Tree path 6 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Three Knights Opening › Four Knights Game › Halloween Gambit
C47

Four Knights Game: Halloween Gambit

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Overview

Four Knights Game: Halloween Gambit belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO C47, 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.

Play reaches this position via 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 Nf6 4. Nxe5, after 7 plies of opening development.

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

The line splits into 2 documented sub-systems: Oldtimer Variation, Plasma 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
C47
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
7
Parent
Four Knights Game
Direct variations
2

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

682,027 games · White 52.6% / Draw 3.6% / Black 43.8%

MovesGamesW / D / B
Nxe5655,177
Bc512,657
d63,578
Bb43,566
Nxe42,057
Qe71,596
d51,247
Be7973

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:40:03

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Variations (2)