Evans Gambit: a Lesson from the Captain

Here's a opening which White has a very positive score in. Of the 834 Evans Gambit games (between year 1829 and 2009) on Chessgames.com, White won 54.8% of the time and managed to draw another 14.3% of the other time.
1. e4 e5
2. Nf3 Nc6
3. Bc4 Bc5
4. b4



The creator of Evans Gambit, Welsh sea Captain William Davies Evans shows us how dangerous this opening can be:

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[Event "London (England)"]
[Site "London (England)"]
[Date "1829"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Captain Evans"]
[Black "Alexander McDonnell"]
[Result "1-0"]
[WhiteELO "?"]
[BlackELO "?"]
[EventDate "?"]
[ECO "C51"]
[WhiteElo "?"]
[BlackElo "?"]
[PlyCount "39"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. O-O Nf6 7. d4 exd4 8.
cxd4 Bb6 9. e5 d5 10. exf6 dxc4 11. Re1+ Kf8 12. Ba3+ Kg8 13. d5 Na5 14. Be7
Qd7 15. fxg7 Kxg7 16. Qd2 Qg4 17. Qc3+ Kg8 18. Qxh8+ Kxh8 19. Bf6+ Qg7 20.
Re8# 1-0

Serious Evans Gambit players should analyze the following games:

[Date "1851.??.??"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Adolf Anderssen"]
[Black "Johann Jacob Loewenthal"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O
d6 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.h3 Nf6 10.Nc3 O-O 11.Bg5 h6 12.Bh4 g5 13.Nxg5
hxg5 14.Bxg5 Bxd4 15.Nd5 Be6 16.Rb1 Rb8 17.Rb3 Kh7 18.Bxf6
Bxf6 19.Qh5+ Kg8 20.Nxf6+ Qxf6 21.Rg3+ 1-0

[Date "1861.??.??"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Adolf Anderssen"]
[Black "NN"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Bc5 6.O-O d6 7.d4
exd4 8.cxd4 Bb6 9.d5 Na5 10.Bb2 Nf6 11.Bd3 O-O 12.Nc3 Bg4
13.Na4 Nd7 14.Nxb6 axb6 15.Qc2 Bxf3 16.gxf3 Ne5 17.Kh1 Qf6
18.Rg1 Qxf3+ 19.Rg2 Qxd3 20.Qxd3 Nxd3 21.Rxg7+ Kh8 22.Rg8+
Kxg8 23.Rg1# 1-0

[Date "1890.??.??"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Clemens"]
[Black "Eisenschmidt"]

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. b4 Bxb4 5. c3 Bc5 6. d4 exd4
7. cxd4 Bb6 8. O-O d6 9. Nc3 Bd7 10. e5 dxe5 11. Re1 Nge7
12. Ng5 Be6 13. Bxe6 fxe6 14. Nxe6 Qd6 15. Nxg7+ Kf8 16. Qg4
Bxd4 17. Ne4 Qb4 18. Ne6+ Ke8 19. Nf6+ Kf7 20. Ng5+ Kf8
21. Ba3 Qxa3 22. Qe6 Nd8 23. Qf7+ Nxf7 24. Ne6# 1-0

[Date "1869.??.??"]
[Result "1-0"]
[White "Adolf Anderssen"]
[Black "Johannes Zukertort"]

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.b4 Bxb4 5.c3 Ba5 6.d4 exd4 7.O-O
Bb6 8.cxd4 d6 9.d5 Na5 10.Bb2 Ne7 11.Bd3 O-O 12.Nc3 Ng6 13.Ne2
c5 14.Qd2 f6 15.Kh1 Bc7 16.Rac1 Rb8 17.Ng3 b5 18.Nf5 b4 19.Rg1
Bb6 20.g4 Ne5 21.Bxe5 dxe5 22.Rg3 Rf7 23.g5 Bxf5 24.exf5 Qxd5
25.gxf6 Rd8 26.Rcg1 Kh8 27.fxg7+ Kg8 28.Qh6 Qd6 1-0