French Defense: Morphy Gambit
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nh3
The French Defense: Morphy Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C00, reached after 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nh3. 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 8 times by this move order. White won 25%, 0% were drawn and Black won 75%. The most popular continuation is 3… dxe4 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.64 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 3… dxe4 4. Be3 Nf6 5. Nd2 Nc6 6. Ng5)
- ECO
- C00
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/4p3/3p4/3PP3/7N/PPP2PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. Nh3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 7 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1 | |
| All | 8 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… dxe4 | 3 (38%) | |
| 3… c5 | 2 (25%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 2 (25%) | |
| 3… Bd7 | 1 (13%) |
Highest-rated Lichess games
- giangifre (791) – pawnstorm66 (2266) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
- armannoory33 (1385) – nulevoy_nds (1382) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 600 + 0s
- amansi80 (1055) – Gonchig0207 (1192) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
French Defense (2. d4 d5) 1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5
More French Defense lines (all)
- French Defense (1. e4 e6) 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
- 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.