C20

King's Pawn Game

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Overview

King's Pawn Game is a top-level opening within the Open Games family, catalogued as ECO C20 — a starting point from which dozens of named sub-variations branch out.

The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.

Play reaches this position via 1. e4 e5, after 2 plies of opening development.

The line has 19 documented children — Bishop's Opening, Bongcloud Attack, Center Game, and others being widely played.

This is a deep theory tree with 1021 total sub-variations across all depths — one of the larger branches in chess theory.

Explore the position on the interactive board, study its real-world results from Lichess, and challenge the engine when you are ready.

ECO code: C20
Group: Open Games (C)
Plies: 2
Direct variations: 19
Total in subtree: 1021

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

529,096,966 games · White 50.8% / Draw 4.4% / Black 44.7%

Moves	Games	W / D / B
Nf3	340,408,765
Bc4	52,748,771
f4	48,142,644
d4	31,143,751
Nc3	30,525,425
d3	9,523,683
Qh5	3,639,393
c3	3,465,494

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 00:50:19

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Variations (19)

Show all 1021 sub-variations (full subtree)

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