Englund Gambit: Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit
The Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit, also called the Blackburne-Hartlaub Gambit, is 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 d6, a branch of the Englund Gambit. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
4,547,507 games: White 48.1% / Draw 4.1% / Black 47.8%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 3,072,4473.1M | ||
| 1,062,3551.1M | ||
| 131,083131K | ||
| 115,005115K | ||
| 67,17267K | ||
| 32,96233K | ||
| 25,42425K | ||
| 12,20312K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 4, 2026
Engine evaluation
+1.63 White is clearly better
Even so, Black scores 49.8% here in practice: wins plus half the draws in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500.
Best play: 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bg5 Qd7 5. exd6 Bxd6 6. Nc3 h6 7. Bh4 Nge7
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 48% under 1400, 46% at 2200 and up (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 1.7M | |
| 1400–1799 | 3.2M | |
| 1800–2199 | 2.6M | |
| 2200 and up | 193K | |
| Masters, over the board | 14 |
Master games
- Goganov, A. – Bespalov, K.
- Hernandez Onna, R. – Hernandez, J. d. J.
- Genov, P. – Topak, E.
- Tomic, A. – Milovic, J.
- Zakaryan, D. – Bespalov, K.
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 Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit, also called the Blackburne-Hartlaub Gambit, is 1.d4 e5 2.dxe5 d6, a branch of the Englund Gambit. Black offers to exchange the d-pawn for White's e-pawn: after 3.exd6 Bxd6 Black is a pawn down but ahead in development.
History
The line was the original idea of Henry Charlick (1845–1916), the second Australian chess champion, who introduced 2...d6 in the early 1890s to avoid the closed openings. For this reason 1.d4 e5 as a whole is also known as the Charlick Gambit.
Main lines
- 3.exd6 Bxd6 is the direct acceptance. A sample continuation is 4.Nf3 Nf6 5.Bg5 h6 6.Bh4, when White remains a pawn up with some advantage.
- 3.Nf3 first delays the capture. After 3...Bg4 4.e4 Nd7 the game transposes into a gambit line of the Philidor Defense played by Blackburne; Black gets partial compensation after 5.exd6 Bxd6 6.Be2 Ngf6 7.Nc3 Qe7. White obtains a large advantage, however, after 3...Bg4 4.Bg5 Qd7 5.exd6 Bxd6 6.Nbd2.
The Englund Gambit as a whole is considered weak.
The numbers
On Lichess the results are almost even: White wins 48.1% of the 4.5 million games and Black 47.8%. From 2200 up White does better, 51.5% against 42.9%. There are only 14 master games, too few to judge.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Englund Gambit: Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit
3. Nf3 scores best for White: 55.4%, with White winning 53.1% and Black 42.4% of 1.1M games. The most played answer, 3. exd6, scores lowest: 47.9% in 3.1M games. Stockfish's first choice is also 3. Nf3.
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 Englund Gambit: Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit is played more than four times as often as in 2016: 0.3% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.066%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.066% | 23,582 |
| 2017 | 0.068% | 37,353 |
| 2018 | 0.073% | 57,270 |
| 2019 | 0.079% | 98,970 |
| 2020 | 0.084% | 244,676 |
| 2021 | 0.094% | 369,351 |
| 2022 | 0.13% | 476,587 |
| 2023 | 0.21% | 785,595 |
| 2024 | 0.27% | 976,053 |
| 2025 | 0.3% | 1,045,558 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.31% | 334,978 |
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
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Englund 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. “Englund Gambit: Hartlaub-Charlick Gambit (A40)”. Lichess data as of 4 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/englund-gambit-hartlaub-charlick-gambit