Center Game: Charousek Variation
1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 Bb4+ 5. c3 Be7
The Center Game: Charousek Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C22, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 Bb4+ 5. c3 Be7. It is a line of the Center Game. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 34 times by this move order. White won 35%, 3% were drawn and Black won 62%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nf3 (26% of games).
Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 47; best line 6. Bc4 Nf6 7. Nf3 d5 8. exd5 Nxd5)
- ECO
- C22
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
r1bqk1nr/ppppbppp/2n5/8/4P3/2P1Q3/PP3PPP/RNB1KBNR w KQkq - 1 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3 Bb4+ 5. c3 Be7
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 26 | |
| 1500-1999 | 7 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 34 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nf3 | 9 (26%) | |
| 6. Bc4 | 7 (21%) | |
| 6. b4 | 4 (12%) | |
| 6. e5 | 3 (9%) | |
| 6. Nd2 | 2 (6%) | |
| 6. Bb5 | 2 (6%) | |
| 6. f3 | 1 (3%) | |
| 6. Be2 | 1 (3%) |
Master games
2 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- GM Raunak Sadhwani (2644) – GM Evgeny Tomashevsky (2681) 1-0 · Chess Stars 4.0 Blitz · 2024-07-02
- IM Paolo Ladron De Guevara Pinto (2427) – FM Victor Plotkin (2242) 1-0 · Gibraltar Masters 2018 · 2018-01-29
Search all games of the Center Game: Charousek Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- chesswarkop2025 (2143) – TamrGaming (2114) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Mind-blind_Owl (1923) – skyr53 (1927) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
- Hammerthrow (1848) – wael766 (1829) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Center Game: Paulsen Attack Variation 1. e4 e5 2. d4 exd4 3. Qxd4 Nc6 4. Qe3
More Center Game lines (all)
- Center Game (1… e5 2. d4) C20
- Center Game (2… exd4 3. Qxd4) C21
- Center Game: Halasz-McDonnell Gambit C21
- Center Game: Halasz-McDonnell Gambit, Crocodile Variation C21
- Center Game: Kieseritzky Variation (2… exd4 3. Nf3) C21
- Center Game: Kieseritzky Variation (3. Nf3 c5) C21
- Center Game: Kieseritzky Variation (3… c5 4. Bc4) C21
- Center Game: Lanc-Arnold Gambit C21
- Center Game: Lanc-Arnold Gambit, Schippler Gambit C21
- Center Game: Ross Gambit C21
- Center Game: von der Lasa Gambit C21
- Center Game: Berger Variation C22
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.