King's Knight Opening

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3

The King's Knight Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO C40, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3. Black is to move. 10 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 2,054,632 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2… Nc6 (65% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.18 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 2… Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6 4. d3 a6 5. c3)

ECO: C40
Moves: 3 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/4P3/5N2/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKB1R b KQkq - 1 2
PGN: 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3

Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	1,097,701	51%45%
1500-1999	840,033	51%45%
2000+	116,898	49%45%
All	2,054,632	51%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2… Nc6 Normal Variation	1,325,498 (65%)	51%45%
2… d6 Philidor Defense (2. Nf3 d6)	301,427 (15%)	51%45%
2… Nf6 Petrov's Defense (2. Nf3 Nf6)	202,392 (10%)	51%45%
2… Bc5 Busch-Gass Gambit	62,804 (3%)	52%45%
2… d5 Elephant Gambit	47,038 (2%)	48%48%
2… Qf6 McConnell Defense	40,331 (2%)	50%46%
2… f6 Damiano Defense	24,493 (1%)	56%40%
2… f5 Latvian Gambit	16,462 (1%)	49%47%

Master games

159 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 69%, draw 17%, Black 14%). The strongest:

GM Pavel Ponkratov (2608) – GM Daniil Dubov (2710) 1/2-1/2 · Maxim Shusharin Mem Rapid · 2023-11-16
GM Etienne Bacrot (2684) – GM Olexandr Bortnyk (2608) 1-0 · Titled Tue 7th May Late · 2024-05-07
GM Alexandr Predke (2684) – GM Jergus Pechac (2598) 1/2-1/2 · 23rd ch-EUR Indiv 2023 · 2023-03-13
GM Praggnanandhaa R (2536) – GM Yi Wei (2736) 1-0 · chess.com Junior Speed · 2019-05-31
GM Pablo Salinas Herrera (2468) – GM Kirill Alekseenko (2674) 1/2-1/2 · Julius Baer Play-In 2023 · 2023-07-24

Search all games of the King's Knight Opening and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nana_jede_cevape (2866) – GM gmbrewchess (3010) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
GM gmbrewchess (2996) – Nana_jede_cevape (2875) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
GM gmbrewchess (2989) – Nana_jede_cevape (2880) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

King's Pawn Game (1. e4 e5) 1. e4 e5

Continuations

Elephant Gambit C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d5
Gunderam Defense C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qe7
King's Knight Opening: Normal Variation C44 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6
King's Pawn Game: Busch-Gass Gambit C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Bc5
King's Pawn Game: Damiano Defense C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f6
King's Pawn Game: Gunderam Gambit C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 c6
King's Pawn Game: McConnell Defense C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Qf6
Latvian Gambit C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 f5
Petrov's Defense (2. Nf3 Nf6) C42 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6
Philidor Defense (2. Nf3 d6) C41 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 d6

More King's Knight Opening lines (all)

King's Knight Opening: Konstantinopolsky C44

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.