Borg Defense: Borg Gambit (2. d4 Bg7)
1. e4 g5 2. d4 Bg7
The Borg Defense: Borg Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 g5 2. d4 Bg7. It is a line of the Borg Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,101 times by this move order. White won 50%, 3% were drawn and Black won 47%. The most popular continuation is 3. Bxg5 (44% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.70 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 3. Nc3 h6 4. h4 g4 5. Be3 d6)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppppppbp/8/6p1/3PP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 g5 2. d4 Bg7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 354 | |
| 1500-1999 | 645 | |
| 2000+ | 102 | |
| All | 1,101 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Bxg5 | 486 (44%) | |
| 3. e5 | 164 (15%) | |
| 3. c3 | 113 (10%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 85 (8%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 77 (7%) | |
| 3. Be3 | 76 (7%) | |
| 3. c4 | 33 (3%) | |
| 3. Bc4 | 21 (2%) |
Master games
57 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 51%, draw 5%, Black 44%). The strongest:
- GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2604) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Oct Late · 2022-10-18
- GM Martyn Kravtsiv (2598) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Oct Early · 2022-10-18
- IM V Pranav (2530) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Oct Early · 2022-10-18
- IM Bojan Maksimovic (2468) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Oct Late · 2022-10-18
- GM Hrair Simonian (2431) – GM Shant Sargsyan (2630) 0-1 · Titled Tue 2nd May Late · 2023-05-02
Search all games of the Borg Defense: Borg Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Rumple_DarkOne (2612) – July16Q (2648) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Topmiscia (2334) – CM Daario_Naharis (2231) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- hanyabdo2 (2295) – ThePodiumer (2269) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
Borg Defense 1. e4 g5
More Borg Defense lines (all)
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.