Borg Defense: Troon Gambit
1. e4 g5 2. d4 h6 3. h4 g4
The Borg Defense: Troon Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO B00, reached after 1. e4 g5 2. d4 h6 3. h4 g4. 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 11 times by this move order. White won 64%, 0% were drawn and Black won 36%. The most popular continuation is 4. Qxg4 (82% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.39 (Stockfish, depth 28; best line 4. Be3 Nf6 5. Nc3 d6 6. Nge2 a6)
- ECO
- B00
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppppp2/7p/8/3PP1pP/8/PPP2PP1/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 g5 2. d4 h6 3. h4 g4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 1500-1999 | 6 | |
| 2000+ | 5 | |
| All | 11 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Qxg4 | 9 (82%) | |
| 4. Ne2 | 1 (9%) | |
| 4. h5 | 1 (9%) |
Master games
57 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 13%, Black 40%). The strongest:
- GM Vahap Sanal (2595) – GM Magnus Carlsen (2856) 1-0 · Titled Tue 11th Oct Late · 2022-10-11
- GM Raunak Sadhwani (2611) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 0-1 · Titled Tue 18th Oct Late · 2022-10-18
- IM David Gorodetzky (2495) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 18th Oct Late · 2022-10-18
- GM Alexander Grischuk (2764) – FM Orest Vovk (2315) 1-0 · Titled Tue 15th Feb Early · 2022-02-15
- CM Oleksandr Kuzhylnyi (2260) – GM Jan-Krzysztof Duda (2726) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 3rd Oct Early · 2023-10-03
Search all games of the Borg Defense: Troon Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Yan51 (2117) – haythammed (2140) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 5s
- ed0k (2059) – haythammed (2124) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 5s
- diegoszczupak (2097) – GeheimratZauderlein (2065) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 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.