French Defense: Carlson Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ne5
The French Defense: Carlson Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ne5. It is a line of the French Defense. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 262 times by this move order. White won 46%, 4% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 4… Nf6 (31% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.71 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4… Ne7 5. Qh5 g6 6. Qh4 Bg7 7. Qxe4)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/4N3/3Pp3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4 4. Ne5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 152 | |
| 1500-1999 | 95 | |
| 2000+ | 15 | |
| All | 262 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… Nf6 | 82 (31%) | |
| 4… Bd6 | 36 (14%) | |
| 4… f6 | 35 (13%) | |
| 4… Nd7 | 32 (12%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 29 (11%) | |
| 4… f5 | 10 (4%) | |
| 4… c5 | 8 (3%) | |
| 4… Qf6 | 5 (2%) |
Highest-rated Lichess games
- gklo888 (2504) – Rudi128 (2341) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 600 + 0s
- ALEXSADERISPUSHKINO (2361) – shaxMSTAtist (2423) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- ALEXSADERISPUSHKINO (2328) – norespect12345678 (2411) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Perseus Gambit 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nf3
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) C00
- French Defense (2. d4 d5) C00
- French Defense: Alapin Gambit C00
- French Defense: Baeuerle Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit C00
- French Defense: Banzai-Leong Gambit, Pinova Gambit C00
- French Defense: Bird Invitation 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
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.