King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Berlin Defense
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6
The King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Berlin Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C39, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6. It is a line of the King's Gambit Accepted. White is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 139 times by this move order. White won 33%, 3% were drawn and Black won 64%. The most popular continuation is 6. Nxg4 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.12 (Stockfish, depth 51; best line 6. Nxg4 Nxe4 7. d3 Ng3 8. Bxf4 Qe7+)
- ECO
- C39
- Moves
- 10 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1p1p/5n2/4N3/4PppP/8/PPPP2P1/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 2 6- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 13 | |
| 1500-1999 | 75 | |
| 2000+ | 51 | |
| All | 139 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 6. Nxg4 | 58 (42%) | |
| 6. Bc4 | 46 (33%) | |
| 6. Nc3 | 16 (12%) | |
| 6. d4 Kieseritzky Gambit, Berlin Defense, Rubinstein Variation | 12 (9%) | |
| 6. d3 | 5 (4%) | |
| 6. Be2 | 1 (1%) | |
| 6. Nxf7 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
22 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 41%, draw 14%, Black 45%). The strongest:
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2771) – FM Thomas Michalczak (2200) 1-0 · Titled Tue 12th Sep Late · 2023-09-12
- GM Luis Ernesto Quesada Perez (2576) – FM Nadav Zemach (2384) 1/2-1/2 · 51st Sparkassen Open A · 2024-08-16
- GM Alexey Kislinsky (2429) – IM Lukas Cernousek (2438) 0-1 · ch-CZE 2019 · 2019-05-03
- IM Raphael Lagunow (2413) – FM Makan Rafiee (2279) 1/2-1/2 · World Rapid Team 2023 · 2023-08-28
- FM Atilla Kuru (2418) – CM Klendi Zeneli (2249) 1-0 · Titled Tue 24th Dec Late · 2024-12-24
Highest-rated Lichess games
- variastrix93 (2445) – FM Metadust (2509) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- Alexanderlein (2326) – Saillok (2434) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- norma_catherine1312 (2377) – Studio_Openings24 (2360) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5
Continuations
- King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Berlin Defense, Rubinstein Variation C39 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. d4
- King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Berlin Defense, de Riviere Variation C39 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Nxg4 d5
- King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Anderssen Defense C39 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 Bd6
- King's Gambit Accepted: Kieseritzky Gambit, Paulsen Defense Deferred C39 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 Nf6 6. Bc4 d5 7. exd5 Bg7
More King's Gambit Accepted lines (all)
- King's Gambit Accepted C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Basman Gambit C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Anderssen Defense C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Anderssen Variation C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bledow Countergambit C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bledow Variation C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Boden Variation C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bogoljubow Defense C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bogoljubow Variation C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Boren-Svenonius Variation C33
- King's Gambit Accepted: Bishop's Gambit, Bryan Countergambit C33
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.