Bird Opening: Schlechter Gambit
1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 Nc6
The Bird Opening: Schlechter Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO A02, reached after 1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 Nc6. It is a line of the Bird Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,695 times by this move order. White won 51%, 3% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 3. Nf3 (81% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.61 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 3. Nf3 d6 4. exd6 Bxd6 5. d4 Nf6)
- ECO
- A02
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/2n5/4P3/8/8/PPPPP1PP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. f4 e5 2. fxe5 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 584 | |
| 1500-1999 | 967 | |
| 2000+ | 144 | |
| All | 1,695 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Nf3 | 1,374 (81%) | |
| 3. d4 | 247 (15%) | |
| 3. e4 | 16 (1%) | |
| 3. e6 | 13 (1%) | |
| 3. g3 | 10 (1%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 9 (1%) | |
| 3. e3 | 7 (0%) | |
| 3. g4 | 6 (0%) |
Master games
62 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 6%, Black 55%). The strongest:
- IM Matvey Galchenko (2438) – GM Daniel W Gormally (2423) 0-1 · Titled Tue 14th Jan Early · 2025-01-14
- GM Raven Sturt (2459) – FM David Lana Rodriguez (2351) 1-0 · Titled Tue 5th Aug Early · 2025-08-05
- IM Leon Piasetski (2310) – GM Daniel W Gormally (2495) 0-1 · Groningen Open A · 2012-12-22
- FM Jaiveer Mahendru (2244) – IM Arystanbek Urazayev (2471) 0-1 · Titled Tue 30th Apr Early · 2024-04-30
- IM Levy Rozman (2353) – FM Nagare Kaivalya Sandip (2352) 0-1 · Titled Tue 14th Jan Early · 2025-01-14
Search all games of the Bird Opening: Schlechter Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Talaicito (2363) – Improve51 (2404) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
- IonaquichusXII (2267) – sewatop4ik2 (2461) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- EugenioXadrez (2354) – Tutor64 (2309) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Bird Opening: From's Gambit 1. f4 e5
More Bird Opening lines (all)
- Bird Opening A02
- Bird Opening: Batavo-Polish Attack A02
- Bird Opening: Double Duck Formation A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Bahr Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Langheld Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Lasker Variation A02
- Bird Opening: From's Gambit, Lipke Variation A02
- Bird Opening: Hobbs Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Horsefly Defense A02
- Bird Opening: Lasker Gambit A02
- Bird Opening: Mujannah A02
Opening names and moves from the Lichess openings dataset; statistics from the Lichess open database, 2026-09 (CC0), sample of 12.6 million games, bots excluded; evaluations from Lichess cloud analysis (all CC0). Master games from The Week in Chess #920–#1664 by Mark Crowther, used with permission.