King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Nimzowitsch-Marshall Countergambit
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6
The King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Nimzowitsch-Marshall Countergambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C31, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6. It is a line of the King's Gambit Declined. 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 697 times by this move order. White won 38%, 3% were drawn and Black won 59%. The most popular continuation is 4. dxc6 (54% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.25 (Stockfish, depth 55; best line 4. Qe2 cxd5 5. fxe5 Nc6 6. Nf3 Bg4)
- ECO
- C31
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/pp3ppp/2p5/3Pp3/5P2/8/PPPP2PP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 54 | |
| 1500-1999 | 450 | |
| 2000+ | 193 | |
| All | 697 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. dxc6 | 375 (54%) | |
| 4. fxe5 | 134 (19%) | |
| 4. Nf3 | 89 (13%) | |
| 4. Nc3 | 40 (6%) | |
| 4. d4 | 29 (4%) | |
| 4. Qe2 | 12 (2%) | |
| 4. d3 | 8 (1%) | |
| 4. d6 | 3 (0%) |
Master games
126 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 48%, draw 10%, Black 42%). The strongest:
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2793) – GM Gareev, T. (2602) 1-0 · Titled Tue 10th Jan Early · 2023-01-10
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2794) – GM Mykhaylo Oleksiyenko (2592) 1-0 · Titled Tue 30th May Early · 2023-05-30
- GM Aleksei Pridorozhni (2588) – GM Gareev, T. (2570) 0-1 · 41st Nezhmetdinov Rapid · 2019-05-30
- GM Aleksei Pridorozhni (2567) – GM Ilia Iljiushenok (2533) 1/2-1/2 · ch-RUS Rapid GP Final · 2018-12-03
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2719) – IM Sahib Singh (2374) 1-0 · Titled Tue 1st Sep 2026 · 2026-09-01
Highest-rated Lichess games
- IM MassterofMayhem (2642) – qls_andriy (2546) 1-0 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- contrapunctus_XI (2666) – kichot (2485) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- hierasousse (2550) – qls_andriy (2533) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit Accepted 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5
Continuations
- King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Pickler Gambit C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 c6 4. dxc6 Bc5
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.