Sacrifice three pawns, let the opponent totally devastate your kingside, and hide the king behind an enemy pawn. Yes, that’s precisely what you will do! On top of it, you will win the game, of course. What is the Bertin Gambit?

1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. ♘f3 ♝e7 4. ♗c4 ♝h4+ 5. g3 fxg3 6. O-O gxh2+ 7. ♔h1!?

The gambit is actually a variant of the Cunningham Defense (1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. ♘f3 ♝e7), and White allows Black to make the bishop charge to h4 (the defense idea, actually). However, instead of playing the expected 5. ♔f1, White sacrifices two more pawns to castle to the wrecked kingside, followed by blocking the almost promoted black pawn with their own king. What’s the point of all this?

Unfortunately, I didn’t find a single game with this specific opening in our database. Perhaps nobody was crazy enough, not even once over twenty years, to try it out. So, it’s up to me to give it a chance in a casual game. Before it happens, let’s see a sample game I found elsewhere:

The gambit is named after Captain Bertin, an 18th-century French chess enthusiast whose analyses helped popularize several aggressive King’s Gambit ideas. Like many Romantic-era openings, the Bertin Gambit nearly disappeared during the 20th century as positional chess became dominant, but it has enjoyed a niche revival among attacking players and online blitz specialists.

I would recommend it mainly for:

• blitz and bullet,
• club players below about 2200,
• King’s Gambit specialists,
• players who enjoy sacrificial attacks.

I would not recommend it as a main weapon in classical tournaments against well-prepared opponents, because accurate defense usually leaves Black with a large material edge.