King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Blackburne Attack
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3
The King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Blackburne Attack is a chess opening classified as ECO C31, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3. 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 3,871 times by this move order. White won 48%, 4% were drawn and Black won 48%. The most popular continuation is 3… dxe4 (57% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.23 (Stockfish, depth 50; best line 3… exf4 4. exd5 Nf6 5. c4 c6 6. d4)
- ECO
- C31
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3pp3/4PP2/5N2/PPPP2PP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 535 | |
| 1500-1999 | 2,754 | |
| 2000+ | 582 | |
| All | 3,871 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… dxe4 | 2,217 (57%) | |
| 3… exf4 | 1,024 (26%) | |
| 3… Bg4 | 278 (7%) | |
| 3… Nc6 | 154 (4%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 109 (3%) | |
| 3… Bc5 | 18 (0%) | |
| 3… d4 | 18 (0%) | |
| 3… c6 | 13 (0%) |
Master games
88 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 44%, draw 11%, Black 45%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Alan Pichot (2642) 1-0 · chess.com SpeedChess Q2Sw · 2023-08-23
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2835) – GM Mikhail Al. Antipov (2606) 1-0 · Titled Tue 18th Jul Early · 2023-07-18
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2832) – GM Markus Ragger (2603) 1-0 · Titled Tue 13th Aug Late · 2024-08-13
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2833) – GM Mamikon Gharibyan (2473) 1-0 · Titled Tue 25th Feb Early · 2025-02-25
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2840) – IM Michel Alejandro Diaz Perez (2440) 1-0 · Titled Tue 17th Feb 2026 · 2026-02-17
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Superstitions_Guy (2674) – Jakebr8 (2854) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Superstitions_Guy (2813) – satlan (2683) 1-0 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
- T-80BVM (2648) – user00705 (2490) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5
More King's Gambit Declined lines (all)
- King's Gambit Declined: Classical Variation (2. f4 Bc5) C30
- 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, Soldatenkov 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
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.