Caissa Codex
C80

Ruy Lopez: Open, Harksen Gambit

Chess diagram: Ruy Lopez: Open, Harksen Gambit after 8. c4

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

39 games: White 48.7% / Draw 7.7% / Black 43.6%

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Next moveGamesWhite / Draw / BlackW / D / B
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11

Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Oct 30, 2026

Engine evaluation

−2.53 Black is clearly better

Best play: 8... Bg4 9. Qe1 Bxf3 10. gxf3 Bb4 11. Nc3 Ng5 12. Qe3 dxc4 13. Bd1

Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.

Overview

Ruy Lopez: Open, Harksen Gambit (ECO C80, Open Games) is a gambit in the Ruy Lopez: Open, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 a6 4. Ba4 Nf6 5. O-O Nxe4 6. d4 b5 7. Bb3 d5 8. c4 (8 moves).

In 39 rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, White won 48.7%, Black 43.6% and 7.7% were drawn. Black's most played move here is 8…bxc4, in 59% of those games. That is too few games for the percentages to mean much.

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Other lines from the same position

Instead of 7…d5 8. c4, the position after Ruy Lopez: Open also goes on to:

Cite this page

Caissa Codex. “Ruy Lopez: Open, Harksen Gambit (C80)”. Lichess data as of 30 Oct 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/ruy-lopez-open-harksen-gambit

https://chesscodex.org/openings/ruy-lopez-open-harksen-gambit