King's Pawn Game: King's Head Opening (2… Nf6 3. Nc3)
1. e4 e5 2. f3 Nf6 3. Nc3
The King's Pawn Game: King's Head Opening is a chess opening classified as ECO C20, reached after 1. e4 e5 2. f3 Nf6 3. Nc3. It is a line of the King's Pawn Game. Black is to move.
In 12.6 million rated Lichess games (blitz and slower), this position was reached 399 times by this move order. White won 38%, 4% were drawn and Black won 58%. The most popular continuation is 3… Nc6 (28% of games).
Engine evaluation: −0.78 (Stockfish, depth 48; best line 3… Bc5 4. Nge2 d5 5. exd5 Nxd5 6. Nxd5)
- ECO
- C20
- Moves
- 5 plies
- FEN
rnbqkb1r/pppp1ppp/5n2/4p3/4P3/2N2P2/PPPP2PP/R1BQKBNR b KQkq - 2 3- PGN
1. e4 e5 2. f3 Nf6 3. Nc3
Analyse with Stockfish · Board image (SVG) · Open on Lichess
Results by rating
| Average rating | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 0-1499 | 321 | |
| 1500-1999 | 70 | |
| 2000+ | 8 | |
| All | 399 |
Most played moves
| Move | Games | White / draw / Black |
|---|---|---|
| 3… Nc6 | 110 (28%) | |
| 3… Bc5 | 95 (24%) | |
| 3… Bb4 | 72 (18%) | |
| 3… d5 | 41 (10%) | |
| 3… d6 | 25 (6%) | |
| 3… c6 | 21 (5%) | |
| 3… Nh5 | 14 (4%) | |
| 3… a6 | 6 (2%) |
Master games
4 over-the-board games are classified under this line (White 0%, draw 0%, Black 100%). The strongest:
- GM Xu, Yi. (2496) – GM V Pranav (2609) 0-1 · Titled Tue 29th Oct Early · 2024-10-29
- FM Setumadhav Yellumahanthi (2341) – GM Li Min Peng (2516) 0-1 · Titled Tue 19th Nov Early · 2024-11-19
- Paulina Cagara (2089) – IM Attila Turzo (2298) 0-1 · Titled Tue 25th Oct Early · 2022-10-25
Search all games of the King's Pawn Game: King's Head Opening and its sub-variations
Highest-rated Lichess games
- prgrsng_fcs (2290) – DisneyCom (2362) 0-1 · 2026-09-02 · 180 + 0s
- laval2008 (2283) – lalmi (2225) 0-1 · 2026-09-04 · 180 + 0s
- ChessTrack0 (2171) – Chess20250 (2142) 1-0 · 2026-09-04 · 300 + 5s
Comes from
King's Pawn Game: King's Head Opening (1… e5 2. f3) 1. e4 e5 2. f3
More King's Pawn Game lines (all)
- King's Pawn Game (1. e4) B00
- King's Pawn Game: Maróczy Defense B07
- King's Pawn Game (1. e4 e5) C20
- King's Pawn Game: Alapin Opening C20
- King's Pawn Game: Bavarian Gambit C20
- King's Pawn Game: Beyer Gambit C20
- King's Pawn Game: Clam Variation, King's Gambit Reversed C20
- King's Pawn Game: Clam Variation, Radisch Gambit C20
- King's Pawn Game: Leonardis Variation C20
- King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack C20
- King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack, Lasa Gambit C20
- King's Pawn Game: MacLeod Attack, Norwalde Gambit C20
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.