Tree path 3 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Elephant Gambit
C40

Elephant Gambit

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Overview

Elephant Gambit belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO C40, Open Games). It trades material for attacking chances — a classic trade-off that has fascinated players from the Romantic era to modern correspondence chess.

The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.

The line arises from 4 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5.

The line refines King's Knight Opening, which traces back to the root opening King's Pawn Game.

The line splits into 3 documented sub-systems: Maróczy Gambit, Paulsen Countergambit, Wasp Variation.

Explore the position on the interactive board, study its real-world results from Lichess, and challenge the engine when you are ready.

ECO code
C40
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
4
Parent
King's Knight Opening
Direct variations
3

This overview is generated automatically from the opening's metadata. Know this line well? Write a description — submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Statistics from Lichess

7,712,267 games · White 46.8% / Draw 4.1% / Black 49.1%

MovesGamesW / D / B
exd54,443,601
Nxe51,831,736
d4461,684
Nc3366,119
d3311,715
Bc4137,782
Bb5+43,195
Bd336,055

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:02:08

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Variations (3)