Tree path 8 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Scotch Game › Scotch Game › Scotch Game › Steinitz Variation › Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack
C45

Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack

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Overview

Scotch Game: Horwitz Attack is a variation within the Open Games family, indexed as ECO C45.

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 9 plies of play, with the move sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Qh4 5. Nb5.

It is a variation of Scotch Game: Steinitz Variation, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.

It continues primarily into one named line, Scotch Game.

In total, the branch covers 3 sub-variations across all depths.

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
C45
Group
Open Games (C)
Plies
9
Parent
Scotch Game: Steinitz Variation
Direct variations
1
Total in subtree
3

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

42,680 games · White 56.4% / Draw 4.4% / Black 39.2%

MovesGamesW / D / B
Qxe4+27,127
Bb4+6,083
Bc55,381
Kd81,915
Qd81,196
Nf6591
Bd6316
Qf437

Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 02:05:20

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Variations (1)

Show all 3 sub-variations (full subtree)