Tree path 3 levels King's Pawn Game › Owen Defense › Matovinsky Gambit
B00

Owen Defense: Matovinsky Gambit

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Overview

Owen Defense: Matovinsky Gambit belongs to the gambit family of chess openings (ECO B00, Semi-Open Games). It trades material for attacking chances — a classic trade-off that has fascinated players from the Romantic era to modern correspondence chess.

The Semi-Open Games group covers semi-open games — replies to 1.e4 where Black declines the symmetrical 1…e5 in favour of an asymmetric pawn structure.

Play reaches this position via 1. e4 b6 2. d4 Bb7 3. Bd3 f5 4. exf5 Bxg2 5. Qh5+ g6, after 10 plies of opening development.

The line refines Owen Defense, which traces back to the root opening King's Pawn Game.

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

ECO code
B00
Group
Semi-Open Games (B)
Plies
10
Parent
Owen Defense

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

25,950 games · White 59.9% / Draw 3.0% / Black 37.0%

MovesGamesW / D / B
fxg625,914
f620
Qxg6+7
Qg44
Qg52
Nf31
Nh31
Be21

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:12:05

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