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King's Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.f4)
How do King's Gambit games actually end? Across 68,798 Lichess games that reached the position after 1.e4 e5 2.f4, White won 55.0%, 3.4% were drawn and Black won 41.7%. Below: the main line move by move, the most played continuations (the favorite is 2...exf4), the rating effect and the opening's history.
The main line, move by move
| Move | Position name | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.e4 | King's Pawn Game | 1,601,410 | 49.2% | 4.3% | 46.4% |
| 1...e5 | King's Pawn Game | 597,216 | 52.1% | 4.1% | 43.7% |
| 2.f4 | King's Gambit | 68,798 | 55.0% | 3.4% | 41.7% |
| 2...exf4 | King's Gambit Accepted | 35,282 | 55.2% | 3.2% | 41.6% |
| 3.Nf3 | King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit | 31,568 | 55.0% | 3.2% | 41.9% |
| 3...g5 | - | 6,962 | 49.4% | 2.8% | 47.8% |
The 5 most common continuations (for Black)
| Move | Variation | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2...exf4 | King's Gambit Accepted | 35,282 | 55.2% | 3.2% | 41.6% |
| 2...Nc6 | - | 9,567 | 57.0% | 3.7% | 39.3% |
| 2...d6 | - | 9,176 | 59.2% | 3.6% | 37.2% |
| 2...d5 | - | 8,664 | 45.5% | 3.5% | 50.9% |
| 2...Bc5 | - | 2,366 | 47.6% | 3.7% | 48.7% |
How rating changes the same position
| Rating band (average of the pair) | Games | White | Draws | Black |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1600-1799 | 47,008 | 56.5% | 3.1% | 40.4% |
| 2200-2499 | 276 | 42.8% | 5.1% | 52.2% |
The story of the opening
No opening carries more romance: the King's Gambit, in which White offers a pawn on move two to rip open the f file, was the beating heart of 19th century chess. The Immortal Game, Adolf Anderssen against Lionel Kieseritzky in London, 1851, where White sacrificed a bishop, both rooks and the queen before delivering mate, began exactly this way.
The 20th century was less kind. In 1961 a young Bobby Fischer, annoyed after losing to Boris Spassky in a King's Gambit, published the article A Bust to the King's Gambit, declaring the opening lost by force. The elite nearly retired it, but club statistics tell another story: at fast time controls the gambit still scores respectably, because defending an open f file with precision while the clock runs is a task for the few.
Compare it with every other opening in the opening statistics archive, or visit its neighbors: Vienna Game and Queen's Gambit. Nerd aside: chess notation is a 64 square code, cousin to the ones living next door, like binary and Morse.
Source: the Lichess open game database (database.lichess.org, CC0 data), months 2014-06, 2015-01, 2016-01, snapshot of 2026-07-09: blitz, rapid and classical games with the players' average rating between 1600 and 2199, aggregated by move sequence. Variation names and ECO codes: lichess-org/chess-openings (CC0).
Last updated: · Methodology and sources