Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit
The Icelandic Gambit, or Palme Gambit, is 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 e6, a sharp line of the Modern Scandinavian. Read the guide
Play any move on the board to explore from there, or step through the line with ‹ › and the arrow keys.
Statistics from Lichess
2,379,864 games: White 44.0% / Draw 4.2% / Black 51.8%
| Next move | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| 1,911,7181.9M | ||
| 243,935244K | ||
| 141,225141K | ||
| 30,56431K | ||
| 21,20421K | ||
| 8,2108,210 | ||
| 5,8185,818 | ||
| 5,1435,143 |
Rated Lichess games between players rated 1600 to 2500, from the Lichess opening explorer, updated Nov 1, 2026
Engine evaluation
+0.40 White is slightly better
Best play: 4. dxe6 Bxe6 5. Nf3 Qe7 6. Qe2 Bf5 7. d4 Nc6 8. a3 Na5
Stockfish 19, depth 30, after the line's last move. Scores are in pawns, from White's side.
By rating
The stronger the players, the worse this line does for Black: Black scores 55% under 1400, 52% at 2200 and up and 49% in master games (wins plus half the draws).
| Players | Games | White / Draw / BlackW / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Under 1400 | 289K | |
| 1400–1799 | 1.4M | |
| 1800–2199 | 1.4M | |
| 2200 and up | 84K | |
| Masters, over the board | 411 |
Master games
- Onischuk, A. – Minasian, A.
- Sokolov, A. – Speelman, J. S.
- Wolff, P. G. – Dzindzichashvili, R.
- Rakhmanov, A. – Csonka, B.
- Kharlov, A. – Maslak, K.
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 Icelandic Gambit, or Palme Gambit, is 1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Nf6 3.c4 e6, a sharp line of the Modern Scandinavian. Icelandic masters invented it while looking for an alternative to the more common 3...c6. Black sacrifices a pawn for rapid development.
The critical line
The most critical line in this double-edged variation is thought to be 4.dxe6 Bxe6 5.Nf3.
After 3.c4
With 3.c4 White tries to keep the extra pawn at the cost of leaving the light-squared bishop inactive. Black's most common answer is 3...c6, the Scandinavian Gambit. Taking it with 4.dxc6 Nxc6 gives Black too much central control and development; John Emms called it "a miserly pawn grab". Most common is 4.d4 cxd5, which transposes to the Panov Attack of the Caro-Kann Defense.
The numbers
On Lichess Black wins 51.8% of the 2.4 million games and White 44.0%, and Black stays ahead in every rating band, from 2200 up included (49.0% against 44.7%). In 411 master games over the board the results were nearly even: White won 33.8%, Black 32.4%, and 33.8% were drawn.
Suggest an improvement or report a mistake
How to play against the Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit
4. d4 scores best for White: 54.3%, with White winning 51.6% and Black 43.1% of 141K games. The most played answer, 4. dxe6, scores lowest: 45.4% in 1.9M games. Stockfish's first choice is 4. dxe6.
Main answers: those played in at least 5% of these games. Score: White'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 Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit has gained ground since 2016: 0.1% of Lichess games in 2025, up from 0.083%.
Numbers by year
| Year | Share of games | Games |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0.083% | 29,805 |
| 2017 | 0.098% | 53,804 |
| 2018 | 0.098% | 76,621 |
| 2019 | 0.097% | 121,011 |
| 2020 | 0.082% | 239,478 |
| 2021 | 0.083% | 325,951 |
| 2022 | 0.091% | 343,547 |
| 2023 | 0.093% | 348,306 |
| 2024 | 0.095% | 340,251 |
| 2025 | 0.1% | 350,019 |
| 2026 (Jan–Apr) | 0.1% | 112,847 |
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
Sources
- History and theory: adapted from the Wikipedia article Scandinavian Defense, version of 1 November 2026, under CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Results: Lichess opening explorer, figures collected from September to November 2026.
Cite this page
Caissa Codex. “Scandinavian Defense: Icelandic-Palme Gambit (B01)”. Lichess data as of 1 Nov 2026. https://chesscodex.org/openings/scandinavian-defense-icelandic-palme-gambit