King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Rubinstein Variation
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Qe2
The King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Rubinstein Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C31, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Qe2. 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 102 times by this move order. White won 43%, 7% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 5… Bf5 (38% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.26 (Stockfish, depth 34; best line 5… Be7 6. d3 exd3 7. Qxd3 Na6 8. d6)
- ECO
- C31
- Moves
- 9 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/ppp2ppp/5n2/3P4/4pP2/2N5/PPPPQ1PP/R1B1KBNR b KQkq - 3 5- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Qe2
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 5 | |
| 1500-1999 | 85 | |
| 2000+ | 12 | |
| All | 102 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 5… Bf5 | 39 (38%) | |
| 5… Bc5 | 18 (18%) | |
| 5… Bg4 | 18 (18%) | |
| 5… Be7 | 14 (14%) | |
| 5… Qe7 | 5 (5%) | |
| 5… Nxd5 | 5 (5%) | |
| 5… c6 | 2 (2%) | |
| 5… Bb4 | 1 (1%) |
Master games
7 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 43%, draw 14%, Black 43%). The strongest:
- IM Vikramaditya Kulkarni (2350) – CM Abhimanyu Puranik (2185) 1/2-1/2 · 6th Mayors Cup 2013 · 2013-06-03
- Kim Nygren (2240) – Kristian Eriksson (2054) 1-0 · Goteborg Open 2016 · 2016-08-21
- CM Mikhei Navumenka (2072) – Gleb Galkin (2220) 0-1 · ch-BLR U18 2021 · 2021-02-10
- Marcin Wozniak (1896) – Krzysztof Majewski (1957) 0-1 · TCh-POL 2nd League 2024 · 2024-09-01
- Adrian Felipe L Gomes (1416) – Gilmar Dias Machado (1764) 1-0 · 10th Floripa Open 2024 · 2024-01-23
Highest-rated Lichess games
- WaseemAgha (2279) – AbramyanNersik (2146) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 600 + 0s
- bobooo92 (2239) – McCalls (2186) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-07 · 180 + 2s
- david6504 (2167) – Goose_76 (2208) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Staunton Line 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4
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.