English Defense: Eastbourne Gambit
1. d4 b6 2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 e5
The English Defense: Eastbourne Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 b6 2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 e5. It is a line of the English Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 21 times by this move order. White won 29%, 0% were drawn and Black won 71%. The most popular continuation is 4. d5 (62% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.96 (Stockfish, depth 36; best line 4. dxe5 Nc6 5. Nf3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3)
- ECO
- A40
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rn1qkbnr/pbpp1ppp/1p6/4p3/2PP4/2N5/PP2PPPP/R1BQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. d4 b6 2. c4 Bb7 3. Nc3 e5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6 | |
| 1500-1999 | 11 | |
| 2000+ | 4 | |
| All | 21 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. d5 | 13 (62%) | |
| 4. dxe5 | 5 (24%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 1 (5%) | |
| 4. e4 | 1 (5%) | |
| 4. f3 | 1 (5%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- WFM Svetlana Vifleemskaia (1971) – Nicholas Ladan (2200) 0-1 · Titled Tue 20th Jun Late · 2023-06-20
Search all games of the English Defense: Eastbourne Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Pastukhov_Nicolay (2501) – IM KamranShirazi (2404) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Giovanni85 (2050) – zhastalap084 (2033) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- chchblu (2017) – Powoto (2038) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
English Defense (1. d4 b6) 1. d4 b6
More English 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.