Tree path 5 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Gambit › King's Gambit Accepted › King's Knight's Gambit › King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense
- Caissa Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Gambit C30
- King's Gambit Accepted C33
- King's Knight's Gambit C34
- King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense C35 you are here
King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense
Overview
King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO C35, 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.
It begins with 6 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Be7 to reach the canonical position.
The line refines King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit, which traces back to the root opening King's Pawn Game.
The line splits into 2 documented sub-systems: Bertin Gambit, McCormick Defense.
Together the deeper variations number 3 across the full subtree.
Explore the position on the interactive board, study its real-world results from Lichess, and challenge the engine when you are ready.
- ECO code
- C35
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 6
- Direct variations
- 2
- Total in subtree
- 3
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
2,567,444 games · White 48.4% / Draw 3.3% / Black 48.3%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Bc4 | 1,642,894 | |
| h4 | 406,988 | |
| d4 | 378,813 | |
| Qe2 | 35,590 | |
| g3 | 33,211 | |
| Be2 | 27,606 | |
| Nc3 | 18,234 | |
| d3 | 12,653 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:25:24
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