King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Milner-Barry Variation
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3
The King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Milner-Barry Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C31, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3. It is a line of the King's Gambit Declined. Black is to move. 1 named line continues from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 815 times by this move order. White won 47%, 3% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 3… d4 (47% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.98 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 3… exf4 4. Qf3 d4 5. Nce2 Nf6 6. Nxf4)
- ECO
- C31
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3pp3/4PP2/2N5/PPPP2PP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 149 | |
| 1500-1999 | 553 | |
| 2000+ | 113 | |
| All | 815 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… d4 | 384 (47%) | |
| 3… dxe4 | 180 (22%) | |
| 3… exf4 | 160 (20%) | |
| 3… Nf6 | 61 (7%) | |
| 3… c6 | 8 (1%) | |
| 3… Qh4+ | 8 (1%) | |
| 3… Bc5 | 5 (1%) | |
| 3… Bb4 | 3 (0%) |
Master games
9 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 22%, draw 0%, Black 78%). The strongest:
- Daniel Pertuzatti (1937) – FM Diogo Duarte Guimaraes (2292) 0-1 · 6th Floripa Open 2020 · 2020-01-20
- Julian Eigemann (1976) – Paul Wallace (2175) 1-0 · John Bolger Cup Masters · 2022-03-25
- Damir Vrban (2154) – Viktor Guba (1939) 1-0 · ch-AUT Blitz 2025 · 2025-06-21
- CM Cesar Ramos Caldera (2013) – CM Frank Sears (1885) 0-1 · Trinidad & Tobago Open · 2017-08-31
- Richard Gajewski (1690) – Norbert Fruehe (1936) 0-1 · 8th Arber Open 2019 · 2019-07-29
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Akop_15 (2287) – NIVAAL (2403) 1-0 · 2026-09-01 · 180 + 0s
- Yusupov_Rashid (2263) – GrandMurzu (2351) 1-0 · 2026-09-02 · 600 + 0s
- Aleksander_DD (2342) – Cesia53 (2199) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 2s
Comes from
King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5
Continuations
- Van Geet Opening: Grünfeld Defense, Steiner Gambit C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4
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.