Bishop's Opening: Thorold Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 b5 3. Bxb5 f5
The Bishop's Opening: Thorold Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C23, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 b5 3. Bxb5 f5. It is a line of the Bishop's Opening. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 7 times by this move order. White won 71%, 0% were drawn and Black won 29%. The most popular continuation is 4. exf5 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.70 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 4. exf5 Nf6 5. Nf3 c6 6. Be2 d6)
- ECO
- C23
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/p1pp2pp/8/1B2pp2/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK1NR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 b5 3. Bxb5 f5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2 | |
| 1500-1999 | 4 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 7 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. exf5 | 4 (57%) | |
| 4. d3 | 2 (29%) | |
| 4. Qf3 | 1 (14%) |
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2739) – IM Shamil Arslanov (2410) 1-0 · Titled Tue 8th Apr Early · 2025-04-08
- FM Mohamed Nouali (2157) – IM Shamil Arslanov (2410) 1-0 · Titled Tue 27th May Early · 2025-05-27
Search all games of the Bishop's Opening: Thorold Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Sabrinae1974 (2072) – EkremIsaki (2079) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
- lodinu (1951) – EkremIsaki (2018) 1-0 · 2026-09-03 · 300 + 0s
- Mido65 (1815) – AnishCarlsen (2053) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
Bishop's Opening 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4
More Bishop's Opening lines (all)
- Bishop's Opening: Anderssen Gambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Boi Variation C23
- Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit C23
- Bishop's Opening: Calabrese Countergambit, Jaenisch 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
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.