King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit
The King's Knight's Gambit is 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3, the most popular way for White to continue after Black accepts the King's Gambit. Read the guide
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Statistics from Lichess
19,286,909 games: White 51.8% / Draw 3.5% / Black 44.7%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 4,176,9504.2M | ||
| King's Gambit Accepted: Fischer Defense | 3,200,0643.2M | |
| King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense | 2,524,3212.5M | |
| King's Gambit Accepted: MacLeod Defense | 2,470,8192.5M | |
| King's Gambit Accepted: Modern Defense | 2,103,2562.1M | |
| King's Gambit Accepted: Schallopp Defense | 1,490,8671.5M | |
| 982,054982K | ||
| King's Gambit Accepted: Becker Defense | 869,246869K |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 3, 2026
Engine evaluation
−0.38 Black is slightly better
Best play: 3... Nf6 4. Nc3 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Bb5+ c6 7. Qe2+ Be6 8. Nxd5
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
The stronger the players, the worse this line does for White: White scores 57% under 1400, 49% at 2200 and up and 45% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 5.5M | |
| 1400–1799 | 16.4M | |
| 1800–2199 | 9.5M | |
| 2200 and up | 348K | |
| Masters, over the board | 2,381 |
Master games
- Carlsen, M. – Aronian, L.
- Carlsen, M. – Ding, L.
- Nakamura, H. – Adams, M.
- Nakamura, H. – Ivanchuk, V.
- Morozevich, A. – Leko, P.
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 King's Knight's Gambit is 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3, the most popular way for White to continue after Black accepts the King's Gambit. The knight develops and stops the check 3...Qh4+. The main alternative on move three is 3.Bc4, the Bishop's Gambit.
The idea
Black has two main approaches. One is to hold on to the extra pawn with ...g5, sometimes prepared by ...h6. The other is to return the pawn with an early ...d5 to speed up development. The two strategies can also be combined.
Main lines
- 3...g5 is the Classical Variation. Black defends f4 and threatens to drive the knight away with ...g4. After 4.h4 g4 5.Ne5 White plays the Kieseritzky Gambit, which modern writers consider the main line. 5.Ng5 instead is the Allgaier Gambit, a knight sacrifice that modern theory considers unsound. 4.Bc4 aims for the Muzio Gambit after 4...g4 5.O-O, while the safer 4...Bg7 usually leads to the Hanstein Gambit. The Quaade Gambit, 4.Nc3, was recommended by John Shaw as a less explored alternative.
- 3...d6, the Fischer Defense, was advocated by Bobby Fischer after Boris Spassky beat him in a Kieseritzky Gambit at Mar del Plata in 1960.
- 3...h6, the Becker Defense, builds the pawn chain h6, g5, f4 while avoiding the Kieseritzky.
- 3...d5, the Modern Defense, gives the pawn back for piece play. Its main line is the Abbazia Defense, 4.exd5 Nf6.
- 3...Be7, the Cunningham Defense, and 3...Nf6, the Schallopp Defense, are the other named replies.
The numbers
On Lichess White wins 51.8% of the 19.3 million games and Black 44.7%. The balance shifts with rating: White leads 55.1% to 42.0% under 1400, while from 2200 up Black is ahead, 48.6% against 46.2%. In 2,381 master games over the board White won 26.3%, Black 35.4%, and 38.3% were drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit
3…Be7 (King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense) scores best for Black: 50.0%, with Black winning 48.3% and White 48.3% of 2.5M games. The most played, 3…g5, scores 49.2% in 4.2M games, and 3…Bc5 scores lowest: 40.7%. Stockfish's first choice is 3…Nf6.
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: King's Knight's Gambit has lost ground since 2016: 0.67% of Lichess games in 2025, down from 1.0%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1.0% | 370,023 |
| 2017 | 0.98% | 537,995 |
| 2018 | 0.85% | 669,279 |
| 2019 | 0.81% | 1,015,424 |
| 2020 | 0.76% | 2,232,392 |
| 2021 | 0.76% | 2,973,821 |
| 2022 | 0.76% | 2,852,098 |
| 2023 | 0.73% | 2,740,228 |
| 2024 | 0.7% | 2,515,488 |
| 2025 | 0.67% | 2,309,448 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.65% | 712,483 |
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 (10)
All 91 named lines that continue from here
No line matches.
Loading sub-variations…
Sources
- History and 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: King's Knight's Gambit (C34)”. Lichess data as of 3 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-gambit-accepted-kings-knights-gambit