Tree path 7 levels King's Pawn Game › King's Knight Opening › Normal Variation › Scotch Game › Scotch Game › Scotch Game › Schmidt Variation
- Chess Codex
- King's Pawn Game C20
- King's Knight Opening C40
- Normal Variation C44
- Scotch Game C44
- Scotch Game C44
- Scotch Game C45
- Schmidt Variation C45 you are here
Scotch Game: Schmidt Variation
Overview
Scotch Game: Schmidt Variation 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 8 plies of play, with the move sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nxd4 Nf6.
It is a variation of Scotch Game, which itself descends from the root opening King's Pawn Game.
It branches into 3 notable variations — Scotch Game: Alekhine Gambit, Scotch Game: Mieses Variation, Scotch Game: Tartakower Variation.
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
- 8
- Parent
- Scotch Game
- Direct variations
- 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
3,844,842 games · White 46.6% / Draw 5.9% / Black 47.5%
| Moves | Games | W / D / B |
|---|---|---|
| Nxc6 | 2,090,360 | |
| Nc3 | 1,445,183 | |
| Bg5 | 109,232 | |
| f3 | 84,277 | |
| Bc4 | 28,540 | |
| e5 | 26,645 | |
| Be3 | 15,052 | |
| Bd3 | 8,989 |
Source: Lichess Opening Explorer · cached 2026-09-26 01:52:16
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