French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. b4
The French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. b4. It is a line of the French Defense. 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 44 times by this move order. White won 45%, 3% were drawn and Black won 52%. The most popular continuation is 2… d5 (36% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.82 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 2… Bxb4 3. c3 Be7 4. d4 c5 5. d5)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 3 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/4p3/8/1P2P3/8/P1PP1PPP/RNBQKBNR b KQkq - 0 2- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. b4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 31 | |
| 1500-1999 | 12 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 44 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 2… d5 | 16 (36%) | |
| 2… Bxb4 | 10 (23%) | |
| 2… d6 | 5 (11%) | |
| 2… Qh4 | 3 (7%) | |
| 2… c6 | 2 (5%) | |
| 2… b6 | 2 (5%) | |
| 2… Nf6 | 2 (5%) | |
| 2… c5 | 2 (5%) |
Master games
3 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- Bryan Weisz (1981) – FM Daniel Gutierrez Olivares (2354) 0-1 · Titled Tue 29th Aug Late · 2023-08-29
- Aurelien Touchefeu (1963) – Yannis Aubry (2255) 0-1 · 7th d'Ille et Vilaine Open 2014 · 2014-07-07
- Marc Vlietstra (2035) – Jason Tang (2067) 0-1 · ch-AUS 2014 · 2014-01-09
Search all games of the French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- RP272019 (2201) – Africaschmidt (2127) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 600 + 5s
- cinneet (1930) – TIRTA222 (1937) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- cinneet (1936) – Genius_05_1 (1927) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense (1. e4 e6) 1. e4 e6
Continuations
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00 · 1. e4 e6 2. b4 Bxb4 3. e5
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation C00
- French Defense: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit C00
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Sicilian Defense C00
- French Defense: Hoffmann Gambit C00
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.