Falkbeer Countergambit, Blackburne Attack

The Blackburne Attack is White's main alternative to 3. exd5 against the Falkbeer Countergambit. Instead of capturing on d5, White develops the king's knight. The knight guards h4 and removes the 3...Qh4+ resource that punishes an immediate 3. fxe5. With that check no longer available, fxe5 becomes a genuine threat, so Black has to resolve the central tension at once. The engine rates the position as roughly balanced and considers all three of Black's main replies adequate. In practice the results are almost exactly even.

The most common answer is 3...dxe4, and the usual continuation is 4. Nxe5. Material is level again, with a White knight centralized on e5 facing an advanced Black pawn on e4 in an open position. The second choice, 3...exf4, transposes to the Modern Defense of the King's Gambit Accepted, 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5. The less frequent 3...Bg4 pins the knight and has given Black the best results of the three in online play.