French Defense: La Bourdonnais Variation, Reuter Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4
The French Defense: La Bourdonnais Variation, Reuter Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4. It is a line of the French Defense. White is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 642 times by this move order. White won 43%, 3% were drawn and Black won 54%. The most popular continuation is 4. Ng5 (50% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.88 (Stockfish, depth 30; best line 4. Ne5 Nd7 5. d4 Nxe5 6. fxe5 Nh6)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/8/4pP2/5N2/PPPP2PP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3 dxe4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 156 | |
| 1500-1999 | 455 | |
| 2000+ | 31 | |
| All | 642 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Ng5 | 320 (50%) | |
| 4. Ne5 | 290 (45%) | |
| 4. Ng1 | 12 (2%) | |
| 4. Nd4 | 11 (2%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 3 (0%) | |
| 4. Nh4 | 2 (0%) | |
| 4. Be2 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4. d3 | 1 (0%) |
Highest-rated Lichess games
- AlexL808 (2252) – Korets (2299) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 300 + 0s
- Francois_Pignon (2207) – year9891 (2316) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 2s
- Vusam (2186) – HVJ_chess (2178) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense: La Bourdonnais Variation 1. e4 e6 2. f4
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-Hiva 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.