Englund Gambit Declined

1. d4 e5 2. d5

The Englund Gambit Declined is a chess opening classified as ECO A40, reached after 1. d4 e5 2. d5. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 21,313 times by this move order. White won 49%, 3% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 2… Bc5 (29% of games).

Engine evaluation: 0.00 (Stockfish, depth 60; best line 2… c6 3. c4 Bb4+ 4. Bd2 a5 5. Nf3)

ECO: A40
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/3Pp3/8/8/PPP1PPPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. d4 e5 2. d5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	9,607	50%47%
1500-1999	11,043	48%49%
2000+	663	45%52%
All	21,313	49%48%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Bc5	6,146 (29%)	45%52%
2… d6	5,390 (25%)	50%47%
2… Nf6	4,021 (19%)	47%49%
2… c6	1,973 (9%)	50%46%
2… e4	1,218 (6%)	50%46%
2… f5	739 (3%)	48%50%
2… Nc6	350 (2%)	65%30%
2… f6	245 (1%)	57%41%

Master games

79 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 5%, Black 48%). The strongest:

IM Mika Karttunen (2485) – GM Andrew Tang (2512) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 7th Sept · 2021-09-07
IM Uurtsaikh Agibileg (2407) – GM Aman Hambleton (2420) 1-0 · Titled Tue 15th Oct Early · 2024-10-15
IM Dashgyn Ibadov (2337) – IM Shamil Arslanov (2410) 1-0 · 1st 3-0 Thu 29th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-29
FM Danila Bilan (2303) – GM Aman Hambleton (2420) 0-1 · Titled Tue 21st Feb Late · 2023-02-21
FM Zi Han Goh (2383) – FM Gabriel Lesueur (2261) 1-0 · Titled Tue 26th May 2026 · 2026-05-26

Search all games of the Englund Gambit Declined and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Lauris_Laimins (2493) – ana_7azeen (2483) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
CM El_Gran_Gonzalez (2468) – IfElvisLikedChess (2484) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
FM Oncegood (2412) – IMabdo1 (2427) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s

Comes from

Englund Gambit 1. d4 e5

Continuations

Englund Gambit Declined: Diemer Counterattack A40 · 1. d4 e5 2. d5 Bc5 3. e4 Qh4

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.