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King's Gambit

Moves

White scores

52.8%

Wins more
Loses moreEvenWins more

51.3% won3.0% drawn45.7% lost

Theory 44.5% · Stockfish −0.6

Every level and clock · 43M games

8
7
6
5
4
3
2
a1
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
2.f4
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<100010001200140016001800200022002500+

Win rate by rating

White’s score holds about the same all the way up.

RatingScore against evenScoreWonGames
52.0%50.5%1.3M
Widest edge54.3%53.1%2.8M
54.3%53.1%5.3M
53.8%52.4%8.8M
52.8%51.2%11M
51.7%50.0%9.0M
51.1%49.1%3.5M
51.4%49.2%825K
53.4%50.1%62K

Every clock · Tap a row to set your level.

What does Black play next?

Black's most played reply is 2…⁠Nc6, the Queen's Knight Defense.

Is the King's Gambit good?

Yes, for White, across every level and clock.

Everyone52.8
Stockfish44.5

Stockfish at depth 22 · −0.6 for White

Floor 52.8 is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

Among the families

18th of 66 families White can choose

Where it wins · rating × clock

<100010001200140016001800200022002500+Every levelUltraBulletBulletBlitzRapidClassical
Best 56.5% · 2000–2199 classicalWorst 43.8% · under 1000 ultrabullet

Faint, hatched: few games, never the best or worst. –: too few to score. Tap a cell to set your level and clock.

Does the gambit hold up?

White scores above 50% at every rating measured.

Average game length

How do you score in your own openings?

Leaks reads your recent games and lists the openings you score worst in.

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More King's Gambit lines

Most played first; each line counts its own games.

All 161 King's Gambit lines, ranked

161 variations · ranked by floor

Floor — the worst score you would still get, 90% confident.

1
King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Alapin Variation832 games
73.3%Floor 70.7%
2
King's Gambit Declined: Norwalde Variation, Schubert Variation2.0K games
66.7%Floor 65.0%
3
King's Gambit Accepted: Muzio Gambit, Wild Muzio Gambit99K games
63.3%Floor 63.1%
King's Gambit Accepted: Double Muzio Gambit15K games
62.9%Floor 62.3%
King's Gambit Accepted: McDonnell Gambit4.0K games
63.2%Floor 62.0%
King's Gambit Accepted: Muzio Gambit, Holloway Defense4.4K games
62.4%Floor 61.2%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Anderssen Defense56K games
59.5%Floor 59.2%
King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit, Thorold Attack3.1K games
60.6%Floor 59.1%
King's Gambit Accepted: Ghulam-Kassim Gambit43K games
58.3%Floor 57.9%
King's Gambit Declined: Zilbermints Double Countergambit3.7K games
59.0%Floor 57.7%
King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier, Blackburne Gambit780 games
60.5%Floor 57.6%
King's Gambit Declined: Senechaud Countergambit1.0K games
59.9%Floor 57.3%
King's Gambit Accepted: Lolli Gambit70K games
57.6%Floor 57.3%
King's Gambit Accepted: Muzio Gambit, Kling and Horwitz Counterattack493 games
60.8%Floor 57.1%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Paulsen Attack7.4K games
57.9%Floor 57.0%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Greco Variation64K games
57.1%Floor 56.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: Fischer Defense, Spanish Variation61K games
57.2%Floor 56.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit2.9M games
56.7%Floor 56.7%
King's Gambit Accepted: Cunningham Defense, Bertin Gambit189K games
56.8%Floor 56.6%
King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Long Whip100K games
56.8%Floor 56.5%
King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit65K games
56.7%Floor 56.4%
King's Gambit Accepted: Philidor Gambit, Schultz Variation411 games
60.4%Floor 56.4%
King's Gambit Declined: Norwalde Variation356K games
56.5%Floor 56.4%
King's Gambit Declined: Panteldakis Countergambit, Shirazi Line8.2K games
57.3%Floor 56.4%
King's Gambit Declined: Panteldakis Countergambit, Pawn Sacrifice Line148 games
62.7%Floor 56.2%
King's Gambit Accepted: Rosentreter Gambit, Testa Variation23K games
56.6%Floor 56.1%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bogoljubow Variation61K games
56.4%Floor 56.1%
King's Gambit Declined: Keene's Defense294K games
56.3%Floor 56.1%
King's Gambit Accepted: Allgaier Gambit, Urusov Attack19K games
56.4%Floor 55.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: Rosentreter Gambit, Sörensen Gambit1.9K games
57.7%Floor 55.8%
King's Gambit Declined: Panteldakis Countergambit, Greco Variation6.7K games
56.8%Floor 55.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Anderssen Variation4.7K games
56.9%Floor 55.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bledow Countergambit12K games
56.5%Floor 55.8%
King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit Accepted574K games
55.8%Floor 55.7%
King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit24K games
56.0%Floor 55.4%
King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky, Long Whip Defense, Jaenisch Variation850 games
57.8%Floor 55.0%
King's Gambit Declined: Panteldakis Countergambit, Schiller's Defense1.7K games
56.9%Floor 54.9%
King's Gambit Accepted: MacLeod Defense5.2M games
54.8%Floor 54.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: Schallopp Defense1.6M games
54.8%Floor 54.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit358K games
54.9%Floor 54.8%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Lopez Variation7.2K games
55.7%Floor 54.7%
King's Gambit5.7M games
54.8%Floor 54.7%
King's Gambit Accepted: Wagenbach Defense17K games
54.9%Floor 54.3%
King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation, Walthoffen Attack3.6K games
55.5%Floor 54.2%
King's Gambit Accepted: Double Muzio Gambit, Baldwin Gambit347 games
58.4%Floor 54.0%
King's Gambit Accepted: Fischer Defense3.1M games
53.7%Floor 53.7%
King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Cotter Gambit34K games
54.2%Floor 53.7%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, First Jaenisch Variation35K games
54.0%Floor 53.6%
King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Maurian Defense342K games
53.4%Floor 53.3%
King's Gambit Accepted: Quaade Gambit60K games
53.5%Floor 53.2%
Every King's Gambit variation, by name161
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Methodology

Across every level and clock, the King's Gambit family scores 52.8% for White, from 43M rated Lichess games across 161 variations, and the low and high ends of its range both round to that same figure at this precision. Win rate, draw rate and loss rate come from games played September 2023 to August 2026.

How the figures are made
Whose games these are
43M rated games played on Lichess (2023-09 to 2026-08). The games are Lichess’s and free for anyone to use. What is ours is the reading of them. Last rebuilt September 2026.
Which games we count
  • Rated games only — nothing casual.
  • Both players within 200 rating points of each other. A mismatch tells you about the gap, not about the opening.
  • At least 2 moves played.
  • A game is filed under White’s rating.
Why every number comes with a range
A number off a few hundred games is a guess. The same number off millions is a fact. The range is what tells them apart, and it is what the lists rank on — so an opening cannot reach the top on a lucky run of forty games. The more games behind a figure, the narrower its range.
What the Floor and Edge at worst are
The Floor is the worst score you would still get, 90% confident: the low end of a figure’s range, not its average. Edge at worst is how far wins run ahead of losses, 90% confident, so above zero, that side wins more than it loses even on a bad day. Each is stated for the rating and clock shown, over the games that reached the position. They are on different scales: a score sits at 50 when the sides are level, an edge at zero.
How much we need before we say anything
An opening page needs 100 games. A figure on it needs 100 games at its rating and clock: short of that the answer reads a wider scope and says so, a table row shows only its count, and a map cell shows a dash. Under 1.0K games a figure is drawn faint, and never leads a list or counts as the best or worst place the line wins. The chaos and trap lists need 500 games overall and 250 games at one rating or clock.