Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 e4

The Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C40, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 e4. It is a line of the Elephant Gambit. White is to move.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 15,552 times by this move order. White won 45%, 4% were drawn and Black won 51%. The most popular continuation is 4. Qe2 (40% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.92 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. Qe2 Nf6 5. d3 Qxd5 6. Nbd2 Nc6)

ECO: C40
Moves: 6 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3P4/4p3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. exd5 e4

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	4,365	45%52%
1500-1999	9,744	45%51%
2000+	1,443	47%47%
All	15,552	45%51%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
4. Qe2	6,225 (40%)	48%48%
4. Nd4	4,232 (27%)	44%52%
4. Ng1	2,921 (19%)	44%52%
4. Ne5	1,280 (8%)	48%49%
4. Bb5+	297 (2%)	33%63%
4. Ng5	292 (2%)	30%68%
4. Nc3	192 (1%)	32%66%
4. Nh4	23 (0%)	22%78%

Master games

1,114 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 8%, Black 48%). The strongest:

GM Dmitrij Kollars (2632) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2710) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 23rd Apr 2026 · 2026-04-23
GM Daniil Dubov (2708) – GM Artyom Timofeev (2567) 1-0 · Titled Tue 28th Mar Early · 2023-03-28
GM Levon Aronian (2742) – GM Abdulla Gadimbayli (2492) 1-0 · AI Cup Play-In 2023 · 2023-09-18
GM Andrey Esipenko (2678) – GM Abdulla Gadimbayli (2524) 1/2-1/2 · World Blitz 2022 · 2022-12-29
GM Vladimir Kramnik (2753) – IM Shamil Arslanov (2410) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 9th Jul Early · 2024-07-09

Search all games of the Elephant Gambit: Paulsen Countergambit and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

kasparik_garik (2665) – IM Jomajo (2684) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Futurexxx (2659) – IM Jomajo (2663) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
tourdefra (2746) – Blagoslavlenny_Bogom (2573) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

Elephant Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5

More Elephant Gambit 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.