French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 f5
The French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 f5. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 668 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 3. exf5 (46% of games).
Engine evaluation: +1.65 (Stockfish, depth 40; best line 3. exf5 exf5 4. Bd3 Nf6 5. Nf3 Be7)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp2pp/4p3/5p2/3PP3/8/PPP2PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 f5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 279 | |
| 1500-1999 | 320 | |
| 2000+ | 69 | |
| All | 668 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. exf5 Franco-Hiva Gambit Accepted | 305 (46%) | |
| 3. e5 | 198 (30%) | |
| 3. Nc3 | 101 (15%) | |
| 3. Bd3 | 16 (2%) | |
| 3. f3 | 16 (2%) | |
| 3. Qh5+ | 13 (2%) | |
| 3. Nf3 | 9 (1%) | |
| 3. Nd2 | 3 (0%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- FM Reyder Cruz de la Osa (2166) – Cornel Ioan (1881) 1-0 · Craiova Grand Prix Rapid · 2025-09-14
Search all games of the French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Joeldinho (2246) – NM Matthew-Fishbein (2353) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- luchihwade (2200) – AriefSWL (2205) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Artefaktor (2200) – AriefSWL (2199) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: Normal Variation 1. e4 e6 2. d4
Continuations
- French Defense: Franco-Hiva Gambit Accepted C00 · 1. e4 e6 2. d4 f5 3. exf5
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: Carlson Gambit C00
- French Defense: Chigorin Variation C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit C00
- French Defense: Diemer-Duhm Gambit Accepted C00
- French Defense: Franco-Sicilian Defense 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.