Elephant Gambit: Wasp Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nxe5 dxe4 4. Bc4 Qg5
The Elephant Gambit: Wasp Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C40, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nxe5 dxe4 4. Bc4 Qg5. 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 144 times by this move order. White won 40%, 3% were drawn and Black won 57%. The most popular continuation is 5. Nxf7 (47% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.64 (Stockfish, depth 38; best line 5. d4 Qxg2 6. Bxf7+ Ke7 7. Rf1 Nc6)
- ECO
- C40
- Moves
- 8 plies
- FEN
rnb1kbnr/ppp2ppp/8/4N1q1/2B1p3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQK2R w KQkq - 2 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5 3. Nxe5 dxe4 4. Bc4 Qg5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 13 | |
| 1500-1999 | 90 | |
| 2000+ | 41 | |
| All | 144 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Nxf7 | 67 (47%) | |
| 5. Bxf7+ | 42 (29%) | |
| 5. d4 | 30 (21%) | |
| 5. f4 | 2 (1%) | |
| 5. d3 | 1 (1%) | |
| 5. O-O | 1 (1%) |
Master games
16 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 50%, draw 6%, Black 44%). The strongest:
- FM Jonas Gallasch (2298) – IM Shamil Arslanov (2410) 1/2-1/2 · Titled Tue 14th Oct 2025 · 2025-10-14
- FM Varun Krishnan (2373) – FM Alain Prieto Aranguren (2275) 1-0 · Titled Tue 4th Oct Late · 2022-10-04
- FM Jacob Dreelinck (2261) – FM Cristian Sanhueza (2192) 1-0 · Titled Tue 29th Apr Early · 2025-04-29
- FM Timur Kocharin (2266) – FM Cristian Sanhueza (2185) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Mar Early · 2025-03-18
- CM Soltan Muradov (2233) – CM Anatoly Moskvin (2170) 0-1 · Titled Tue 22nd Feb Early · 2022-02-22
Search all games of the Elephant Gambit: Wasp Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- MexicanTal (2443) – Pawn-Gladiator (2368) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- DoctorChess333 (2419) – Pawn-Gladiator (2368) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- maxauditor (2345) – Pawn-Gladiator (2408) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 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.