Caissa Codex
C39

King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Cotter Gambit

Chess diagram: King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Cotter Gambit after 6. Nxf7

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Statistics from Lichess

117,076 games: White 51.8% / Draw 2.9% / Black 45.3%

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Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 22, 2026

Engine evaluation

−2.38 Black is clearly better

Even so, White scores 53.3% here in practice: wins plus half the draws in rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500.

Best play: 6... Kxf7 7. Nc3 d5 8. d4 Nf6 9. Bxf4 Kg7 10. Bb5 a6 11. Ba4

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

Overview

King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Cotter Gambit (ECO C39, Open Games) is a gambit in the King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ng5 h6 6. Nxf7 (6 moves).

In 117,076 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 51.8%, Black 45.3% and 2.9% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 6…Kxf7, in 100% of those games.

It branches into 4 named variations; the most played are King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit, Urusov Attack and King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier, Horny Defense. In all, 6 named lines continue from it.

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Variations (4)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 5…h6 6. Nxf7, the position after King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit also goes on to:

All 6 named lines that continue from here

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Cotter Gambit (C39)”. Lichess data as of 22 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-gambit-accepted-kieseritzky-gambit-cotter-gambit

https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-gambit-accepted-kieseritzky-gambit-cotter-gambit