Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed French
1. d4 e5 2. e3
The Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed French is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 e5 2. e3. It is a line of the Englund Gambit Declined. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 12,616 times by this move order. White won 50%, 4% were drawn and Black won 46%. The most popular continuation is 2… exd4 (53% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.14 (Stockfish, depth 47; best line 2… exd4 3. exd4 d5 4. Nf3 Nc6 5. Nc3)
- ECO
- A40
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/3P4/4P3/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. d4 e5 2. e3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 6,660 | |
| 1500-1999 | 5,429 | |
| 2000+ | 527 | |
| All | 12,616 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… exd4 | 6,724 (53%) | |
| 2… e4 | 1,744 (14%) | |
| 2… d6 | 1,586 (13%) | |
| 2… Nc6 | 1,025 (8%) | |
| 2… d5 | 431 (3%) | |
| 2… f6 | 233 (2%) | |
| 2… Nf6 | 210 (2%) | |
| 2… Qe7 | 143 (1%) |
Master games
60 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 5%, Black 47%). The strongest:
- GM Vitaliy Bernadskiy (2606) – FM Orest Vovk (2315) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 13th July · 2021-07-13
- IM Roberto Junio Brito Molina (2434) – IM Lars Oskar Hauge (2483) 1/2-1/2 · I'M Not A GM Speed Chess · 2021-03-03
- GM Markus Ragger (2601) – CM Matfey Rogov (2192) 1-0 · Titled Tue 14th May Late · 2024-05-14
- FM Juan David Becerra (2354) – GM Aman Hambleton (2420) 0-1 · Titled Tue 7th Nov Early · 2023-11-07
- IM Guillermo Baches Garcia (2327) – GM Aman Hambleton (2420) 0-1 · Titled Tue 16th Jan Late · 2024-01-16
Search all games of the Englund Gambit Declined: Reversed French and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- always63 (2517) – IM KamranShirazi (2442) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- Tsalko_vadim (2431) – Petukhov_Dmitry (2509) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- always63 (2492) – ana_7azeen (2446) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
Englund Gambit 1. d4 e5
More Englund Gambit Declined 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.