambit is an aggressive line against the King’s Gambit. It begins with the moves:

1. e4 e5
2. f4 f5

In the King’s Gambit, white is looking to give up material on f4 for a very aggressive attack. This countergambit flips the attack on white. Below are the different variations you may see and how you should respond.

3. fxe5

This is a clear mistake from white. Black can respond with Qh4+. If 4. g3 then 4…Qxe4 and white wins the rook. If white doesn’t play 4. g3 and instead opts for Ke2 then 4…Qxe4 and black has many options to continue the attack.

3. exf5

This does stop the move Qh4+ because after 4. g3, the queen is no longer able to capture a pawn and put the white king in check. The move for black should be 3…Qe7. One of the threats that black has is that if 4.fxe5, black can play Qh4+ and after g3 then Qe4+ and black is up material.

Now white could play 4. Nf3 which is a pretty common development move for the knight. Black should get their own knight involved with Nc6. If they take our pawn on e5, we can exchange knights, and then play Qh4+.

If they don’t take the pawn on e5 they could play 5. Be2 and we play 5…d6 to solidify our position.

White also has the options on the 4th move to play 4. Qh5 or 4. Nc3. Both of these variations we cover in the video below.

Those are the accepted lines in the countergambit. Watch the video to see in-depth analysis of the moves discussed above.