King's Gambit Accepted: Greco Gambit

What Is The Greco Gambit?

The pawn on f4 is the whole argument. Black plays 3...d6 first to poison e5, so the standard Kieseritzky resource of Ne5 after ...g4 drops a piece. That buys the time to build the holding chain with 4...h6 and 5...g5. Those pawns are Black's extra material, not a weakness.

White's 5.d4 takes the full centre and prepares Bxf4, and 6.h4 hits the chain at its base. 6...Bg7 holds it: the bishop guards g5 again and eyes d4 down the long diagonal, so the trades on g5 and h8 leave it aimed at White's centre. Do not read the advanced kingside pawns as a doomed king. The cost is time, not safety: Black develops late, so White must open the f-file and the centre before Black consolidates.