King's Pawn Game (1. e4 e5)

1. e4 e5

The King's Pawn Game is a chess opening classified as ECO C20, reached after 1. e4 e5. White is to move. 19 named lines continue from this position.

In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 3,350,565 times by this move order. White won 51%, 4% were drawn and Black won 45%. The most popular continuation is 2. Nf3 (61% of games).

Engine evaluation: +0.22 (Stockfish, depth 65; best line 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 Nf6 4. O-O Nxe4)

ECO: C20
Moves: 2 plies
FEN: rnbqkbnr/pppp1ppp/8/4p3/4P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 2
PGN: 1. e4 e5

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

Results by rating

Average rating	Games	White / draw / Black
0-1499	1,821,965	51%45%
1500-1999	1,360,897	51%45%
2000+	167,703	49%45%
All	3,350,565	51%45%

Most played moves

Move	Games	White / draw / Black
2. Nf3 King's Knight Opening	2,054,632 (61%)	51%45%
2. Bc4 Bishop's Opening	374,020 (11%)	51%45%
2. Nc3 Vienna Game	226,432 (7%)	51%45%
2. d4 Center Game (1… e5 2. d4)	212,250 (6%)	52%45%
2. f4 King's Gambit	186,050 (6%)	52%45%
2. d3 Leonardis Variation	89,466 (3%)	48%48%
2. Qh5 Wayward Queen Attack	79,410 (2%)	50%46%
2. Qf3 Napoleon Attack	38,067 (1%)	50%46%

Master games

269 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 31%, draw 26%, Black 43%). The strongest:

GM Kirill Alekseenko (2707) – GM Hikaru Nakamura (2768) 1/2-1/2 · Chess.com RCC Wk24 Swiss · 2022-08-06
GM Hans Moke Niemann (2725) – GM Dmitry Andreikin (2717) 0-1 · Titled Tue 25th Aug 2026 · 2026-08-25
GM Yue Wang (2718) – GM Xiangzhi Bu (2719) 1/2-1/2 · TCh-CHN 2016 · 2016-12-03
GM Alireza Firouzja (2737) – GM Samuel Sevian (2687) 0-1 · Bullet Chess Winners 2024 · 2024-06-10
GM Kirill Alekseenko (2698) – GM Vladimir Fedoseev (2701) 1/2-1/2 · Chess.com Rapid W10 Swiss · 2022-04-16

Search all games of the King's Pawn Game and its sub-variations

Highest-rated Lichess games

Nana_jede_cevape (2866) – GM gmbrewchess (3010) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Nana_jede_cevape (2871) – GM gmbrewchess (3002) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
Nana_jede_cevape (2871) – GM gmbrewchess (3002) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s

Comes from

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

Continuations

Bishop's Opening C23 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4
Bongcloud Attack C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Ke2
Center Game (1… e5 2. d4) C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. d4
English Opening: The Whale C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. c4
King's Gambit C30 · 1. e4 e5 2. f4
King's Knight Opening C40 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nf3
King's Pawn Game: Alapin Opening C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Ne2
King's Pawn Game: King's Head Opening (1… e5 2. f3) C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. f3
King's Pawn Game: Leonardis Variation C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. d3
King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. c3
King's Pawn Game: Mengarini's Opening C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. a3
King's Pawn Game: Napoleon Attack C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Qf3
King's Pawn Game: Tortoise Opening C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bd3
King's Pawn Game: Wayward Queen Attack C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5
King's Pawn Opening C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. b3
Portuguese Opening C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Bb5
Vienna Game C25 · 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3
King's Pawn Opening: Speers C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Qg4 Nf6 3. Qf5
King's Pawn Opening: Van Hooydoon Gambit C20 · 1. e4 e5 2. Qe2 Nc6 3. c3 Nf6 4. Nf3 Bc5 5. d4 exd4 6. cxd4 Nxd4

More King's Pawn Game lines (all)

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.