King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
The King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation is a chess opening classified as ECO C44, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6. It is a line of the King's Knight Opening. White is to move. 11 named lines continue from this position.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 1,325,498 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 3. Bc4 (42% of games).
Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4 5. Re1 Nd6)
- ECO
- C44
- Moves
- 4 plies
- FEN
r1bqkbnr/pppp1ppp/2n5/4p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R w KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 689,765 | |
| 1500-1999 | 550,091 | |
| 2000+ | 85,642 | |
| All | 1,325,498 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3. Bc4 Italian Game | 555,994 (42%) | |
| 3. d4 Scotch Game (2… Nc6 3. d4) | 261,784 (20%) | |
| 3. Bb5 Ruy Lopez | 259,246 (20%) | |
| 3. Nc3 Three Knights Opening (2… Nc6 3. Nc3) | 153,604 (12%) | |
| 3. c3 Ponziani Opening | 49,842 (4%) | |
| 3. d3 | 16,167 (1%) | |
| 3. Be2 Tayler Opening (2… Nc6 3. Be2) | 5,969 (0%) | |
| 3. a3 | 4,782 (0%) |
Master games
894 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 37%, draw 17%, Black 46%). The strongest:
- GM Magnus Carlsen (2855) – GM So, W. (2770) 1/2-1/2 · GCT Blitz Paris 2016 · 2016-06-11
- GM Ian Nepomniachtchi (2773) – GM Anish Giri (2773) 1/2-1/2 · Chess.com RCC Wk12 Swiss · 2022-04-30
- GM Teimour Radjabov (2765) – GM Anish Giri (2764) 1-0 · Opera Euro Rapid KO 2021 · 2021-02-10
- GM Richard Rapport (2776) – GM Viswanathan Anand (2751) 0-1 · Superbet Blitz 2022 · 2022-05-23
- GM Gukesh D (2763) – GM Praggnanandhaa R (2757) 1-0 · Superbet Classic TB 2024 · 2024-07-05
Search all games of the King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- Nana_jede_cevape (2866) – GM gmbrewchess (3010) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- GM gmbrewchess (2985) – Nana_jede_cevape (2884) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- Nana_jede_cevape (2899) – GM gmbrewchess (2965) 1/2-1/2 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Comes from
King's Knight Opening 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
Continuations
- Irish Gambit C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nxe5
- Italian Game C50 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4
- King's Knight Opening: Konstantinopolsky C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. g3
- King's Pawn Game: Dresden Opening C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c4
- King's Pawn Game: Pachman Wing Gambit C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. b4
- King's Pawn Game: Tayler Opening (2… Nc6 3. Be2) C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Be2
- Ponziani Opening C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. c3
- Ruy Lopez C60 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5
- Scotch Game (2… Nc6 3. d4) C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d4
- Three Knights Opening (2… Nc6 3. Nc3) C46 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3
- Latvian Gambit: Clam Gambit C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. d3 f5 4. exf5
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.