Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit
The Paulsen Countergambit is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 e4, the main way for Black to continue the Elephant Gambit after White takes on d5. Read the guide
Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.
Statistics from Lichess
3,227,289 games: White 44.6% / Draw 4.0% / Black 51.4%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 1,392,1181.4M | ||
| 894,434894K | ||
| 544,884545K | ||
| 247,473247K | ||
| 67,21667K | ||
| 35,46635K | ||
| 28,90329K | ||
| 4,1584,158 |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 6, 2026
Engine evaluation
+1.06 White is better
Best play: 4. Qe2 Nf6 5. Nc3 Be7 6. Nxe4 O-O 7. Nxf6+ Bxf6 8. d4 Qxd5
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
Rating changes little here: Black scores 52% under 1400, 51% at 2200 and up (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 816K | |
| 1400–1799 | 2.3M | |
| 1800–2199 | 1.8M | |
| 2200 and up | 130K | |
| Masters, over the board | 69 |
Master games
- Movsesian, S. – Vachier Lagrave, M.
- Ivanchuk, V. – Gadimbayli, A.
- Abasov, N. A. – Gadimbayli, A. A.
- Jones, G. – Hebden, M.
- Kovchan, A. – Skatchkov, P.
Rated blitz, rapid and classical Lichess games by rating band, and over-the-board games of players rated 2200+ from the Lichess masters database, updated Sep 26, 2026
Description
The Paulsen Countergambit is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5 3.exd5 e4, the main way for Black to continue the Elephant Gambit after White takes on d5. Instead of regaining the pawn, Black pushes the e-pawn and attacks the knight on f3. The Elephant Gambit as a whole is considered unsound: Black can end up in a passive position, with White holding the initiative and more space.
After 4.Qe2
White's usual answer is 4.Qe2, pinning the e-pawn. After 4...Nf6 play can go:
- 5.d3 Qxd5 6.Nbd2 Be7 7.dxe4 Qe6, when White remains a pawn ahead, although Black's development is somewhat smoother.
- 5.d3 Be7 6.dxe4 O-O 7.Nc3 Re8 8.Bd2 Bb4 9.O-O-O, with advantage for White according to Nick de Firmian.
- 5.Nc3 Be7 6.Nxe4. After 6...Nxd5 7.d3 O-O 8.Qd1 Bg4 9.Be2 f5 10.Ng3 Nc6 11.c3 White has a slight advantage; after 6...O-O 7.Nxf6+ Bxf6 8.d4 Re8 9.Be3 de Firmian assesses White's position as distinctly superior.
A game by Tal
Tal–Lutikov, Tallinn 1964, went 4.Qe2 f5 5.d3 Nf6 6.dxe4 fxe4 7.Nc3 Bb4 8.Qb5+ c6 9.Qxb4 exf3 10.Bg5 cxd5 11.O-O-O Nc6, with advantage for White.
The numbers
On Lichess Black wins 51.4% of the 3.2 million games and White 44.6%. From 2200 up the gap narrows to 47.7% against 46.0%. There are only 69 master games, too few to judge.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit
4. Ne5 scores best for White: 52.1%, with White winning 50.1% and Black 45.9% of 247K games. The most played, 4. Qe2, scores 48.8% in 1.4M games, and 4. Nd4 scores lowest: 44.4%. Stockfish's first choice is 4. Qe2.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White's wins plus half the draws, in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500. How to play against other popular openings
Popularity by year
The Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit is played more than twice as often as in 2016: 0.15% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.072%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.072% | 25,636 |
| 2017 | 0.081% | 44,846 |
| 2018 | 0.079% | 62,399 |
| 2019 | 0.084% | 105,299 |
| 2020 | 0.1% | 295,762 |
| 2021 | 0.13% | 525,372 |
| 2022 | 0.13% | 479,709 |
| 2023 | 0.12% | 468,178 |
| 2024 | 0.13% | 478,424 |
| 2025 | 0.15% | 509,876 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.16% | 177,079 |
Share of rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500 (blitz, rapid and classical) that reach this position, by year; 2026: January to April. Which openings are rising and falling
Sources
- Theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Elephant Gambit, version of 26 October 2026, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Results: Lichess opening explorer, figures collected from September to November 2026.
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit (C40)”. Lichess data as of 6 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/elephant-gambit-paulsen-countergambit