Tree path 5 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Scotch Game › Scotch Game
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Normal Variation C44
- Scotch Game C44
- Scotch Game C44 you are here
Scotch Game
Overview
Scotch Game is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C44.
The Open Games group covers open games — classical 1.e4 e5 openings where both sides contest the centre directly with pawns.
It is reached after 6 plies of play, with the move sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4.
It is a variation of Scotch Game, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It branches into 4 notable variations — Scotch Game, Göring Gambit, Relfsson Gambit, and others.
Below the direct variations, the full subtree contains 54 documented sub-variations.
Step through the moves on the interactive board below, review the live Lichess statistics, or play this position against Stockfish at one of six difficulty levels.
- ECO code
- C44
- Group
- Open Games (C)
- Plies
- 6
- Parent
- Scotch Game
- Direct variations
- 4
- Total in subtree
- 54
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
40,254,982 games · White 51.9% / Draw 4.9% / Black 43.2%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nxd4 | 25,520,518 | |
| Bc4 | 10,737,177 | |
| c3 | 2,614,958 | |
| Ng5 | 1,048,964 | |
| Bb5 | 165,780 | |
| Bd3 | 54,719 | |
| e5 | 53,714 | |
| Qxd4 | 11,482 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:26:42
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Variations (4)
Show all 54 sub-variations (full subtree)
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