King's Gambit Declined: Keene's Defense (2. f4 Qh4+)
1. e4 e5 2. f4 Qh4+
The King's Gambit Declined: Keene's Defense is a chess opening classified as ECO C30, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Qh4+. 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 2,586 times by this move order. White won 54%, 3% were drawn and Black won 43%. The most popular continuation is 3. g3 (99% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.78 (Stockfish, depth 42; best line 3. g3 Qe7 4. Nc3 exf4 5. d4 fxg3)
- ECO
- C30
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
rnb1kbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/4PP1q/8/PPPP2PP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 1 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f4 Qh4+
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 1,063 | |
| 1500-1999 | 1,420 | |
| 2000+ | 103 | |
| All | 2,586 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. g3 Keene's Defense (2… Qh4+ 3. g3) | 2,557 (99%) | |
| 3. Ke2 | 25 (1%) |
Highest-rated Lichess games
- i_cr7 (2419) – VizeDietze (2353) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Erithmunoz (2220) – CM lisyender (2385) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- Honigbaer (2209) – Tichugott2 (2270) 0-1 · 2026-09-06 · 300 + 0s
Comes from
King's Gambit 1. e4 e5 2. f4
Continuations
- King's Gambit Declined: Keene's Defense (2… Qh4+ 3. g3) C30 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4 Qh4+ 3. g3
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.