Bishop's Opening: Urusov Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3
The Bishop's Opening: Urusov Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C43, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3. It is a line of the Bishop's Opening. Black is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,906 times by this move order. White won 54%, 4% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 4… Nc6 (29% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.15 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 4… Bb4+ 5. c3 dxc3 6. bxc3 d5 7. exd5)
- ECO
- C43
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/8/2BpP3/5N2/PPP2PPP/RNBQK2R b KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 443 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,030 | |
| 2000+ | 433 | |
| All | 1,906 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Nc6 | 544 (29%) | |
| 4… Nxe4 | 404 (21%) | |
| 4… d6 | 205 (11%) | |
| 4… Bc5 | 197 (10%) | |
| 4… Bb4+ | 162 (8%) | |
| 4… c5 | 133 (7%) | |
| 4… d5 | 123 (6%) | |
| 4… Be7 | 55 (3%) |
Master games
376 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 38%, draw 21%, Black 41%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2875) – GM So, W. (2754) 1/2-1/2 · 7th Norway Blitz 2019 · 2019-06-03
- GM Daniil Dubov (2710) – GM Anish Giri (2764) 1/2-1/2 · Opera Euro Rapid Prelim · 2021-02-06
- GM B. Adhiban (2666) – GM Andrei Volokitin (2649) 0-1 · World Blitz 2016 · 2016-12-30
- GM Boris Savchenko (2556) – GM Vadim Zvjaginsev (2660) 1/2-1/2 · ch-RUS Rapid 2015 · 2015-05-14
- IM Ruifeng Li (2535) – GM Vasif Durarbayli (2611) 1/2-1/2 · 117th US Open 2016 · 2016-08-07
Search all games of the Bishop's Opening: Urusov Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- EpicEffects (2526) – kichot (2557) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Ma-Tei (2464) – Empire_State_of-Mind (2610) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- randommodnar2112 (2477) – FM Spartan_Lion (2534) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
Bishop's Opening: Ponziani Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4
Continuations
- Bishop's Opening: Urusov Gambit, Keidansky Gambit C43 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. Qxd4
- Bishop's Opening: Urusov Gambit, Panov Variation C24 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nf6 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3 d5 5. exd5 Bb4+ 6. c3 Qe7+
More Bishop's Opening lines (all)
- Bishop's Opening C23
- 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
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.