King's Gambit Declined: Classical, Soldatenkov Variation
1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. fxe5
The King's Gambit Declined: Classical, Soldatenkov Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C30, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. fxe5. It is a line of the King's Gambit Declined. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 398 times by this move order. White won 39%, 3% were drawn and Black won 58%. The most popular continuation is 4… dxe5 (85% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.02 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 4… dxe5 5. c3 Nc6 6. b4 Bb6 7. a4)
- ECO
- C30
- Moves
- 7 plies
- FEN
rnbqk1nr/ppp2ppp/3p4/2b1P3/4P3/5N2/PPPP2PP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5 3. Nf3 d6 4. fxe5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 71 | |
| 1500-1999 | 297 | |
| 2000+ | 30 | |
| All | 398 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4… dxe5 | 337 (85%) | |
| 4… Bg4 | 40 (10%) | |
| 4… Nc6 | 11 (3%) | |
| 4… Qe7 | 2 (1%) | |
| 4… d5 | 2 (1%) | |
| 4… Ne7 | 2 (1%) | |
| 4… Qf6 | 1 (0%) | |
| 4… Be6 | 1 (0%) |
Master games
1 over-the-board game is classified under this line (White 100%, draw 0%, Black 0%). The strongest:
- WIM Petra Sochorova (2019) – WFM Ronit Levitan (2158) 1-0 · 22nd ch-EUR Indiv w 2022 · 2022-08-27
Highest-rated Lichess games
- particleman (2268) – AaronGT24 (2417) 0-1 · 2026-09-03 · 180 + 0s
- thomassu (2214) – fatima1364 (2389) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- WaseemAgha (2284) – TILAON (2266) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation (2. f4 Bc5) 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Bc5
More King's Gambit Declined lines (all)
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation (3… d6 4. c3) C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation, Euwe Attack C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation, Rotlewi Countergambit C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation, Rubinstein Countergambit C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation, Walthoffen Attack C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical, Hanham Variation C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical, Réti Variation C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical, Svenonius Variation C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Hobbs-Zilbermints Gambit C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Keene Defense C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Keene's Defense (2. f4 Qh4+) C30
- King's Gambit Declined: Keene's Defense (2… Qh4+ 3. g3) C30
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.