An opening course for White (ECO C21)
In the Danish Gambit, White gives up the b- and c-pawns to get both bishops raking the kingside by move five. Black can survive with exact play, but one natural-looking move is often enough to lose the game on the spot. The repertoire follows the book treatments, Danish Dynamite by Müller and Voigt and Boris Alterman's Gambit Guide, with every move re-checked by Stockfish; it teaches the accepted main lines, the critical declining tries, and the plans that carry you into the middlegame.
This course is part of your daily work.
After 5.Bxb2 you are two pawns down and two bishops up in activity. The b2-bishop stares at g7, the c4-bishop at f7. Every move you make should add a piece to the attack. If you stop to defend pawns, the gambit has already failed.
Almost every tactic in this course lands on f7 or g7. Bxf7+, Qb3 stacking on f7 behind the bishop, and the b2-bishop cutting toward g7 are the motifs to know cold. When you see Black's king still in the centre, look at those squares first.
In the main line Black gives both pawns back with 5...d5 to trade queens: the Schlechter Defence, the line that pushed the Danish out of master play. Theory and the engine both call the endgame level. Know it anyway; it is the price of playing the gambit, and you will know its plans better than most opponents do.
When Black declines with 3...d5 or 3...Ne7, the game usually settles into an isolated queen's pawn structure. Same plans every time: knight to e5 or c3, rook to e1, and a well-timed d4-d5 break. Learn the structure once and every declined line plays itself.
Learning order, one scoresheet per chapter. The coach serves review one line a day; enter any line directly when you want it now.
One line, five moves, the whole idea. Learn why each pawn goes in the bin before you learn any theory.
The Danish starts with 2...exd4, but Black gets a vote, and club players often dodge the gambit entirely on move two. Every dodge concedes something, and Stockfish likes White in all of them; you just have to have seen the answers once.
5...d5 is the Schlechter Defence, Black's best move and the reason the Danish faded from master play: Black gives both pawns back to reach a level endgame. Know it precisely, because every step of the way has a trap for Black, and the endgame rewards whoever knows the plans.
Black tries to hold the pawns while developing with ...Bb4+ and ...Nf6. White gets exactly the game the Danish promises: open files, the bishop pair, and a king to hunt.
Some opponents keep the pawns but decline the fight with ...d6 or the awkward ...Qe7. One theme runs through the whole chapter: the c4-bishop and the queen on b3, both staring at f7. Learn the battery once and every slow setup runs into it.
Strong players decline the Danish with 3...d5, striking the centre before taking anything. The good news: the resulting positions are calm and structured, the engine calls them level, and you will know the plans. This is where you learn the isolated queen's pawn.
The rarer declining moves: the quiet 3...Ne7, the counter-strike 4...d5, the push-past 3...d3, and the cheeky 3...Qe7. Nothing here needs deep memorization, just clean development and a cool head about material.
Club games that started in the Danish Gambit produced these tactics, and you solve every one from White's side, the seat you actually sit in. Difficulty follows your solving, the same as the puzzle room.