Tree path 2 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Gambit
  1. Chess Codex
  2. King's Pawn Game C20
  3. King's Gambit C30 you are here
C30

King's Gambit

Open in Lichess
Share: X Reddit Telegram Facebook
Play from here → Click pieces to play, or use ← / → arrows.

Overview

King's Gambit belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO C30, 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 3 plies — specifically the moves 1. e4 e5 2. f4.

The line is a first-level refinement of King's Pawn Game.

The line has 10 documented children — King's Gambit Accepted, King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation, King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, and others being widely played.

Across every depth of the tree this branch holds 189 documented sub-variations, reflecting decades of analytical work.

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

ECO code
C30
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
3
Parent
King's Pawn Game
Direct variations
10
Total in subtree
189

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

48,263,232 games · White 51.6% / Draw 3.6% / Black 44.8%

MovesGamesW / D / B
exf421,525,055
Nc69,670,549
d56,173,363
d66,101,709
Bc51,917,121
Nf61,046,877
Qh4+622,021
f6353,042

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:54:49

Write a description

Markdown supported (headings ###, bold, lists, links). Submissions are reviewed before publishing.

Variations (10)

Show all 189 sub-variations (full subtree)

Loading sub-variations…