Caissa Codex
C40

King's Knight Opening

The King's Knight Opening is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, White's most popular second move after 1.e4 e5. Read the guide

Chess diagram: King's Knight Opening after 2. Nf3

Type a move and press Enter: e4, Nf3, O-O, or from and to squares like g1f3 (e7e8q to promote). The board is also played with the mouse.

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Statistics from Lichess

340,396,771 games: White 50.7% / Draw 4.7% / Black 44.6%

The moves played next. Pick one to see it on the board.
Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Normal Variation 225,336,633225.3M
Philidor Defense 51,462,10051.5M
Petrov's Defense 37,337,20337.3M
Elephant Gambit 7,696,6327.7M
King's Pawn Game: Busch-Gass Gambit 6,977,7587M
King's Pawn Game: McConnell Defense 4,219,6684.2M
Latvian Gambit 3,701,1533.7M
King's Pawn Game: Damiano Defense 897,644898K

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 5, 2026

Engine evaluation

+0.17 The position is about equal

Best play: 2... Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6 6. Nxe5 Be7 7. Bf1

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 54% under 1400, 52% at 2200 and up and 55% in master games (wins plus half the draws).

PlayersGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
Under 1400 324.8M
1400–1799 373.7M
1800–2199 153.1M
2200 and up 13.4M
Masters, over the board 290K

Master games

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 Opening is 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3, White's most popular second move after 1.e4 e5. The knight attacks Black's undefended e5-pawn, prepares kingside castling and supports a later d2-d4. Two of the most analysed openings in chess, the Ruy Lopez and the Italian Game, start from this position.

Black's replies

  • 2...Nc6 is the usual answer. It defends the pawn and develops a knight, and White's third move then decides the opening.
  • 2...Nf6, the Petrov Defense, counterattacks e4 instead. It is popular at the top level and has a drawish reputation, though it has many sharp lines.
  • 2...d6, the Philidor Defense, defends the pawn but typically leads to passive positions for Black. It fell out of favour by the early 20th century, yet it has a dependable reputation.

The other second moves are rare and generally considered dubious. The Latvian Gambit, 2...f5, and the Elephant Gambit, 2...d5, are risky pawn sacrifices. The Damiano Defense, 2...f6, is weak and can be met by 3.Nxe5 or 3.Bc4 with advantage for White. The Busch-Gass Gambit, 2...Bc5, was something of an online fad in the early 2020s and is well met by 3.Nxe5 Nc6 4.Nf3.

White's alternatives to 2.Nf3

White has four frequent alternatives on move two. The King's Gambit, 2.f4, offers a pawn to undermine Black's centre. The Vienna Game, 2.Nc3, also frequently features an f2-f4 push. The Bishop's Opening, 2.Bc4, frequently transposes to the Italian Game or the Vienna. The Center Game, 2.d4, opens the centre at once.

The numbers

On Lichess White wins 50.7% of the 340 million games and Black 44.6%. The split hardly moves with rating: 51.5% against 44.4% under 1400 and 48.1% against 44.4% from 2200 up. In 289,898 master games over the board 51.5% were drawn, White won 29.0% and Black 19.5%.

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How to play against the King's Knight Opening

2…Nf6 (Petrov's Defense) scores best for Black: 48.1%, with Black winning 45.7% and White 49.5% of 37.3M games. The most played, 2…Nc6, scores 47.0% in 225.3M games, and 2…d6 scores lowest: 45.9%. Stockfish's first choice is 2…Nc6.

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 Knight Opening has stayed between 12.3% and 14.6% of Lichess games a year since 2016 (12.3% in 2025).

Numbers by year
YearShare of gamesGames
201614.6%5,229,789
201713.6%7,495,145
201812.6%9,925,728
201912.7%15,825,054
202013.6%39,696,196
202114.2%55,539,999
202213.5%50,572,993
202313.1%49,424,459
202412.7%45,590,469
202512.3%42,537,573
2026 (Jan–Apr)12.1%13,229,098

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)

Other lines from the same position

Instead of 2. Nf3, the position after King's Pawn Game also goes on to:

Transpositions

This position is also reached from these lines, by another move order:

From here, a move transposes into another named line:

All 680 named lines that continue from here

Loading sub-variations…

Sources

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “King's Knight Opening (C40)”. Lichess data as of 5 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-knight-opening

https://chesscodex.org/openings/kings-knight-opening