King's Gambit Accepted: MacLeod Defense
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6
The King's Gambit Accepted: MacLeod Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C34, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6. It is a line of the King's Gambit Accepted. White is to move. 2 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 11,811 times by this move order. White won 55%, 3% were drawn and Black won 42%. The most popular continuation is 4. d4 (46% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.08 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. d4 g5 5. d5 g4 6. dxc6 gxf3)
- ECO
- C34
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/2n5/8/4Pp2/5N2/PPPP2PP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 2 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 5,127 | |
| 1500-1999 | 6,427 | |
| 2000+ | 257 | |
| All | 11,811 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. d4 | 5,452 (46%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 5,325 (45%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 293 (2%) | |
| 4. Bb5 | 254 (2%) | |
| 4. d3 | 175 (1%) | |
| 4. c3 | 120 (1%) | |
| 4. Be2 | 69 (1%) | |
| 4. e5 | 56 (0%) |
Master games
93 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 74%, draw 10%, Black 16%). The strongest:
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2770) – GM Santosh Gujrathi Vidit (2720) 0-1 · SuperUnited CRO Blitz 2024 · 2024-07-14
- IM Pavel Dimitrov (2310) – WFM Rameshbabu Vaishali (2009) 1-0 · 2nd Grand Europe Open 2013 · 2013-06-17
- Pablo Lopez Varela (2177) – Martin Gomez Carreno (2070) 1/2-1/2 · 85th ch-ESP 2020 · 2020-09-08
- CM Bruno Redon (2023) – CM Adrian Antonio Garcia Garcia (2165) 0-1 · Titled Tue 2nd Sep 2025 · 2025-09-02
- Vit Moravec (2131) – Ales Horak (1977) 1-0 · 11th Niki Open 2013 · 2013-07-05
Search all games of the King's Gambit Accepted: MacLeod Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- LORD_111 (2427) – Martino_Edenn (2503) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- mpustylnik2021 (2325) – lautaro_en_ajedrez (2539) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
- JuanEsley (2221) – deepakchessofficial (2367) 0-1 · 2026-09-01 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit (2… exf4 3. Nf3) 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3
Continuations
- King's Gambit Accepted: Blachly Gambit C37 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Bc4 g5
- Vienna Gambit, with Max Lange Defense: Hamppe-Allgaier Gambit, Thorold Variation C25 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 Nc6 4. Nc3 g5 5. h4 g4 6. Ng5 h6 7. Nxf7 Kxf7 8. d4
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.