Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 f5
The Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C23, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 f5. It is a line of the Bishop's Opening. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3,003 times by this move order. White won 50%, 3% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 3. exf5 (40% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.90 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 3. d4 exd4 4. Nh3 Nf6 5. e5 Ng4)
- ECO
- C23
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp2pp/8/4pp2/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 f5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,232 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,624 | |
| 2000+ | 147 | |
| All | 3,003 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. exf5 | 1,206 (40%) | |
| 3. d3 Calabrese Countergambit, Jaenisch Variation | 475 (16%) | |
| 3. Qh5+ | 267 (9%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 251 (8%) | |
| 3. Bxg8 | 232 (8%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 215 (7%) | |
| 3. Qf3 | 123 (4%) | |
| 3. d4 | 96 (3%) |
Master games
17 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 35%, draw 12%, Black 53%). The strongest:
- GM Nazar Firman (2464) – IM Milos Stankovic (2458) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Jan Early · 2025-01-28
- FM Elameir Fathy (2300) – IM Viacheslav Slovineanu (2412) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 5th Aug Late · 2025-08-05
- IM Nikolai Vlassov (2301) – FM Matfey Rogov (2348) 1-0 · Titled Tue 26th Aug Early · 2025-08-26
- IM Nikolai Vlassov (2301) – FM Semyon Puzyrevsky (2330) 0-1 · Titled Tue 11th Nov 2025 · 2025-11-11
- Bas Haver (2154) – FM Cesar Becx (2095) 1/2-1/2 · 11th OGD Prinsenstad 2018 · 2018-03-31
Search all games of the Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- yepovsky (2343) – Roberto_Baggio1978 (2486) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Krasnoznamensk (2381) – Quartarone (2442) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- machouil (2411) – Lejeudufou (2300) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Bishop's Opening 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4
Continuations
- Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit, Jaenisch Variation C23 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 f5 3. d3
More Bishop's Opening lines (all)
- Bishop's Opening: Anderssen Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Four Pawns Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Khan Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit (3. c3 d5) C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit (4. Bxd5 Nf6) C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Countergambit, Walker Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lewis Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lisitsyn Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lopez Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lopez Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Lopez Variation, Lopez Gambit C23
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.