King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense
The Cunningham Defense is 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7, a reply to the King's Knight's Gambit. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
2,567,444 games: White 48.4% / Draw 3.3% / Black 48.3%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 1,642,8941.6M | ||
| 406,988407K | ||
| 378,813379K | ||
| 35,59036K | ||
| 33,21133K | ||
| 27,60628K | ||
| 18,23418K | ||
| 12,65313K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 19, 2026
Engine evaluation
−0.25 The position is about equal
Best play: 4. Be2 g5 5. d4 d6 6. Qd3 Nc6 7. Nc3 Bf6 8. h3 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 54% under 1400, 52% at 2200 and up (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 126K | |
| 1400–1799 | 1.6M | |
| 1800–2199 | 1.4M | |
| 2200 and up | 24K | |
| Masters, over the board | 170 |
Master games
- Short, N. D. – Kasparov, G.
- Morozevich, A. – Piket, J.
- Short, N. D. – Piket, J.
- Reinderman, D. – Sokolov, I.
- Fedorov, A. – Nielsen, P. H.
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 Cunningham Defense is 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 Be7, a reply to the King's Knight's Gambit. The bishop threatens a check on h4 that can permanently stop White from castling, and if White has not yet developed the king's bishop, Ke2 would be forced, hemming the bishop in.
4.Nc3
A sample line is 4.Nc3 Bh4+ 5.Ke2 d5 6.Nxd5 Nf6 7.Nxf6+ Qxf6 8.d4 Bg4 9.Qd2. White has strong central control with pawns on d4 and e4, while Black relies on the discomfort of White's king for compensation.
4.Bc4
To avoid Ke2, White's most popular reply is 4.Bc4. The same line is often reached from the Bishop's Gambit.
- 4...Bh4+ forces 5.Kf1, unless White chooses the wild Bertin Gambit, also called the Three Pawns' Gambit: 5.g3 fxg3 6.O-O gxh2+ 7.Kh1, played in the 19th century.
- 4...Nf6 5.e5 Ng4, known as the Modern Cunningham, is common in modern practice: Black simply develops. 5...Ne4, the Euwe Variation, is underexplored but seemingly playable and has a number of trappy ideas.
The numbers
On Lichess the line is balanced: White wins 48.4% of the 2.6 million games and Black 48.3%. Black does better under 1400, 53.1% against 44.6%. In 170 master games over the board Black won 38.8%, White 30.6%, and 30.6% were drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense
The most played answer, 4. Bc4, also scores best for White: 51.6%, with White winning 49.9% and Black 46.7% of 1.6M games. Of the main answers, 4. d4 scores lowest: 44.4%. Stockfish's first choice is 4. Be2.
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 King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense has lost ground since 2016: 0.09% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 0.15%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.15% | 53,667 |
| 2017 | 0.15% | 83,024 |
| 2018 | 0.13% | 101,043 |
| 2019 | 0.12% | 147,048 |
| 2020 | 0.1% | 293,701 |
| 2021 | 0.095% | 371,373 |
| 2022 | 0.097% | 364,143 |
| 2023 | 0.095% | 357,909 |
| 2024 | 0.093% | 335,046 |
| 2025 | 0.09% | 312,143 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.088% | 95,996 |
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 3 named lines that continue from here
Sources
- Theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article King's 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. “King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense (C35)”. Lichess data as of 19 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-gambit-accepted-cunningham-defense