Tree path 3 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › King's Pawn Game: McConnell Defense
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  2. King's Pawn Game C20
  3. King's Knight Opening C40
  4. King's Pawn Game: McConnell Defense C40 you are here
C40

King's Pawn Game: McConnell Defense

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Overview

King's Pawn Game: McConnell Defense is a named branch in the Open Games group of chess theory, classified under ECO C40.

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

It begins with 4 plies and takes 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qf6 to reach the canonical position.

In the opening tree, this line branches off from King's Knight Opening, part of the broader King's Pawn Game system.

It continues primarily into one named line, King's Pawn Game: La Bourdonnais Gambit.

Use the board to walk through every move, check how the position has scored on Lichess, or take it head-to-head against Stockfish.

ECO code
C40
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
4
Parent
King's Knight Opening
Direct variations
1

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

4,217,445 games · White 51.6% / Draw 4.1% / Black 44.3%

MovesGamesW / D / B
Bc41,667,069
Nc31,334,534
d4627,713
c3175,301
d3163,296
Be285,977
b362,490
h333,021

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:02:22

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Variations (1)