C39

King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit

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Statistics from Lichess

241,029 games: White 53.4% / Draw 2.8% / Black 43.8%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next move	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
	119,200119K
	32,64633K
	24,77825K
	22,68823K
	17,53218K
King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier, Schlechter Defense	7,7277,727
	4,9314,931
	4,3104,310

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 31, 2026

Engine evaluation

−2.26 Black is clearly better

Even so, White scores 54.8% here in practice: wins plus half the draws in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500.

Best play: 5... h6 6. Nxf7 Kxf7 7. Nc3 Nf6 8. e5 d5 9. exf6 f3 10. d4

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

By rating

Rating changes little here: White scores 53% under 1400, 54% at 2200 and up (wins plus half the draws).

Players	Games	White / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400	17K
1400–1799	115K
1800–2199	153K
2200 and up	8,928
Masters, over the board	21

Master games

Zelic, M. – Doric, D. 0–1, 2009
Weber, S. – Zsinka, L. 0–1, 1988
Maslak, K. – Meissner, B. 0–1, 2002
Zelic, M. – Zufic, M. 0–1, 2007
Claridge, J. – Strangmueller, A. 0–1, 2005

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 27, 2026

Overview

King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit (ECO C39, Open Games) is a gambit in the King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ng5 (5 moves).

In 241,029 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 53.4%, Black 43.8% and 2.8% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 5…h6, in 49% of those games.

It branches into 2 named variations; the most played are King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Cotter Gambit and King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier, Schlechter Defense. In all, 8 named lines continue from it.

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Description

How to play against the King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit

5…d5 scores best for Black: 50.6%, with Black winning 49.1% and White 48.0% of 18K games. The most played, 5…h6, scores 47.4% in 119K games, and 5…f6 scores lowest: 37.3%. Stockfish's first choice is 5…h6.

Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: Black'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 King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit has lost ground since 2016: 0.0083% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.014%.

0.014%0.0083%

Numbers by year

Year	Share of games	Games
2016	0.014%	5,006
2017	0.014%	7,751
2018	0.013%	10,464
2019	0.011%	13,950
2020	0.009%	26,304
2021	0.0089%	34,646
2022	0.0091%	34,146
2023	0.009%	33,801
2024	0.009%	32,382
2025	0.0083%	28,825
2026 (Jan–Apr)	0.0085%	9,359

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

Variations (2)

All 8 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit (C39)”. Lichess data as of 31 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-gambit-accepted-allgaier-gambit