King's Gambit Accepted: Modern Defense (3. Nf3 d5)
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5
The King's Gambit Accepted: Modern Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C36, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5. It is a line of the King's Gambit Accepted. 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 6,662 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 4. exd5 (60% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.18 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 4. exd5 Nf6 5. c4 c6 6. d4 cxd5)
- ECO
- C36
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3p4/4Pp2/5N2/PPPP2PP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,733 | |
| 1500-1999 | 4,282 | |
| 2000+ | 647 | |
| All | 6,662 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. exd5 Modern Defense (3… d5 4. exd5) | 3,964 (60%) | |
| 4. e5 | 1,993 (30%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 236 (4%) | |
| 4. d4 | 173 (3%) | |
| 4. d3 | 100 (2%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 76 (1%) | |
| 4. Bd3 | 30 (0%) | |
| 4. Qe2 | 29 (0%) |
Master games
19 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 47%, draw 6%, Black 47%). The strongest:
- IM Mihnea Costachi (2476) – WGM Gulrukhbegim Tokhirjonova (2328) 1-0 · Titled Tue 10th Jan Late · 2023-01-10
- FM Alain Prieto Aranguren (2256) – WFM Pandey Srishti (2177) 1-0 · Titled Tuesday 1st Feb A · 2022-02-01
- FM Nima Hosseinzadeh (2215) – FM Edison Ruge (2201) 1-0 · Titled Tue 30th Aug Early · 2022-08-30
- CM Evgenij Novikov (2276) – CM Pranav Senthilkumar (2044) 1-0 · 3rd 3-0 Thu 8th Jan 2026 · 2026-01-08
- FM Nima Hosseinzadeh (2215) – David Levine (2068) 1-0 · Titled Tue 2nd Aug Early · 2022-08-02
Search all games of the King's Gambit Accepted: Modern Defense and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM MassterofMayhem (2647) – shoprrrw (2651) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- contrapunctus_XI (2666) – FM Ragnar_Lothbrok85 (2570) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- contrapunctus_XI (2665) – FM Ragnar_Lothbrok85 (2558) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 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: Modern Defense (3… d5 4. exd5) C36 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 d5 4. exd5
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.