King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5
The King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit is a chess opening classified as ECO C31, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5. It is a line of the King's Gambit Declined. White is to move. 4 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 19,092 times by this move order. White won 48%, 3% were drawn and Black won 49%. The most popular continuation is 3. exd5 (63% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.08 (Stockfish, depth 49; best line 3. Nf3 exf4 4. exd5 Nf6 5. c4 c6)
- ECO
- C31
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnbqkbnr/ppp2ppp/8/3pp3/4PP2/8/PPPP2PP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 2,866 | |
| 1500-1999 | 13,193 | |
| 2000+ | 3,033 | |
| All | 19,092 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. exd5 Falkbeer Countergambit Accepted | 12,059 (63%) | |
| 3. Nf3 Falkbeer Countergambit, Blackburne Attack | 3,871 (20%) | |
| 3. fxe5 | 1,043 (5%) | |
| 3. Nc3 Falkbeer Countergambit, Milner-Barry Variation | 815 (4%) | |
| 3. d4 Falkbeer Countergambit, Hinrichsen Gambit | 445 (2%) | |
| 3. d3 | 437 (2%) | |
| 3. Qe2 | 115 (1%) | |
| 3. Qf3 | 82 (0%) |
Master games
19 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 16%, draw 5%, Black 79%). The strongest:
- FM Esteban Horacio Deichmann (2279) – FM Maksym Dubnevych (2350) 0-1 · 1st 3-0 Thu 6th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-06
- IM Lengyel, B. (2255) – IM Szalanczy, E. (2281) 1/2-1/2 · FSIM February 2016 · 2016-02-13
- IM Justin Sarkar (2290) – CM Andres Carrasco Miranda (2241) 1-0 · Titled Tue 26th Sep Early · 2023-09-26
- CM Lorenzo Tellarini (2149) – WFM Uliana Dudkina (2235) 0-1 · 1st 3-0 Thu 17th Sep 2026 · 2026-09-17
- FM Nikolaos Koutlas (2251) – FM Sravan Renjith (2127) 0-1 · Titled Tuesday 11th Jan · 2022-01-11
Search all games of the King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Nana_jede_cevape (2871) – GM gmbrewchess (3002) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Nana_jede_cevape (2904) – NM Andrey11976 (2779) 0-1 · 2026-09-05 · 180 + 0s
- Superstitions_Guy (2674) – Jakebr8 (2854) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. f4
Continuations
- King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit Accepted C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. exd5
- King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Blackburne Attack C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nf3
- King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Hinrichsen Gambit C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. d4
- King's Gambit Declined: Falkbeer Countergambit, Milner-Barry Variation C31 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 d5 3. Nc3
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.