King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Staunton Line
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4
The King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Staunton Line is a chess opening classified as ECO C31, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4. It is a line of the King's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 3 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 4,325 times by this move order. White won 46%, 4% were drawn and Black won 50%. The most popular continuation is 4. Nc3 (30% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.29 (Stockfish, depth 46; best line 4. d3 Qxd5 5. Nc3 Bb4 6. Bd2 Bxc3)
- ECO
- C31
- Moves
- 6 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3P4/4pP2/8/PPPP2PP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 272 | |
| 1500-1999 | 3,135 | |
| 2000+ | 918 | |
| All | 4,325 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 4. Nc3 | 1,287 (30%) | |
| 4. d3 Falkbeer Countergambit, Charousek Gambit (3… e4 4. d3) | 1,241 (29%) | |
| 4. c4 | 556 (13%) | |
| 4. Bc4 | 436 (10%) | |
| 4. d4 | 318 (7%) | |
| 4. Qe2 | 155 (4%) | |
| 4. Bb5+ Falkbeer Countergambit, Anderssen Attack | 105 (2%) | |
| 4. g3 | 99 (2%) |
Master games
71 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 39%, draw 13%, Black 48%). The strongest:
- GM Richard Rapport (2736) – GM Xiangzhi Bu (2729) 1/2-1/2 · IMSA World Masters Rapid · 2019-05-16
- GM Richard Rapport (2763) – GM Nihal Sarin (2650) 0-1 · chess.com Speed 2021 · 2021-12-02
- GM Awonder Liang (2613) – GM Nihal Sarin (2648) 0-1 · chess.com Junior Speed · 2022-05-12
- GM Gata Kamsky (2658) – IM Karina Ambartsumova (2382) 1-0 · Titled Tue 8th Mar Early · 2022-03-08
- IM Eline Roebers (2389) – GM Maxime Lagarde (2618) 0-1 · Titled Tue 19th May 2026 · 2026-05-19
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Velimirov28 (2565) – asd_zxc (2598) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 2s
- aravindArz (2565) – strizibuba (2517) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- ph0rial (2438) – CM vlaxaki (2578) 0-1 · 2026-09-07 · 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, Anderssen Attack C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Bb5+
- King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Charousek Gambit (3… e4 4. d3) C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. d3
- King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Rubinstein Variation C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5 e4 4. Nc3 Nf6 5. Qe2
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.