King's Gambit Accepted: McDonnell Gambit
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. Nc3
The King's Gambit Accepted: McDonnell Gambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C37, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. Nc3. It is a line of the King's Gambit Accepted. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 11 times by this move order. White won 64%, 0% were drawn and Black won 36%. The most popular continuation is 5… gxf3 (100% of games).
Engine evaluation: −1.06 (Stockfish, depth 32; best line 5… d6 6. O-O gxf3 7. Qxf3 Qf6 8. d3)
- ECO
- C37
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pppp1p1p/8/8/2B1Ppp1/2N2N2/PPPP2PP/R1BQK2R b KQkq - 1 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4 g4 5. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1 | |
| 1500-1999 | 9 | |
| 2000+ | 1 | |
| All | 11 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… gxf3 | 11 (100%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- CM Matei-Valeriu Mogirzan (1813) – FM Iljya Grigorjev (2380) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 27th Apr · 2021-04-27
Search all games of the King's Gambit Accepted: McDonnell Gambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- kostya13 (2038) – CEVLRL (2188) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 0s
- tokster (2008) – mark243 (1947) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- Mohamedelbadryfa (1922) – limesortingwren (1952) 1-0 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
King's Gambit Accepted: King's Knight's Gambit (3… g5 4. Bc4) 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. Bc4
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.