Gunderam Defense

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qe7

The Gunderam Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C40, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qe7. 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 5,436 times by this move order. White won 52%, 4% were drawn and Black won 44%. The most popular continuation is 3. Bc4 (43% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.95 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. O-O d6)

ECO: C40
Moves: 4 plies
FEN: rnb1kbnr/ppppqppp/8/4p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 2 3
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qe7

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	3,546	53%44%
1500-1999	1,519	51%44%
2000+	371	49%47%
All	5,436	52%44%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
3. Bc4	2,348 (43%)	53%43%
3. Nc3	1,573 (29%)	53%42%
3. d4	711 (13%)	51%45%
3. d3	210 (4%)	51%43%
3. c3	191 (4%)	45%52%
3. Bb5	67 (1%)	54%46%
3. b3	67 (1%)	51%45%
3. Be2	65 (1%)	46%49%

Master games

340 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 49%, draw 17%, Black 34%). The strongest:

GM Vahap Sanal (2551) – GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2718) 0-1 · World Blitz 2017 · 2017-12-29
GM Pavel Kotsur (2517) – GM Jeffery Xiong (2709) 0-1 · PNWCC Online Blitz JP 8 · 2020-05-02
GM Javokhir Sindarov (2674) – GM Vugar Rasulov (2540) 1-0 · Titled Tue 27th Aug Late · 2024-08-27
GM Sergei Zhigalko (2572) – GM Aleksandr Shimanov (2581) 1-0 · Titled Tue 21st Mar Early · 2023-03-21
GM Nikita Petrov (2561) – GM Aleksandr Shimanov (2578) 1-0 · World Blitz 2023 · 2023-12-29

Search all games of the Gunderam Defense and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

SackOnTheKing930 (2702) – Washington91 (2592) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Sciencer (2576) – Washington91 (2585) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
Lightlike (2551) – Karlskoga (2526) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Knight Opening 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3

Continuations

King's Pawn Game: Gunderam Defense, Gunderam Gambit C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qe7 3. Bc4 f5

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.